MxMIndia

Category: Awards

  • Next week, all jury members for the Advertising & Digital Awards will gather in Mumbai-India to review, discuss and elect the best

    Kyoorius Awards gets 1419 entries across ad & digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    The final tally at the 2015 Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards has been revealed. 1419 entries have been submitted by Indian agencies and studios, at the second session of the Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards. This is a jump of over 40 per cent from last year’s total tally of 988 entries from Advertising & Digital Awards.

     

    Participating agencies include DDB Mudra, Ogilvy & Mather, Madison Group, Grey Worldwide, Contract Advertising, Creativeland Asia, Scarecrow Communication, Linen Advertising, Itsa Brand Solutions, Webchutney, Isobar, Rediffusion Y&R, Ideas@Work and BBH, to name a few.

     

    Rajesh Kejriwal

    Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO of Kyoorius said, “This number has been very encouraging, and a sign of acceptance by the industry. Kyoorius thanks all agencies for their support. We look forward to a packed jury session next week as these entries battle it out for Blue and Black Elephants.”

     

    Next week, all jury members for the Advertising & Digital Awards will gather in Mumbai-India to review, discuss and elect the best of the best over an intensive four-day session. To make the judging process as transparent and open as possible, members from the industry are invited to see the jury in action at Nehru Centre from 29th April to 1st May. This is amongst the very few open to public jury sessions around the globe.

     

    Visitors can come in and watch the jury debate the entries, checkout some of the best in Indian creativity and attend four FYIdays conducted by the jury members themselves. This promises to be a source of inspiration for the young blood in the industry as they can witness in person the debates on how juries think, why some works are voted and why some do lose out in the end.

     

  • While Dentsu Aegis Network's iProspect Communicate 2 was named the Most Admired Agency in 'digital marketing', Carat Media Services India/psLive was named the Most Admired Agency

    Dentsu Aegis Media steals the show at Asian Customer Engagement Forum Awards 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network exhibited good dominance at the Asian Customer Engagement Forum (ACEF) Awards that was held on April 25 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.

     

    While Dentsu Aegis Network’s iProspect Communicate 2 was named the Most Admired Agency in ‘digital marketing’, Carat Media Services India/psLive was named the Most Admired Agency in ‘events & promotions’. Posterscope India was named both the Most Admired Agency in ‘out-of-home media’ as well as the most admired customer engaging agency in ‘retail touch points & merchandising’.

     

    Haresh Nayak

    Also, Haresh Nayak, Regional Director, Posterscope APAC, was honoured with the Outdoor Advertising Professional of the Year award.

     

    Posterscope India bagged a total of 27 awards including 8 golds, 12 silvers and 5 bronze metals along with the agency titles. It was their work for clients such as Mother Diary, Philips, Nissan, Disney, Mattel, beam Suntory, Datsun and Movies Now  that brought home the awards in the following categories – effectiveness, creativity and successful use technology in retail, outdoor and ambient spaces.

     

    Carat was awarded a total of seven wins- 5 Gold and two Bronze. The Philips Aquatouch “New way to shave is here” campaign was awarded Gold for Promotion using Events. Philips LED lights “Change karo save karo” won Gold for successful use of technology. The overall activation was done in tandem with their sister concern PSLive which is into all things activation. Philips Trimmers bagged another Gold for “Best use of Celebrity Endorsement”. The Philips Airfryer campaign added yet another Gold to the tally under “Creativity on Television” category. The fifth Gold came in the form of “The Most Admired Agency for Events and Promotions”. Carat also won two Bronze for Philips Kerashine Range and Preethi Blue Flame Gas Stove launch campaign respectively.

     

    iProspect Communicate 2 picked up a total of four metals across various categories. The Big Bazaar ‘Everything for Nothing’ campaign was awarded a Gold metal for ‘Promotion using Digital Marketing’. The agency also picked up two awards in the ‘Successful Use of Technology’ category, a silver and a bronze for their Cleartrip and Koovs campaigns, respectively. In the Online Media category, iProspect Communicate 2 picked up a bronze medal for their ground-breaking work for HDFC Bank.

     

    Amongst the other DAN agencies, Isobar India went on to win a Silver in the promotions category for ‘Digital Marketing’ for the work done on Microsoft Lumia. Vizeum won a Gold for Viacom 18’s MTV Campus Diaries under the events category.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Commenting on the wins, Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network said, “I am thrilled to know that the Dentsu Aegis Network has been able to achieve such recognition at a pan-Asia level. Sustaining customer engagement in this competitive market is a key task for our clients and I am happy that all our Dentsu Aegis Network companies have worked together to achieve this. It is a further testimony to our unique one P&L operating model, whereby we are able to provide our clients all the benefits of specializations without the hassles of dealing with silos. Heartiest congratulations to iProspectC2, Posterscope, Carat, psLive, Isobar, Vizeum and to Haresh Nayak for their respective wins. This further strengthens our position as the only network in India that can provide all marketing communications and media services, of world standards, under one umbrella.”

