This study examines whether the winning of advertising awards affects the billings and income of Australia's top 50 advertising agencies. This is undertaken by examining the winners of four national advertising awards, both in total and by media type. The data is analyzed using a pooled time-series and cross-sectional analysis of advertising agency data for the period 1989-1992. The results indicate that advertising agency income or billings are not affected by the number of awards won. Therefore, it must be assumed that advertising agencies are entering award programs for "nonmonetary" reasons.

Advertising awards have become an important part of the advertising industry worldwide. It is estimated that there are as many as 500 advertising award shows throughout the world each year (Shamoon, 1987). Some of the more popular international award ceremonies include: The One Show, Clio Awards, Art Directors Club of New York, Cannes International Advertising Film Festival, London International Advertising Awards, and Asian Advertising Awards. In 1994 B&T, the Australian equivalent of Advertising Age, listed 35 various Australian adverUsing awards (B&T, 1994).

The winning of an award may be a way for advertising agendes to: (1) gain recognition for their work, (2) encourage creativity among staff, (3) increase prestige in the industry, and (4) promote themselves to potential clients (Schweitzer and Hester, 1992).

However, criticism of advertising awards are common (Kiely, 1989; B&T, 1990; Browne, 1992). In particular there has been criticism on the number of award ceremonies and how winners are selected (Pendleton and Hume, 1988; Chipperfield, 1989a). These criticisms have damaged some awards' reputation (B&T, 1992b). Yet each year thousands of advertising agencies are still lining up and paying large entry fees to enter their advertisements into various advertising award programs (Pendleton, 1988; Schweitzer and Hester, 1992).

There have been a number of studies that have dealt with award-winning advertisements (Beltramini and Blasko, 1986; Ernst, 1980; Reid, Lane, Wenthe, and Smith, 1985). Others have examined the development of successful advertising campaigns (Korgaonkar, Moschis, and Bellenger, 1984). However, these studies focused on the features and techniques used to develop award-winning advertisements. In all of the early research there has been minimal examination into why advertising agencies attempt to win awards, particularly relating to the assumed finandal benefits received by the agencies (B&T, 1990; Schweitzer and Hester, 1992).

In 1992 Schweitzer and Hester examined the importance advertising agencies place on winning awards. They analyzed why agencies entered award programs, though they did not specifically examine whether winning awards was associated with financial gains. One could assume that if agencies try so hard to win awards, there would be some financial gain in terms of increased business, as indicated by an increase in agency income or billings.

The literature relating to the agency-client relationship could be used to hypothesize a tenuous link between advertising awards and advertising agency financial performance. Some of this literature suggests that an agency's "standard of creative work," "publicity on recent successful campaigns, "and "record of performance" may influence a client's agency selection (Doyle, Corstjens, and...