MxMIndia

Category: Awards

  • … even though many of the Big Boys have stayed away again. With less than a week for Goafest 2019, we speak with Abby Awards Governing Council chief Shashi Sinha

    Some good work, some surprises…

     

    With less than a week to go for the Goafest, the annual convention of the advertising and media industry, all eyes are on the Abby Awards. While some of the big names are missing, the overall numbers are roughly the same with a new set of entrants in the digital, publishing, broadcast and PR domains. MxMIndia spoke with veteran industryperson, CEO of IPG Mediabrands India and Chairman of the Awards Governing Council of the Abby Awards to get a feel of the Abby this year

     

    You’ve headed the Awards Governing Council in the past. And we know it’s perhaps one of the most thankless jobs in the media association ecosystem. So why did you get drawn into it again?

    I am part of this great industry and I’m very fond of Ad Club and the fraternity. I realised there aren’t too many people willing to take on the responsibility and someone with the wherewithal had to take it on. So when the President asked me, I said okay to it.

    Getting to the critical question upfront… participating in the awards is at a new low this year. Other than Lowe and Ogilvy and a few other biggies staying away, even last year’s #1 Social Street isn’t participating this year

    While I will give you the exact numbers in Goa, broadly they are in the same ballpark. Last time, it was 2700 entries, this year it may approximately be 30-40 entries less than that. But there is at least a 15-20% increase in media, and unlike last year, this time we have managed to get all agencies. So media has gone up dramatically this year. Similarly, the other categories that have gone up are Digital and PR. Yes, the drop has been in Creative. And that is primarily because of one agency which has come in which is, like you correctly said, is Social Street. They had some 300 entries last year. But there is a surprise entrant which has come in a nice way, and that’s Dentsu.

    But Taproot isn’t entering…

    Yes, Taproot hasn’t come. But other Dentsu creative agencies have entered

    While you say that other categories have grown, isn’t Goafest and the Abby all about the Creative Abby?

    I did try reaching to almost all agences, and we met the big boys who didn’t participate. And I am unhappy to report it that despite my meeting them 3-4 times, they didn’t come in. But no one is going to fault me for not trying. I went to Lowe, McCann, Publicis, JWT, Taproot… I went everywhere. Without giving names, some said we wish to participate, but we don’t have work this time. Someone said that you came late, you should have come earlier. Someone spoke of scams. So various people have their points of view. I can’t argue with them.

    Is it because of the rankings, since you now have the ‘Agency of the Year’ title?

    Well, even when we did not have the Agency of the Year, people would still put out the ranking.

    It’s possible to bring India and Pakistan on the discussion table, one can get North and South Korea to talk, but it’s not possible to get all the agencies here.

    I can tell you with all honesty, I put my might behind it. As I said, I met most people many times, and they were very receptive. But we have some clients participating directly even though their agencies are staying away.

    Like we saw in the Effies, where Hindustan Unilever participated directly since Lowe was staying away. Moving on, how was the judging with the second year of the Master Jury. How do you find the quality of entries?

    Very good. This year, we had the Master Jury for the Media Abby also. All the agency and network heads. There are basically two points of view: One, like every year, some have said the quality wasn’t as good. But there were others, who said the work was much better than last year. I am also delighted that many production houses and TV channels have entered some amazing work.

    Is it?

    Yes, and I hope they win. It will be a slap to some of the naysayers. Because finally it is all about content. Good content will and should win.

    On the composition of the Master Jury, we didn’t have anyone from Ogilvy yet again?

    I reached out to Sonal Dabral. He did not come back to me. There were a few who had agreed to be there, but couldn’t make it because of some last-minute engagement.

    Any surprises, stand-outs this year?

    Overall you will see good work. I don’t know who the winner is because I have not done the tally… the auditors do it. Guess there may be scams this time too, but I saw a lot of real work. I saw some films which were excellent. While I would like you to be there and see things for yourself, but I was mighty pleased with some of the digital work and the entries of the television channels.