     

  • We asked this question to Vicki Maguire and six other international biggies who were in India to judge the Kyoorius Awards

    What international creative gurus think of Indian advertising

     

    When we met her over a drink on Saturday evening, Vicki Maguire, Deputy Executive Creative Director, Grey Advertising, London, seemed ecstatic about what she saw in the four days as Foreman (chairperson) of the Kyoorius Advertising Awards jury. In fact, she said in jest, some of the ideas she saw were very replicate-able internationally. The jury sessions saw Ms Maguire and her team of jurors having a long day at work. Little wonder we could get the responses to our questions only on Friday, the second-last day of the jury meet. The responses were received via mail to questions from Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

     

    How does Indian advertising compare with that abroad? What can we do to improve our awards tally at international fests Cannes Lions and the D&AD? As the jury for the Kyoorius awards concluded their work on Saturday, Dyanne Coelho asked the international jury members gathered for the advertising and digital categories to weign in on the scenario in our country.

     

    Melanie Clancy – Creative Director, BBDO Proximity, Singapore

    There’s been a lot of really interesting work across a lot of different digital touch points. There have been some great social concepts in particular, which I am quite excited to come across. Advertising is such a diverse space, it would be difficult to compare. Based on what I’ve seen, I would advise India to focus more on case study videos, keep the ideas very telescopic, and come up with concepts that you can share in a second. Not ideas that take too long to explain.

     

    Tim Doherty – Chief Creative Officer, Isobar, China

    In China, because of the political situation, there was a long time when there was no advertising. That’s a market that still is catching up. India, on the other hand, has had a long history of advertising. There’s amazing film and print work coming out of the country. China is still sort of coming of age; it’s just the first 15 years of advertising there. It’s my first time looking at so much Indian work, but I think that digital creative isn’t yet as ambitious as traditional creative in terms of craft, production quality, and I think a lot of that has to do with budgets. But the work I’m seeing here is definitely on par with that in China. Great work is always something that connects with your emotions. There’s no faking it. But simplicity takes a lot of effort. You’ve got to push the work and refine it over and over. That’s my advice.

     

    Andy Greenaway – Executive Creative Director, Sapient Nitro APAC

    I think India is very good at storytelling, and that shows. It has found its own voice, and that voice is a part of the things India is known for. That’s the strength of Indian advertising. I think it’s very different. Indian campaigns are bigger and more brand-oriented. Singapore is small, much more retail-focused. Singapore, where I work, is a smaller, but has invested heavily in technology, unlike India. If you look at TV advertising, India is far ahead of Singapore, whereas in digital, Singapore is ahead. D&AD is a very British show, and the Brits are well-known for their innovation and design, animation and graphics. I don’t think India’s known for that. India’s DNA is in words, storytelling and narrative. So it’s just two very different markets. The fact that India has won 19 awards at D&AD is good. But it’s not a numbers game. If you get in, you’re actually doing a good job.

     

    Joji Jacob – Group Executive Creative Director, DDB Group, Singapore

    The process of judging was really refreshing. The organisers at Kyoorius seem determined to set a benchmark with the quality of the work. I think the tie-up with D&AD makes it even better. The awards are big in stature. I was a bit disappointed with the quality of work. I’ve seen a lot of great work come out of India in the last couple of years, but I haven’t seen that this time. The quality of work at Cannes, where also I’ve been a judge, is much better. Here, there is a lot of work that has not been entered, and some work here has been entered just for the sake of entering. A bit of advice would be to provide a proper explanations for your entry. A lot of the entries that were in Hindi, were not properly subtitled. I think it’s important to spend a little more time in preparing the entry.

     

    Juhi Kalia – Executive Creative Director, JWT Singapore

    The work I’ve seen till now is very good, very emotional. Personally, I was happy to see a lot of work that is very positive for women. There was some funny and some well-written work, in Hindi too. I’ve come back to India after a long time, and I enjoyed watching the Hindi pieces. At the same time, like most shows, there were some work that made us say, ‘really, why?’. Indian advertising is at a great level. We’ve done really well internationally, and it’s getting better and better. It’s interesting to see that there is a digital session now as well. India is quite at par with its international counterparts in most categories. As for the D&AD, I think you have bad years and good years. If your work is genuine and authentic, and it comes from a place of honesty, then it will get recognised.

