Every award generates controversies, but if there was an award for the award with the maximum number of controversies and murmurs, it would undoubtedly go to the Creative Abby, part of the annual Goafest conference held every summer in Goa. The Abby Awards have lost sheen over the years because of the absence of two key agency networks – the Mullen Lowe Lintas Group and Ogilvy. And then there have been disputes about plagiarism and scam ads winning big. While the processes have been cleansed over the years and there have been attempts to enthuse the naysayers to participate, this year, the Advertising Club and the Goafest Organising Committee have taken a quantum leap to change things. To start with, they appointed Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer with Aditya Birla Capital (eka Aditya Birla Financial Services) who has witnessed the Abby in its glory days and also see it dip in equity. More importantly, he is an active marketer, spends a fair bit on advertising, and has led the Ad Club’s Effies Organising Committee which, interestingly, sees the participation of all agencies (save those with global mandates to stay away from all awards, including Cannes Lions). In an exclusive face-to-face interview (as against one over mail or phone), Ajay Kakar speaks to Pradyuman Maheshwari on the decisions he has taken, the thought behind the Master Jury and Jury of Masters, and whether he expects the cleansing will help bring back those who’ve been staying away for a while. Read on….
Life’s been smooth sailing for you. Great job, the very visible Aditya Birla Capital campaign, a steady work-life balance and then you took on possibly the most controversial and thankless task in the country – chairing the Abby Awards Governing Council. Why?
I have had the opportunity of chairing the Effies for five years. I have been on the Managing Committee of the Advertising Club for many years and I am fortunate for that.
Having spent many years in advertising, though the last 12 have years I’ve been a client, I have realized that no marketer can be successful without successful partnerships [with advertising professionals]. But for that you have to literally encourage and excite each other. You have to be at each other’s celebrations and each other’s sorrows and that’s possibly been my motivator. I know awards are important because they recognise creativity, they recognise success. They recognise the best among the best. If I am part of the relationship, if I am dependent on this relationship for my success, I must partner this part of the industry.
But while the Effies are a huge success with the Big 2 participating in it, in the Abby, it’s not just Ogilvy and Lowe absent but a large number of agencies don’t enter.
I must confessthe day I went back home and told my family that I have been honoured with the post of the Chairman of the Awards Governing Council, my son’s first and only reaction was that I was being suicidal. It made me think for a second and I told myself that it’s an after-hours job. It’s demanding and possibly been a thankless job for various reasonsin the memorable past. But there was an opportunity to change things. I must thank VikramSakhuja, the President of the Advertising Club, to get me to do this. He also gave me a very clear and open mandate. His said let’s do whatever needs to be done. Because he agreed with me that in it’s 50th year, the Abbysare remembered more for the past than for the current.
You also did something suicidal for the Ad Club… reduced the number of categories thereby halving the revenues. And there are detractors who are telling us that many more agencies are staying away this year resulting in the Goafest Abby not getting as many entries…
So we had two options. One is to tinker around with the past. I could subtract a few categories, redefine some and we would have had yet another year which would have more of the same. Actually, last year, was a success and I don’t think there was any perceived gap in Abby 2017. Soone could just do a little more and be home and dry. But when one sat back and recollected conversations from the past and when I said the common feeling is that the Abby is remembered more for the past than the present. Somewhere the Abbywas lacking the sheen it had in the past. It was not held in the same high esteem it held in the past where the Abby Award had a pride of place in the mantle of ad agencies and CEO of ad agencies. So we decided we won’t stay with status quo.
I believe an Award is as good as the people who judge it. And therefore in the past there have been observations that this jury member has not won an Award so how can he judge someone else. So that became a starting point for us. What if we had a Jury of Masters. Whetherit’s the Creative Abby. Whether it’s the Media Abby.Or whether it’s the Specialist Abby or the Craft Abby. Can we have a jury of Masters of their Craft. Undisputed masters. So when you win an Abby, you know it’s been judged by the Master Jury. And, god forbid if I lose, I shrug my shoulders and I say that this jury of Masters believes that I shouldn’t win. Then who am I to question?
But you have people from agencies who have not participated in the Abby in the recent past. In the past, jury members have had to have their agencies sending entries. You’ve changed that rule too?
Yes, so the clear direction was to ensure that the jury members were very credible because they were masters of their craft. People who have themselves earned and won recognition both in India or on the world stage. Therefore we looked at people who could become the benchmark of creativity as far as our industry is concerned. So, like I said, if you look at the Creative Abby and the 15 members of Master Jury on the one hand or if you look at Jury of Masters of the Media Abby or Broadcaster Abby or our Direct Abby. You look at the Digital Abby. You look at jury members that we have for each of these. And I am confident that everyone has only word to say: wow!
But while we have people from Lowe on the Master Jury, which also doesn’t participate, but there’s no one from Ogilvy though former NCD Abhijit Awasthi is in the list.
I believe that an award is as good as the people who judge it. Therefore, from the very outset, we were clear that we wanted the best of best to judge Abby Awards 2018. Masters of the art. Masters of the craft.
And from there emerged our ‘Jury of Masters’ strategy. You will see this strategy manifest across all the categories of the Abby Awards 2018, be it Creative, Media, all the Specialist categories and the Craft categories.
In the case of the Creative Abbys, we decided to form a Master Jury that comprises 15 undisputed ‘maharathis’. We reached out to each of them, personally, in their personal capacity, requesting for their passion and time for their ‘first love’: advertising. To be an integral part of the Jury that decides and sets the creative standards for Abby Awards 2018 and the industry at large. While reaching out to these Masters,  we did not have any filters in mind. We did not wish to dilute our ambition to have only the best of best. We did not ask any of them whether their agency will be participating in the awards, or not.