    Any surprises?

    Who knows, you could well see some.

     

     

  • The festival is a precursor to Cannes and every year many Cannes aspirants test their work at Montreux

    Montreux fest entries closing date extended to April 17

    By A Correspondent

     

    The 30th edition of Golden Award of Montreux Advertising Festival is scheduled this year at Montreux in Switzerland on April 25. Well, we’ve already written about that. The last date for entries has now been extended to April 17.

     

    The 2018 Golden Award of Montreux received more than 3,400 entries from 38 countries last year. The jury members include Ajay Chandwani, Director – Percept Ltd, amongst many others.

     

     

  • Sanjeev Kotnala has attended every edition of Goafest, and is looking forward to yet another edition

    Upclose view of a Loyalist

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    I was recently telling someone that I am one of the few who has attended every season of Goafest since inception.  I was stumped when she asked, what has changed and what should change at Goafest. Moreover, she wanted to know, why should someone attend Goafest? In spite of my being a loyalist, the questions pushed me rethink. It would have been different thing if Miss2016 was to ask me the same questions.

    I have been part of Goafest in all possible avatars. As a delegate, sponsor, sisrupter, award-winner, jury and Ppress. Have witnessed it morph from the Special-Invitees-only-Conclave on Day One to a three-day festival where delegates have the choice of days they want to attend.

    I felt the pain of few classical Goafest properties slowly vanishing from the festival radar. I remember the days when beer was freely available. I also remember the year when delegates were given coupons restricting the number of pints they could get, to now when with sporadic availability of beer.

    There used to be stalls lining your way to the knowledge hangers on the beach. Now we have replaced them with technology activation ports in the corridor and lobby area.

    The open-air after-parties on beach Cavelossim used to end early and continued in hotels, shacks, casinos and restaurants. Now they stretch to early mornings in closed halls.

    I know the delegates enjoyed rain dance. It is no longer a part of the fest.

    The knowledge seminars have moved out of humid hangers to air-conditioned halls. The knowledge seminar mix slowly morphing to spirituality, celebrities and authors, they say, everything swad anusar.

     

    Goafest, Not Everything Has Changed.

    Everything has not changed. Few things have retained their historical perspective.

    The association with Goa and festivity has further strengthened without any efforts.  The ticket counters have the same standardised looks. You still have to come back to collect the conference kit.

    Even with some large agencies deciding against participating in the awards, the enthusiasm and excitement along with the noise levels have not decreased. It’s best to stop asking such questions of award participation and just celeblrate Abby.

    The lucky draws along with other promotions have failed to increase visitors in the display area.

    The core teams organising the event has remained wel-represented by dedicated industry people with very low infusion of fresh blood.

    The delegate mix has moved towards smaller and digital agencies. However, marketers are still trying to find the answer to the big question; why attend Goafest? And while things were finding their coordinates in this flux, the media owners and brands continued to sponsor Goafest.

     

    Changes, I Wish To See At Goafest.

    This will not be the first time I am sharing my wishlist. I have been contributing my suggestions  through my blog and my column. I am thankful that few of them have even implemented.

    I will start with time management. There have been tremendous efforts on this agenda. And the results are apparent. However, we have a long way to go.

    I wish the organisers were stricter with the speaker’s time slot. I wish they were blunt and if necessary rude enough to end the session if it was exceeding time limit. Personally, I will respect them more if they are bold enough to start the morning sessions irrespective of the attendance. Why should the delegates who wake up early so that they are on time for the session be penalised?

    I wish Goafest introduce extra premium chairs and seat reservation for the session(s) or the day. I know many will be more than willing to check them out. May be introduce exclusive seating (with table) for the press to help them file their stories and cover the event better. If you do so, make sure there are enough seats.  More essential, ensure that these are occupied by media people accredited for the event and not people from media.