     

    Farrokh Madon – Creative Director, Independent, Singapore

    I started my career in India, but I’ve been out for 22 years. A lot of the advertising in the country has local insights and local backdrops, which is good because there is enough confidence in one’s own culture to do work that’s relevant to the people, and not blindly ape the West. Within that format, it would always be nice to experiment a bit. Things like music, to me, seem very formulaic – like I’ve heard it many times before. So even when one focusses on one’s culture, one cannot lose sight of innovation. One has to try and experiment and do things differently. Also, don’t worry too much about awards; focus on doing work that is fresh and original, and awards will come naturally. Originality should be the Holy Grail, and not the award.

     

    Tim Malbon – Co-founder, Made by Many

    We’ve looked at a number of entries and some of them really stand out. A lot of them are, however, the same. Some of the entries that we didn’t quite like have been talking about what advertising could do for you rather than the original idea and concept. But on the whole, we’ve seen some really strong work. If I had to compare India from a few years ago to the US and UK, I might have said that the US and UK are much farther ahead. But today, I feel that the gap is closing, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t completely disappear over the next few years. One bit of advice is that from what I see, a lot of the entries today seem to be made for the wrong awards. Try and think about entering your ad for the right award, and the right category, so that it gains the right recognition.

     

    Andy Sandoz – Creative Partner, Havas Work Club/ Deputy President of D&AD

    There is an interesting social commentary in Indian advertising, about the role of women in society or how women are perceived or even how men or women should act. Advertising should be a good social product. In digital there isn’t quite the same level of execution in India as it is in the UK. There is some strategic thinking and some good ideas, but not quite the same polish of execution that you might see elsewhere. That simply means they haven’t yet reached their potential. My advice to India from a digital perspective would be to continue to use digital to make the world better. Use digital to create tools of utility and engagement for people to empower themselves, improve their lives and their work. That’s the kind of work that is winning. That’s the kind of future we all want to see. Embrace the craft. Embrace the beautiful ability that digital has, to surprise people.

     

    There’s much anticipation for the second D&AD-Kyoorius Awards. Were there any broad rules – Do’s and Don’ts that you are set out for your jury?

    I’ve just come from judging D&AD in London, I got straight on a plane, so the experience is fresh in my mind. If D&AD and Kyoorius share any rules it’s:  “Good isn’t good enough”

     

    That sentiment holds true here as it does around the world. We’re not just here to celebrate work from the region , we are here to protect standards and champion brave work, talent and clients. To that point there is no room for scam work or for tactical voting. It’s all about the work. the idea. the execution and the relevance.

     

    How familiar are you with advertising in India? Your views on our advertising?

    I’ve worked on global accounts for years so I have a fair idea what’s happening across the world. I’m  also familiar with the Indian  work that has made its way out of advertising and into wider culture. That’s the beauty of the internet and the generosity of the creative community to share ideas that excite them. I’m looking forward to seeing local work that I’m not aware of from the local independent shops.

     

    While India has a rich past of storytelling and our advertising industry has attracted top draw talent, we don’t do very well at the international awards. In fact at the 2015 D&AD Awards, India has bagged only 19 Pencils, down from 25 last year. What would you attribute as the reason for this?

    Yeah, interesting question. I don’t believe it’s down to talent, or the lack of it. My guess  is it isn’t the work, D&AD was tough this year. A lot of work I rated didn’t pick up. I think work that is strong locally has to do itself justice when it’s presented.  If we have no cultural reference it’s hard to judge. So make sure your case studies  do your idea justice and explain  its relevance in your market. I’m seeing work already that I expect to do very well internationally but I’d tweak the case study or take a little more time on the  background set up. I think Tim Lindsey did a talk here last year… could your bronze be a gold. He’s spot on.

     

    I asked this question also to the Foreman last year: what are the values that D&AD brings to an ad award? And what would you say should the winner at the Kyoorius Awards be proud of (given the standards)?

    D&AD and Kyoorius share the same values. they come from the same place. They have the good and the future of the industry at their heart.

     

    A Pencil or Elephant brings a standard and an integrity. Creatives globally strive to reach these standards and  perhaps even more important clients can trust that creativity can be a driving force for their business and not just an agency vanity piece. All my fellow jurors have won at D&AD and want to give picking up an Elephant that same sense of achievement.  But we shouldn’t just see Kyoorius as a D&AD me-too. In many ways it’s faster and more directional than  D&AD. Three out of Eight of my fellow jurors are women. More than any jury I have ever sat on, including Cannes and D&AD.  That says  a lot. If you  win an Elephant, congratulate yourself. They can’t be bought and they are not given lightly.

