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Golds sparse as judging gets tougher at ad fest

Best campaign I A total of 153 awards across eight of the 14 Creative Abby categories were given away on Day 2; a total of 200 agencies and organisations competed for various creative awards

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Jaideep Mahajan (right) with Pranav Sharma
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Jaideep Mahajan, executive creative director, Linen Lintas was all smiles as he went up to collect the first Grand Prix of the Abby Awards on Friday evening.

A total of 153 awards across eight of the 14 Creative Abby categories were given away on Day 2 of Goafest, the three-day celebration of knowledge, networking and excellence conducted by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex body of all advertising agencies in India, and the Advertising Club. There were a total of 200 agencies and organisations which entered the various creative awards held across 14 categories.

Ajay Chandwani, Abby Awards Governing Council member and incharge of jury appointments and judging, said, "There have been far lesser golds this year with the judging getting tougher."

Added Ad Club president Pratap Bose: "If you win at the Abby, the chances of winning at the Cannes Lions are very high."

Linen Lintas, part of the Lintas group, bagged a Grand Prix, two Golds and a Bronze in the Direct category. In addition it also won a Gold in the Corporate sub-category of Brand Activation and Promotion. All of Linen Lintas's works were for Dabur Vatika Premium Naturals Shampoo's #BraveandBeautiful ad campaign. "It started off as a long film on the internet, which then went on to be a viral video where we called for real stories and finally compiled into a book," said Mahajan who collected the award along with his colleague and group creative director Pranav Harihar Sharma. The #BraveandBeautiful ad has won much acclaim for the hair care brand for taking a social path while endorsing its proposition to the people at large. It takes a peek into the life of a cancer survivor and the many odds that the person is faced with during this trying phase.

Earlier, Day 2 of Goafest kicked off with keynotes by television journalist Arnab Goswami and author Chetan Bhagat. The post-lunch knowledge seminar had sessions conducted by Guy Abrahams, worldwide strategic marketing director, ZenithOptimedia speaking on the relevance of 365 marketing compared with the age-old 360-degree integrated marketing technique. A small number can make a big difference for your brand, he said.

Neil Stewart, head of agency, APAC, Facebook took the stage next. Stewart concentrated on the evolution of the digital space and the rise of internet usage on mobile phones. "I can't think of a medium that puts consumer satisfaction as a criterion for every medium they make other than Facebook," he said.

Stewart's session was followed by that of Jonny Stark, senior vice-president, APAC, Razorfish, who spoke on creativity in a real-time world. "Stop spamming, stop annoying," he said of advertisers who post unnecessary content on their social media just to garner consumer attention. It forces people to walk away, he said, adding: "Treat consumers like humans, not simply ad targets," he said.

The last speaker for the evening was Ashish Hemrajani, founder-CEO, Bigtree Entertainment, which runs Bookmyshow.com who dealt with the changing focus of the e-consumer.

"More companies die of indigestion rather than starvation," he said talking about brands reading consumer behaviour all wrong.
With a total of nine categories the awards were given away until Friday (including Publisher Abby on Day 1), all eyes are now on the finale where the more popular categories of television, print, outdoor, film, integrated, etc will be presented.

In arrangement with MxMIndia.com

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