    I wish that the moderators are better prepared for discussion with the speakers and don’t sleepwalk through the proceeding. Someone trains the panelist on how to face the audience and not show them the shoulder.

    I wish the questions-answer sessions are not cancelled because of the speaker over-running his or her schedule. And, if possible, the panel that selects the questions for the speaker does not know the identity of the persons raising the question. There have been some low-level mummers of selection panel bias.

    If it’s Goafest, add some local flavour in food, welcome kit, side tours, entertainment and games. Goafest hardly has any Goa in it, and everyone has to make his or her own efforts to add Goa to the festivity. So, don’t be surprised that many continue to wear extra wide cane caps and floral shirts to the event.

    It will be great if the speakers do not overtly plug their services. If possibly a team should vet the presentations before the session to see the delegates are getting their dues.

    Hopefully, we will not have any speaker known to question advertising associations ethics and self-regulation. You know how touchy I am on this subject.

     

    Why Attend Goafest?

    Some questions should be left unanswered. Attending Goafest cannot have a logical answer. You like it, you attend Goafest. It’s that simple.  It got nothing to do with Goa, beaches, Feni, parties and festivity. Goafest almost always met expectations and promised to deliver more. It is still evolving!

    The jam-packed schedule of interesting knowledge sessions, the evening entertainment and the after parties at Grand Hyatt leave not much time for you to explore anything else. In fact, I will not be surprised if you think it was GrandHyattFest and not Goafest.

     

    On the other hand, I can suggest that you attend Goafest for precisely five reasons:

    (1) Knowledge seminars. And if you get just three seminars that work for you, you are done.

    (2) Networking. It all depends upon you, how you work it out

    (3) The After-parties. Best enjoyed with a group of friends and they go late at night

    (4) Work Display. Go through the shortlisted entries. Maybe you will pick some idea subliminally, expand on it, improvise it and morph it into something even better.

    (5) Relax and if you have an unfinished story– just wait for it to find its ending.

     

     

  • Sanjeev Kotnala, who has been at every edition of the fest-cum-awards, offers handy tips on navigating Goafest 2019

    Getting the most out of Goafest

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Goafest was fun when it used to be held at the Cavelossim Beach. It was hot and humid. One needed sunglasses, a hat and suntan lotion as standard accessories to navigate through the venue. I have been one of the stupids who questioned the relevance of some of fun activities including raindance, and I regret it.

    Certain limitations, costs, security, liabilities and other management issues moved Goafest to a hotel venue. The air-conditioning is excellent and the sessions are mighty comfortable. There used to be sundowner, after-hours party and enough beer to go around. But, in the process, Goafest missed out on both GOA and the FEST.  The fun element had taken a beating.

    It still holds its charm. It provides ample opportunities for ice-breaking, networking, training, knowledge sharing, deal closure and even informal business commitments. And it keeps evolving with time.

    This year we are moving to Unplugged entertainment of 30 minutes right after lunch. It may be a tough act. However, it achieves few things. It used lunch break as stage set-up time. It wakes up and recharges delegates. It gets them into the hall early and hence help in starting the post-lunch knowledge session on time.  Moreover, it allows the awards to start early without the long entertainment set-up period. And that will help start the after-parties early. My issues with this masterstroke are very few. Why even have these 30 minutes of entertainment. And such entertainment on a full stomach… does it sync? It may not work.  On top of it: just a 30-minute performance? What are we trying to do?

    For all we know, this is a mellowed down version of the real disruptive idea. Have the entertainer or the star performer as first slot of the day to help start conference on time.

     

    Goafest is fun when you are a part of a group.

    It’s pure fun when you are part of a group nominated by your organisation to attend Goafest. However, there is another subset of delegates. Independent individuals. These are start-up guys, entrepreneurs, small agency owners, media representatives and consultants. For them, it is a challenge to be a part of a group for long. And that includes the group from your ex-organisation.