     

    As the jury foreman of an Indian awards, did you prepare yourself in any way or would you say creativity has no language?

    When you are part of a global network you are used to looking at and interpreting ideas from many countries and many languages. Yes, creativity is universal. The crucial thing is to judge every piece in its context. Our local juries are invaluable. And vocal. Which is good.

     

    One of your jury members is Arun Iyer, who represents Lowe Lintas. The agency doesn’t participate in creative awards. What would be your message to agencies who do not participate in awards like D&AD-Kyoorius?

    A D&AD-Kyoorious award is no vanity piece. They can’t be bought.  The set the standard. They are also recognised by clients locally and globally. Creativity does have a value, great creativity adds value. It can have a dramatic effect on a business’s bottomline.  Of course it’s an agency’s choice, but it’s a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.

     

    One last question: In India, we don’t have multiple national awards. This is only the second year we are having Kyoorius. Does the existence of multiple awards impact the participation of some agencies because of limited budgets for spends on entries?

    I’d urge any agency to look at quality, not quantity when it comes to carving up their awards budget. I’m a champion of Kyoorius because it is good for the industry. From championing brave work to education. I see a need for another award that does this, but I’ve also found an appetite amongst younger creative and agency folk here. I gave a talk  to some younger members of India’s creative community at Kyoorius, and at the end of the talk I told any member of the audience  they could take my email and keep in touch. I expected a couple to email me in a couple of week’s time. No. I’ve been inundated. How cool is that!

     

  • The IAA Inspire Awards were created to celebrate IAA members who have achieved leadership excellence and contributed their vision, ideas, efforts and services

    Srinivasan Swamy & Ramesh Narayan declared IAA Champions

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International Advertising Association has announced its 2015 IAA Inspire Awards winners and will be making presentations at the inaugural 2015 IAA Awards Gala Dinner, following the Leadership Forum on May 18th at the InterContinental Hotel, Park Lane, London.

     

    The IAA Inspire Awards were created to celebrate IAA members who have achieved leadership excellence and contributed their vision, ideas, efforts and services to the advancement of the International Advertising Association; contributed their professional expertise and inspired the marketing communications industry locally, regionally and globally; and pays tribute to the lifetime achievements and services of leaders in the IAA and their contributions to the global marketing communications industry.

     

    The two champions who have been recognized from India and will be honored in London are Srinivasan Swamy, Chairman, R K SWAMY BBDO and President, India Chapter IAA, and Ramesh Narayan, an industry veteran and Hall of Fame awardee at the IAA Leadership Award in 2014.

     

    Heather Leembruggen, Chairman of the IAA Inspire Awards commented: “This year the IAA is proud to initiate the IAA Inspire Awards to salute the leadership and vision of our members and their achievements on the world stage. Our global footprint in over 40 countries worldwide gives IAA members the scope and scale to make a significant contribution towards stimulating, enhancing and building the marketing communications industry worldwide.”

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Srinivasan Swamy said, “These awards are a validation of the active and meaningful role the India Chapter of the IAA has been playing as the leading industry association of its kind in the country. Ramesh and I will accept these awards on behalf of the entire team at the India Chapter”.

     

  • Amit Akali and brother Praful Akali, along with founder-members Huzefa Roowala and Hammad Khan have announced their full-service digital agency, or rather their 'agency for the digital world'

    Amit Akali launches full-service digital agency. So, What’s Your Problem!

    By A Correspondent

     

    There’s hope for public relations practitioners. ‘Cause the creative and assorted ad agency folk can’t write a copy-pasteable press release. They are after all creative, think with both ends of their brains, and think out-of-the-box.

     

    So we meet Amit Akali at the Kyoorius after-party last Saturday and he said he’s gonna make the big announcement on Wednesday. Which he did, and wetransferred us the entire docket. Pictures, logo, a note… all that you need.

     

    Except that the press release wasn’t a typical release. It had everything in it, but we had to put all it in the right place.

     

    But, then, that’s our problem. The boss pays us for figuring the method in the madness.

     

    Okay, so here goes. Amit Akali, we know him. He doesn’t belong to the ruling party in Punjab. He doesn’t even belong to the cricket team that the pre(i)tty dimpled star co-owns.

     

    Akali, Managing Partner and Creative Head of WYP, has over 18 years of experience in advertising, including as National Creative Head of Grey India (with Malvika Mehra) and member of the Grey Global Creative Council. Other than which he’s worked in various agencies: Enterprise Nexus, O&M (Creative Head, Ogilvy Bangalore). Praful Akali, Managing Partner and Strategy Head, is an IIM Lucknow, marketing graduate, and has worked with leading consumer healthcare multinationals (Pfizer, Ranbaxy, Boots Piramal) for seven years before setting up his own healthcare communications agency, Medulla Communications, almost seven years ago.

