To The End of Humblebragging

Humblebragging — “bragging masked by a complaint or humility” — makes people like you less than straight-up self-promotion according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

There are two types of humblebrag. The first uses the mock-complaint: It’s awful looking so young that even 19-year-olds hit on me! The second uses mock humility: Why am I always put on the most important assignments?

In the agency world there is a third type that pops up around awards. A subset of mock humility, they wrap the brag around the shoulders of clients: Thanks to our amazing clients without whom blah blah blah.

Humblebraggers think they’re getting the best of both worlds, but the evidence says if you want to announce something, go with the honest brag and reap the rewards of being sincere.

With that inspiration, I’d like to brag about winning a Silver Prism Award in 2020.

It was all thanks to my role as Copywriter and Creative Director. It had very little to do with the clients at Kumba Iron Ore, or the agency I worked for.

Yay me.

P.S. If you’re a client or an agency that’s happy to do your own bragging over awards, contact straight-talking, award-winning, soon-to-get-over-himself, nick@creativeclarity.co.za

P.P.S. They award PRISMs for fusing strategy with creativity and professionalism to achieve the best communications and business objectives in public relations campaigns.

P.P.P.S. Based on Jamie Ducharme’s 2018 article in Time Magazine.