    Whatever may be the subset you belong to, Goafest becomes chaotic by Day 2. It does not matter how big your group is. And by Day 3, people are bored of being with the same colleagues. The conversations dry up.  At this stage, Zombies takes over. You find delegates missing knowledge sessions and relaxing in their rooms. Sometimes it is just late-night partying and stressed out socialising/ networking that is the culprit. Sometimes, it’s the sequencing of the sessions.

     

    So, what can you do at Goafest?

    Get up early.  Take a walk along the beach. Many of you may not be near the beach. It’s okay, catching the early morning soft-flowing Goa breeze is a fabulous experience.

    Spend some time watching the shortlisted entries. Move to the display area early in the morning when the rest of the delegates are still deciding what to do. Now that you are there, don’t just glance over them, invest time. Study and understand them. If you find something that stuns you, compliment that agency or people when you meet.  Sometimes this is the best way to network. Everyone wants more appreciation!

    Pick the 2-5 sessions you definitely want to attend. Pick the first half and close it with the Unplugged session or may be start your day with it.

    Use your fingers and check about the author and the subject. Priming dry land before showers always helps. You will find that your interest in the subject and session gets enhanced. May be you already have the question you want to ask. Draft it and save it in your SMS. And when the time comes, plug that in the Goafest App.

    Avoid the sessions you do not want to attend. Don’t get pulled into them for any reason. The time is better utilised at the display area, networking outside, having drinks or just relaxing. I recommend early morning or the lunch time extending into the Unpugged session for this. There is nothing more tiring than listening with resourcefulness to something you are not interested in.

    Remember, networking and introductions happen in less crowded situations. So, create opportunities by being early at the start of the day, post-lunch session and awards night. A wee bit earlier than the hall doors open up and you may find it rewarding in term of connects you make. Do work like a homing pigeon. Make the networking worth for the other person too. So be ready with your deeply researched true networking opening conversation.

    Find the missing GOA in Goafest. Step out. Go to another beach. Eat at shacks. Have streetfood with friends. Find that lovely seafood joint or just land up at a casino for the adventure. Do something beyond Goafest!

    Most importantly, switch-off your e-mail and social media notifications. Do continue to post from the fest. People must know you are there. And respect the speaker, organisers and delegates by putting your phone on silent when you are attending any session.

    Find out the free Wi-Fi spots and passwords at the hotel. Check the connectivity. And at night update all your apps.

    Place three-alarms on your phone. Slot 15-20 minutes for an unhurried clean-up and replies of your inbox. Maybe at 0830, 1330 and 1830 Hrs.  Practice upward delegation. Check up how you can stop playing e-mail ping-pong and kill it with a phone call.

    Trust me, if there is fire, the right people have your number to reach you. Use your mobile camera to capture the moods, selfies and groupies. Select the picture you want to keep, delete all others and post the images (if you’re going to) then and there. Timing is everything.

    This Goafest, may you get what you deserve from it. May it create an all-new benchmark and reference of what to do in future. And may I meet Miss2016.

     

     

  • The Conclave had the marketing chiefs of the leading e-commerce brands, Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra explain to the audience the dramatic changes that have taken place in the field of digital marketing

    Day1@Goafest: E-commerce calls the shots at Industry Conclave

    By Rahul Chandawarkar

     

    E-commerce held centre stage on Day 1 of Goafest 2019 which kicked off at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Bambolim, Goa on Thursday, April 11.

    Sponsored by Discovery Channel, the Industry Conclave had the marketing chiefs of the leading e-commerce brands, Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra explain to the audience the dramatic changes that have taken place in the field of digital marketing.

    Ravi Desai, Vijay Sharma, Achint Seti and Velumani

    Ravi Desai, director, mass and brand marketing, Amazon India explained how the old system of ‘pen portraying’ a customer was completely passé now. Desai said that Amazon India had created a mind-boggling 1,00,000 digital advertisments during Diwali 2018 to address hundreds of customer-types across multiple segments.