     

    The other co-founders are Huzefa Roowala (Hozi) who will be Director – Content & Creative and Hammad Khan, Director – Servicing and Technology. Then there’s Ajay Takalkar, Director – Art & Design, and Hensila Kava, Social Media Lead – founder member of social media agency FYA.

     

    ‘What’s Your Problem’ is part of an agency network, which includes partner agency, Medulla. It starts off in over 3000 square feet of office space at Santacruz, in Suburban Mumbai, and a 60-member team with industry leading in-house capabilities in strategy, social media, SEO, SEM, digital media planning, analytics, YouTube marketing, web-development, art and design, UI/ UX, copy and content, video production, animation, etc.

     

    There are some clients on board already. Some work for Flipkart along with Chapter Five and other clients, being Nilgai Foods, Brinc and Indigo Music,

     

    Now was this a creatively written news report? Akalijis, do we get a job?

     

  • Keshav was voted by Clio as one of the Top 12 Global Creative Directors under 30 and Kahini is a second generation art director

    Boutique agency Naidu & Punjabi launched in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Naidu & Panjabi, a boutique creative agency was launched in Mumbai recently. With clients ranging from personal care to hospitality and e-commerce, the agency is helmed by Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi.  Keshav was voted by Clio as one of the Top 12 Global Creative Directors under 30 and Kahini is a second generation art director who grew up literally in the creative department at Lowe Lintas.

     

    Within a few days of inception, they bagged the account for the recently funded, beauty & wellness booking app ‘Ziffi’. A first outing for the agency, the Ziffi ad film also marks the directorial debut of Kunaal Roy Kapur who was also present at the launch party.

     

    Keshav Naidu
    Kahini Panjabi

    Talking about their first client and their agency, Keshav Naidu said – “Naidu & Panjabi was born out of a dire need to harness our creative restlessness. Traditional advertising and creativity needs to be challenged as the world gets smaller by the day. With Naidu & Panjabi we hope to create the perfect conditions for path-breaking, creative collaborations. Ziffi is the kind of new digital service that we don’t realize we need, until we use it. Once you’re hooked, you wonder how you ever managed without it. The real challenge however, is to get people to try something like this. How do you get people to try something they don’t consciously need?”

     

    Kahini Panjabi, describes how they didn’t want to make something that would look like an ad. “We didn’t set out to make an ad film. We wanted to make a funny video that young, urban India would enjoy as entertainment. And somewhere along the way we bumped into Kunaal Roy Kapur who totally gets this demographic.”

     

  • Of the 1419 entries submitted, 163 entries have been nominated across Advertising and Digital categories

    Kyoorius unveils In Book Winners & Blue Elephant nominees

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kyoorius today announced the In book winners at the 2015 Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards. Of the 1419 entries submitted, 163 entries have been nominated across Advertising and Digital categories. These nominated entries, already winners of a ‘Baby’ Elephant, are contenders for the coveted Blue Elephants, and for truly exceptional work, the even rarer Black Elephant.

     

    The complete list of Advertising Awards In Book Winners can be found at: http://awards.kyoorius.com/2015/advertising/in-book-winners-blue-elephant-nominees-2015/

     

    The complete list of Kyoorius Digital Awards In Book Winners can be found at: http://awards.kyoorius.com/2015/digital/in-book-winners-blue-elephant-nominees-2015/

     

    Elephant winners will be announced on Day 2 of MELT 2015 at the Kyoorius Advertising and Digital Awards night on May 22 at the NSCI in Mumbai.

     

    Participating agencies at the 2015 edition of the Kyoorius Awards included DDB Mudra, Ogilvy & Mather,  Madison, BBDO, Grey Worldwide, Contract Advertising, Creativeland Asia, Scarecrow Communication, Linen Advertising, Itsa Brand Solutions, Webchutney, Isobar, RediffusionY&R, Ideas@Work to name a few.

     

    Rajesh Kejriwal

    Said Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO of Kyoorius: “With almost twice as many entries as last year, the jury members were tasked with an immense responsibility to recognise and award all outstanding work submitted to the awards. We’d like to congratulate all the Baby Elephant winners – This is cause for celebration in itself, given Kyoorius and D&AD’s stringent criteria.”