I believe that we are blessed to have every one of these celebrated masters, on board. They did not take a second before conveying their full support and commitment. Yes, we do have the likes of Amer and Arun, from agencies that have not participated in the past. We do have the likes of Bobby and Raj Deepak Das, from networks that have chosen to be off the awards circuit, globally, for this year. And we do also have the likes of Prasoon, Pops, Abhijeet, Aggie, Paddy, Senthil, Swati and Raj Kamble. I am extremely grateful to each of them who have selflessly agreed to partner and support the charter of Abby Awards 2018, to celebrate creative excellence.
And do you have the blessings of Piyush Pandey?
Piyush is a passionate well-wisher of the industry and an undying champion of creative excellence. But to know his personal views, who better to ask, than Piyush himself .
Do you think it was easier for you to have achieved this because you are no longer an agency person.That you are a big spending advertiser so people possibly agreed to hear you out and accept the offer or rather couldn’t refuse.
I have been blessed to know the fraternity in person and it’s a relationship I enjoyed over the years. So I am sure that the door-opener was easy for me as I just had to reach out to them. And they were kind enough to listen. But I think at theendof the day when you look at such senior people and what you requesting is for their time and their name. I thinkit’s their commitment to the industry. Their commitment to Abby and their love for Abby that they have agreed to participate and give us their time and give us their passion and give us their name.
Creative Gurus are known to have big egos, some with reason. You have selected 15 and there were a few who were not available for whatever reasons. But there a host of others who think they are big, and they possibly are. Do you think you would’ve upset them?
If we have, my apologies. That’s not the intent and with such a talented industry, there are many to be signed on and many more that you could sign on. So, on one hand, yes, it’s possible that some people may have been missed out inadvertently and as I said my apologies but the intent was that those who wehave on Board should be aboveboard and that has been our intent.
One of the controversies that has been raging through many years is that there are many scam ads that win awards. In fact there were murmurs that some agencies may stay away this year because last year there were many scam ads winning big awards. How are you grappling with this problem?
One of the Master Jury members did ask me for my interpretation of the Creative Abby Awards, and asked me to share it with all so that they are all on the same page. My belief is at the Abby Awards 2018 we want to celebrate creativity for brands. That will be our intent and thatis our brief to the Master Jury. Needless to say, they are Mastersof their art and they are the gatekeepers of the creative standards that they want for the Awards 2018. I know it’s in very safe hands this year.
But are you okay with creativity that has just been created for the sake of awards?
So we have created a definition which prescribes if a piece of work is eligible to be entered and we will go with definition.
One is aware that entries have to signed off by clients, but in the past we have seen that advertisers do accept requests by the agencies to allow scam ads to happen. And clients don’t mind humouring their agencies and creative professionals…
I will not be in a position to comment on what clients do and what clients don’t do. At the end of the day we have a check and balance and wehave auditors. As long as the work passes throughthat filter we are comfortable.
But the auditors like KPMG or whosever will not know the reality… whether the ad is entered for an award or was it really published/ put up/ aired?
So you know it’s like a bank which honours your cheque as long as the signature matches what they have on their records. They honour the cheques.  It is not for them to lift the corporate veil as they say to find out ‘did you give that signature voluntarily or not.’
Are you happy with the way the Abbys Award 2018processes havegone thus far?
Ithink the intent is to create a product which wins acceptance and recognition across the industry. My belief is that the product is good why will a consumer not buy it. This year, we are investing in the product and I think thanks to the Master Jury as far as the creative Abby is concerned and thanks to the jury of Masters as far as all the other categories are concerned. I feel we are very blessed this year and if you look at the juries who are going to set the standard. The members who are going to set the standards each of them is a role model himself.
Bottomline: do you think that with this jury and all the changes that you have brought in, we will see an Ogilvy and Lowe back in the Creative Abby next year?
I hope so. You have reminded me of a very important endorsement that we already have. We have heard of agencies who have not participated and they are big namesin their own right. But to have their creative captains, to have their creative chiefs delink the decision of their agency to participate in the awards with being associated with the awards as a member of the jury. So to have both the Lowe agencies with us, to have Leo Burnett with us, to have representatives of Publicis who aren’t participating worldwide in any form but they are part of our Master Jury. I think it’s an endorsement and indicator of their own desire to give shape and stature to Abbys.
The key thing for them to come back is that you need to be there for the next three years to ensure that the improvements continue and standards are maintained.
One step at a time. I think this year is where we have put our best foot forward and we have won immense support from the fraternity. The success of this year will help us build on a successful future year after year.
I remember Balki saying that ideally clients should also be part of the jury because they know what works for brands and have a keen eye on creativity. Is this something that you may look at it in the future?
Actually, there were many other features that we wanted to introduce. Many facets we wanted to introduce but somewhere we decide to restrain ourselves and said let’s look at first two or three big steps first. Like the creation of a Master Jury for the Creative Abby. The formation of a Jury for Masters for all categories of Abbys. The bringing back the Agency of the Year…
Hmmm. The very controversial Agency of the Year!
We have the Media Agency of the year. We have Specialist Agency of the year. We have brought these back because that was anther reality that we have to accept at the end of the Abbys every member of the media carried the name of a winner but their definitions were oftendifferent therefore the name of the winner was possibly different.
Are you going to have points being given for shortlist like at Cannes?
Yes, we will have a clear points system which will help us rate an Agency of the Year based on the metals. It will be a transparent score that is available and so that all speculationsare put to rest. And it will be a transparent and a known currency that will be used to crown the King.