    Desai explained how primetime TV advertising was also passé. According to the senior executive, the modern-day, urban consumer was consuming content in very different ways. Desai demonstrated with the help of a video clip, how consumers were comfortable directing Amazon’s artificial intelligence device, Alexa to play songs of their choice on Amazon’s Echo, smart speaker system. “If consumers are hooked to this, we need to devise ways and means to catch their attention on this platform,” Desai said.

    Citing the example of his teenaged son and his friends, Desai said that multiple TV channels did not interest these teenagers anymore. “They were more keen to play PUBG ( Player Unknown’s Battleground), the popular, online multiplayer game and live streaming video games. Our advertising needs to cater to these new trends,” Desai said.

    Quoting Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who said, “Focus obsessively on customers,” Desai explained how building customer loyalty was a prime objective at Amazon. According to Desai, the ‘Amazon Prime’ programme where a customer paid INR 129 every month to avail of a free and fast delivery, advertisement free video streaming, audio streaming and exclusive deals was a step in this direction.

    Likewise, Vijay Sharma, associate director, brand marketing and head digital media, Flipkart said that digital marketing and digital brands had changed the face of modern-day marketing. According to Sharma, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) like Coke and Pepsi had made way for brands like Apple and Google as the world’s leading brands.

    Explaining the challenge of digital marketing, Sharma said that artificial intelligence was being used extensively by Flipkart to run its latest advertising and marketing campaign, ‘The Big Billion Days’.

    Multiple celebrities and models were roped in to run the popular, ‘Ab Hoga (name of city) budget se mukt!’ digital marketing campaign, which was made to reach a wide audience across the entire country.

    In a similar vein, Achint Setia, vice president – marketing, Myntra, explained how the modern-day customer was consuming information across a wide variety of platforms like the internet, television and the android phone. “In such a scenario, we necessarily have to use artificial intelligence to make a customer experience a joyful moment with the mere touch of  button,” Setia said.

    Explaining that Myntra was a cool and youthful brand, Setia said that the company had put a customer loyalty programme titled, ‘Myntra Inside’ in place. With the help of a video clip, Setia demonstrated how the programme treated the customer to a personality make-overs, gifted new dresses and curated the experiences of the customers using cutting edge technology. Myntra also gifted select customers overseas trips.

    Earlier in the afternoon, popular singer Shaan regaled the audiences with many of his hit Bollywood songs and also sang several English-Hindi medleys.

    The audiences were also regaled and kept spellbound by a very peppy presentation made by Dr A Velumani, creator and managing director of Thyrocare, the company which has made a mark in the field of healthcare. Velumani touched many a chord when he narrated his rags to riches story. Advocating the philosophy of frugality, Velumani explained how he did not own a home despite being very rich. “As an entrepreneur I feel it is more important to grow my business and create more employment,” Velumani said.

     

    Rahul Chandawarkar, a former newspaper editor, is a communications strategist and superactive triathlete based in Goa. He has been covering Goafests for MxMIndia since 2017.

     

  • A singing Mary Kom, CSR and the social sector bring down curtains on Goafest 2019, reports Rahul Chandawarkar

    Day3 Goafest 2019: Mary Kom, CSR and social sector rule conversation

    By Rahul Chandawarkar

     

    Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the social sector was the common thread that bound most presentations together on the final day of the third day of Goafest which concluded at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Bambolim, Goa on Saturday, April 13.

     

    Matt Eastwood, global chief creative officer, McCann Health who spoke in the National Geographic knowledge seminar in the afternoon said that while the world was going through tough times, it was also a time for advertising professionals across the world to be agents of positive change.

     

     

    Day3@Goafest2019: Key Takeaways

    :: Increased involvement by corporates in CSR projects had given rise to the concept of ‘return on doing good’ (RODG).

    :: Hi-end technology platforms like Artificial Intelligence (AI) were helping creativity reach new heights.