     

    The Blue Elephant is recognised as a symbol of the very highest creative achievement, notes a communique, adding: Kyoorius Awards have no winning tier structure - no gold, silver or bronze, and it is the jury’s prerogative to award one or multiple Blue Elephants in any one category, whereas none in another, if entries are not up to the mark. Alongside the winner all nominations will be featured in the Kyoorius Advertising Awards Annual – distributed to over 5000 corporates and creatives across India – providing an invaluable and unrivaled source of creative inspiration.

     

  • The DMA International ECHO competition began in 1929 as the first direct mail awards show

    DMAi brings ECHO to Asia

    By A Correspondent

     

    DMAi, from 2015, will be the exclusive association to enjoy an expanded affiliation with the DMA International ECHOâ„¢ Competition to funnel entries from across Asia. ECHOâ„¢ Awards honors exceptional creative work that has delivered results. The DMA International ECHO competition began in 1929 as the first direct mail awards show and is currently the oldest direct response awards program in the world.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Thomas Benton, CEO, Direct Marketing Association (DMA), US said “Marketers around the world and the ecosystem that supports them benefit when their trade associations collaborate and put a spotlight on innovation and success.  In that spirit, the Direct Marketing Association is very pleased to be partnering with the DMAi to increase participation in the ECHOâ„¢ awards from DMAi’s breadth of creative and innovative members.  We celebrate this partnership and look forward to seeing DMAi and its members at our annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts in October.

     

    The DMA International ECHO Awards celebrate the best and the brightest data-driven, direct response marketing campaigns from around the world. Those that are honored by receiving an ECHO Award have demonstrated superlative marketing strategy, exceptional insight into audience behavior, a responsible use of data and the ability to conceive and execute inspired creative that delivers an overwhelming return on marketing investment.

     

    DMA India has brought this credible awards program to India since 2012. The DMA India ECHOâ„¢ Awards in 2014 had over 383 entrants from over 150 brands and 70 top agencies in fray locally. Globally India has had an unrivaled run for last two years beating all international participating countries and having won the highest tally of metals at the International Edition.

     

    In an added development, both Vatsal Asher, CEO DMAi & Shelly Singh COO, DMAi, have been appointed as an official International ECHO™ Envoy, for all the hard work they have put into the ECHO’s over the past five years. As an Envoy, they will join the DMA International Ambassador Committee, which is responsible for unifying all of the local international DMA’s as well as being a liaison to the DMA in New York. Vatsal and Shelly join a dignified group which includes ECHO™ Board of Governors, Mark Allen (also a member of the DMA Board of Directors), Debbie Roth, Henry Hoke and Tedd Aurelius.

     

    All entries can now enter simultaneously for both awards, 2015 DMA Asia ECHOâ„¢ Awards and The DMA International ECHOâ„¢ Awards 2015 at a single subsidized entry fee. All qualifying DMA Asia award-winning campaigns will enter into the prestigious International ECHOâ„¢ Awards 2015 bypassing the first round of judging and fast track to the semi-finals of the competition.

     

    The entries are judged on the basis of the regular 15 Business Categories viz, Automotive, Business & Consumer Services, Communications/Utilities, Consumer Products, Education, Financial Products & Services, IT, Insurance, Not-for-Profit and so on. Starting 2014 the expanded DMA ASIA Awards has introduced a new sub-category “Creative Effectiveness” under a new program called “CREATEFFECT” which covers the Direct Response, Craft and Interactive elements of the campaign too.

     

    Grand Jury Chairperson for 2015, Rakhshin Patel, Managing Director, Pi Communications said “For an athlete, the Olympics are the ultimate stage. Data driven marketers share the same feeling about the ECHO™ program. There is indeed no bigger stage to showcase ideas and work that have yielded measurable, tangible, real results. There are many reasons why creative and marketing professionals should be excited about this year’s ECHO™ awards. The most compelling of them is: They deserve to! Their hard work and smart thinking has resulted in many memorable experiences for audiences far and wide. It’s now time to send in those entries, and then wait for the applause to echo in their ears.”

     

  • The agency was chosen following a multi-agency pitch involving major Indian advertising players such as Dentsu Marcom and McVitie's India's incumbent agency Publicis Capital

    DDB Mudra North wins the creative mandate for McVitie’s Biscuits

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra North has won the creative mandate for McVitie’s Biscuits, the flagship brand of United Biscuits in India.

     

    McVitie’s is a global brand present in over 100 countries with a strong heritage in the UK. McVitie’s Digestive is the flagship product of the parent brand in India.

     

    The agency was chosen following a multi-agency pitch involving major Indian advertising players such as Dentsu Marcom and McVitie’s India’s incumbent agency Publicis Capital.

