Adfest mantra: Token entry only

Indian advertising agencies had a dream run in 2008, participating and winning at several international ad festivals — including the country’s first Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. This year, financial pressures will significantly cut back on participation.

For several years, major ad agencies devoted big sums — some running into lakhs of rupees — as award budgets. The money would be spent on entry fees for ad fests like Cannes Lions, Clio (Miami),
Adfest (Pattaya) and D&Ad (New York).

But that’s about to change. And India’s own ad carnival — Goafest — will face the brunt of it.

The alarm bells rung when O&M, one of India’s best-known creative powerhouses, expressed intentions not to participate in Goafest. O&M’s top brass later swallowed their words, and decided to send in participating entries, but no O&M contingent.

Contract Advertising and McCann Erickson will participate, but not compete. For them, token entries will be the order of the day. Lowe India will yet again give Goafest a miss — although that has much to do with the agency’s stance on any awards show in the country. Euro RSCG has decided to remain absent from all award shows this year.

Mudra, meanwhile, has taken an “only Cannes and Goafest” stance. “Local award shows are a priority, hence we’re going to go full-steam into Goafest. Participation in Cannes is a no-brainer. We’ll cut back on delegates, but not at Goafest — our young guns need to learn from the ‘been-there-done-thats’ and see what competition is doing,” Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, told DNA Money.
Rediffusion YR will send more delegates to Goafest than they did last year — 200 against 150. Mahesh Chauhan, group CEO, said, “I see Goafest as a crucial opportunity for team building, and a forum where you can learn if you choose to.”

Leo Burnett, which for long has encouraged participation at adfests, is trying to send as many possible of its younger talent to Goafest. “We’ll end up sending at least 30 people and are trying to accommodate more. Some old hands at Leo Burnett may end up footing their own costs, to pass on the benefit to the youngsters,” said K V Sridhar, national creative director. Last year, the agency sent over twice as many people. It sent about 150 entries for Goafest 08, and this time, it’ll be about the same number.

Going purely by financials, Goafest is still the cheapest ad festival — each entry costs Rs 2000, while entries for Cannes Lions start upwards of 400 euros. Entry charges for the Clio Awards are even higher. Cannes Lions also lasts longer — for a week — while Goafest runs for 3 days.