As you may or may not know, there has been a controversy regarding this year's Mercury Awards. Tom Taylor of "Taylor on Radio" asked a thought provoking question of his readers. He asked, "Should the Radio Mercurys be about ROI, and not just creativity?" I sent the following reply to his request:

We know that creativity and ROI are not mutually exclusive. We also know that entertainment value will not necessarily deliver results. (Yo quiero Taco Bell?) All commercials have a primary purpose. Commercials that fail to generate a return that is at least equal to the norm for advertising in their respective industry should be deemed to be bad commercials, regardless of their artistic or entertainment value.
 
Radio has two customer bases, listeners and advertisers. If we, as an industry, want to judge commercials and reward excellence, the judging process should score entries on the value they bring to both of those bases. Leaving either out of the process will result in awards that can rightfully be questioned by those in the industry who are observing the process.
 
I do not know the specific make-up of this years Mercury Award judges so I will not critique the panel. I will state my general opinion that a judging panel made up mostly of people from advertising agency creative departments is likely to result in an incomplete perspective and a judging process that is skewed disproportionately toward production values and artistic merit.
 
David Letterman was recently forced to acknowledge that intent doesn't matter much when public perception turns negative. In regards to its involvement in the Mercury Awards, the RAB's intentions are above reproach. Unfortunately, this year's process resulted in a negative perception that needs to be addressed. I'm confident the RAB will do just that. I also think that those who used this occasion to attack the RAB's overall value to the industry should take a deep breath and dial down their criticisms to a more appropriate level.
 
Lastly, I am actually gratified to see this debate taking place. The quality of the commercials we include in our broadcasts is a vital issue to the overall health of our industry. Let's all work together to elevate their quality to a level that benefits both our listeners and our advertisers. If we do that, the real winner will be Radio.

I thank Tom for doing his part to keep the dialog going, and I thank the RAB for helping to create a competition that encourages excellence in radio commercial production. The issue impacts us all, so we should all be engaged in the process of writing, producing, and encouraging radio commercials that stimulate listeners and consumers alike. This is not a top down effort. This requires effort at the station level, which means if you work at a station you can make a difference. I can't wait to hear what you come up with.