     

    Sonal Dabral
    Vandana Das

    Commenting on the account win, Sonal Dabral, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group said, “McVities is a much loved brand across the world. Having been a fan for the last 14 years, it’s my favourite brand of biscuits and cookies too. We are looking forward to creating some fresh and exciting work on this brand.”

     

    Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra North said, “We are delighted to be associated with McVitie’s, an interesting brand in the FMCG Sector. We look forward to take this brand on a growth path with a communication package that would certainly grab a lot of attention.”

     

  • The Maxus Delhi team will be managing the account under the aegis of Navin Khemka

    Maxus bags media AOR for Shopclues

    By A Correspondent

     

    Maxus has won the prestigious media planning duties for India’s first and largest managed marketplace, Shopclues.com. The Maxus Delhi team will be managing the account under the aegis of Navin Khemka , Managing Partner Maxus .This was won by maxus after a multi agency compettive pitch.

     

    On winning the worthy account Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia expressed, “It is indeed a prestigious win for us and we are thrilled to partner with the Shopclues team and to grow with them as their business scales newer heights. We are particularly excited to bring out the best business-oriented solutions for them.”

     

    Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer said “We are on a very rapid growth orbit and after careful evaluation we decided Maxus will be an ideal partner for driving this growth engine. We are excited to have Maxus on board and confident that their innovative strategic and creative inputs will create the right buzz that we as a brand need today. We expect a lot of superlative work on our brand. Congratulations to Maxus once again”

     

  • Each country sponsor selects the best team from their respective country through a rigorous judging process that includes the country's most well-known Creative Heads

    DDB Mudra Group adds girl power to the Cannes Lions Festival 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shivani Singh
    Stephanie Fernandes

    The DDB Mudra Group has announced that four of its female employees will be representing India at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year.

     

    Shivani Singh and Stephanie Fernandes from DDB Mudra West have been announced as the winners of the Young Lions Print contest. The Young Lions Festival is a country-wise competition hosted every year  by the Times Group, for advertising and marketing’s next generation including all those under the age of 28 and age 30 respectively. Each country sponsor selects the best team from their respective country through a rigorous judging process that includes the country’s most well-known Creative Heads.

     

    Nivedita Agashe

    Out of the top three winning teams chosen by the jury, two teams were from the DDB Mudra Group. The winning team – Shivani Singh, Art Director and Stephanie Fernandes, Creative Supervisor, presented their campaign called ‘Sticky Solutions’ with the idea to expose stupidity, in and around things that have been said to ‘Cause Rape’, for e.g. Chinese Food, Jeans etc. This, hence leading to more social conversations.

     

    Selected as second runner up in this highly competitive contest are Pankaj Nihalani and Prasad Kamtekar, also from DDB Mudra Group.

     

    Nivedita Agashe of DDB Mudra West has been chosen as one of the 12 women from across the world, invited to Cannes Lions’ ‘See It Be It’ initiative.

     

    Initiated in 2014, the ‘See It Be It’ initiative aims to highlight the talented creative women in the industry, accelerate their careers; expose the powers these women bring to the work, and encourage agencies to nurture women’s careers from the inside. As part of See It Be It initiative, across three days (June 21-24, 2015), Nivedita and the rest of the 11 women invitees will be part of an inspirational and educational programme which will take place during Cannes Lions. The agenda will include guided access to the jury rooms, meet and greets with VIP speakers, dedicated sessions by industry leaders and by the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, and a mentorship event supported by SheSays.

     

    Deboleena Chatterjee

    Deboleena Chatterjee, a planner with DDB Mudra West, gave DDB Mudra Group its fourth accolade by being named as one of the winners of the Cannes Confessionals contest, where participants were told to upload a simple 15-second film of themselves to Instagram or Twitter, tagged with #CannesConfessionals, explaining why they were in need of some Cannes Lions inspiration to become better at their job. The winners will be jetted to Cannes for a week of intense exposure to excellence as an official delegate of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

     

     

    Sonal Dabral

    Commenting on this achievement, Sonal Dabral, Chairman & CCO, DDB Mudra Group, said, “We are extremely proud that not one, not two but four of DDB Mudra Group’s young women professionals will be representing the country at this year’s Cannes Lions. This is not only a great achievement, it’s also testimony to the fact that within the new DDB Mudra Group we have some amazing world beating young talent that’s starting to write the future of advertising in India. In a year that Cannes Lions is focusing on gender equality issues by introducing the Glass Lions and commendable initiatives like See it Be it, an all women achievers team from India will be a great example. More power to DDB Mudra. More power to woman power.”

     

     

  • It was raining awards across 37 categories at the annual PromaxBDA India awards

    Zee, MSM steal spotlight at PromaxBDA Awards 2015

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    Zee and MSM walked away with 14 and 13 awards respectively at the PromaxBDA India awards held on Wednesday. Awards across 37 different categories were were presented with Star India coming in third with 10 awards and UTV Entertainment Television Limited and NGC Network won 8 awards each. While Zee bagged 9 Gold and 5 Silver Awards, MSM won 6 Gold and 7 Silver Awards. In all, 31 gold and 31 silver MUSE trophies and six gold and six silver ISIS trophies were awarded.

     

    Earlier, the 12th edition of PromaxBDA India kicked off at the Westin, Mumbai with an opening address by Conference Chair and Colors CEO Raj Nayak. “Short form storytelling has come of age,” he said, “The viewer today has evolved. It’s up to you to catch them head on.”

     

    David Shing, Digital Prophet, AOL began the morning session on an energetic note talking about the various futuristic ideas that are revolutionizing the world. “Personal experience is the new form of entertainment,” he said. Shing highlighted the word ‘Pizzled’ which is a combination of the words pissed and puzzled to describe the feeling a person gets when the person he/she is talking to is constantly busy on the phone during a conversation. “There is an information overload today and bad ads are the uninvited guests to the party.” Shing spent the most part of his talk discussing smart objects like a ring that switches on your television when you write TV in mid-air while wearing it or the same with your fan. Smart objects like the Power Suit, doesn’t require you to carry a wallet around, you merely move the tip of your coat sleeve over the billing machine and your meal is paid for, Shing explained pointing out that we would never see influential persons like President Barack Obama walking around with a wallet. “The new generation is who we should give a shit about,” Shing said, explaining that they are the ones who will be the users of these products in the future. It is all about engaging people in the calm and the chaos, he said.

     

    Nicole Velik of The Ideas Bodega followed, opening with a line that left everyone a little puzzled. “Creativity is everyone’s business,” she said. She went on to explain how once at her workplace, the creative team invited all the other teams; HR, Admin, finance, etc to join them in their brainstorming session, and some amazing ideas popped up. Creativity diminishes as age increases, she pointed out highlighting a few statistics, and it is most often an influential person like a teacher or a parent that kills some part of your creative self by telling you seemingly harmless things like draw within the lines, she said. “When all else fails, role-play,” she said. It helps to thoroughly understand the brand you are trying to sell. Come up with ideas that will get you fired and then pull those ideas back into reality, she advised. “It is much better to tame a wild idea, than to make a boring idea great.”

     

    Liz Dunning of Dunning Penney Jones shared stories of branding across the globe. America doesn’t like foreigners buying into their brands and companies, she said. Europe on the other hand is facing a major invasion by China, as a multitude of Chinese manufacturers are buying into European brands. “Indians sometimes take over a foreign brand and handle it way better than the home country ever could,” she said pointing out India’s vast growth in the industry. American brands are failing because they are not ready to spend, she pointed out. You have to spend on your product and on advertising and branding to make it a success. She cited the example of Cartoon Network and its sister channel Boomerang highlighting how each has a very different approach to branding, yet when you see the advertisements for either you will know they are connected.

     

    The post-lunch session of the day saw two panel discussions. The first one was titled, The Shift: Exploring new demographics, audiences and mind sets. Rajiv Bakshi, VP-Marketing, Discovery Networks, Asia Pacific, South Asia and Ajay Vidyasagar, Regional Director, APAC, Youtube Partnerships, Google were the participants of this discussion. It was moderated by Meenakshi Menon, Spatial Access. The session highlighted key aspects of the digital versus the television medium. The speakers shared relevant insights into each, including costing of content creation, consistency in programming, audience response, advertising, revenue streams and the growth of technology. “If you can bring consumers to have the conversations that you want them to have, then it is a job well done, whether on the internet space or on a TV set,” Menon said, concluding debate one.

     

    The next debate concentrated on the art of making a pitch to a client. ‘Pitch Therapy: A two-way conversation about the challenges of engagement’ was the topic of discussion which saw four participants; Kartik Sharma, MD, Maxus, South Asia, Paritosh Painter, Network Creative Director, Reliance Broadcast Network, Abhijit Joshi a former Ogilvy employee and Namit Sharma a former Zee employee. During the due course of this session  moderated by Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network, pointers on what to do and what not to do during a pitch were discussed. Know what your client wants, have a conviction and transfer that conviction to your client and believe in your pitch is what was unanimously agreed upon. “You have to sell your idea in the first 20 seconds,” Painter said. Pitching an idea is just like wooing your boyfriend or girlfriend, Joshi added.