    :: The United Nations were keen that 50 per cent of its sustainability development goals (SDG) should emerge out of India.

    :: One of the speakers redefined the four Ps of marketing as purpose, people, passion and physical.

     

    Rahul Chandawarkar, a former newspaper editor, is a communications strategist and active triathlete based in Goa. He has been covering the Goafest for mxmindia.com since 2017. 

    Eastwood said that in a competitive world, business enterprises had realised that if they made a positive impact on society though the corporate social responsibility route, their brands stood to gain. Eastwood went on explain how increased involvement by corporates in CSR projects had given rise to the concept of ‘return on doing good’ (RODG).

     

    Citing an India example, Eastwood explained how the Kwality Dairy milk company had chosen to address the problem of Vitamin D deficiency among Indian school children through a very innovative CSR project.

     

    Kwality Dairy had managed to convince 50 schools in the Delhi region to shift their open-air assembly timings to 1130am, so that children could be exposed to peak sunlight for at least 20 minutes of the day. Several hundred more schools had shown interest in implementing this idea. According to Eastwood, this innovative initiative on the part of Kwality Dairy would directly benefit the brand, as the brand would have top-of-the-mind recall when parents made a decision to buy milk for their children.

     

    Among the several, international CSR examples that Eastwood shared with the audience, was the one initiated by Microsoft where, they created an information technology supported game which enabled physically disabled children to play video games. According to Eastwood, this ‘let everybody play’ philosophy of Microsoft would positively impact the brand.

     

    Earlier in the day, Ross Jauncey, Head of Create at Google spoke along similar lines in the Google keynote address and said: “The best time for creativity was now.”

     

    Jauncey was of the opinion that hi-end technology platforms like Artificial Intelligence (AI) were helping creativity reach new heights. Demonstrating this through a video clip, Jauncey showed how the recently launched Kupu app was helping people shoot photos on their android phone and learn the aboriginal, Maori language in New Zealand.

     

    Similarly, Jauncey pointed out to a Nike advertisement campaign on multiple digital platforms which supported the anti-racism movement by featuring several sporting champions across the various continents of the world.

     

    Society and the social sector once again resonated in the joint presentation made by Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu, co-authors of the popular books, Jugaad and Frugal Innovation. Radjou and Prabhu who spoke in the Lokmat Knowledge Seminar maintained that while the spirit of ‘jugaad’ or innovative business practices was ingrained in the Indian business person’s psyche, the concept of doing business with less had spread across the globe.

     

    Citing some examples, the authors said that a major consumer clothing brand like Levis had recently launched their ‘wasteless jeans’ created from plastic waste. The company had also promoted their ‘go water-less’ campaign where they recommended that their jeans did not have to washed regularly and that you could even shower in your jeans, the next time you want them washed to drive home the recycle-reuse mantra.

     

    Turning their attention to India, the authors said that the United Nations were keen that 50 per cent of its sustainability development goals (SDG) should emerge out of India. The authors were confident that this was completely possible as they discussed chapters from their latest book, ‘Do better with less!” which showcased many an example of Indian innovative entrepreneurship (jugaad) across India.

     

    Later in the early evening, Phil Kemish, co-founder of Disrupt Marketing speaking at the MTV knowledge seminar redefined the four Ps of marketing as purpose, people, passion and physical.

     

    Exemplifying some of these Ps, Kemish stated how UK’s new chocolate brand, Tony’s Chocolonely had launched their product by pointing out that they were against all cocoa farms in Africa which employed children. Kemish pointed out that the brand had mentioned their values and beliefs on their wrappers and had launched their product solely on the basis of word of mouth publicity.

     

    Finally, Ambarish Mitra, co-founder of Blippar who spoke at the Jagran Knowledge Seminar had the audience in awe as he introduced them to the relatively new, hi-tech concept of augmented reality (AR). Mitra did this by virtually creating a retail store on stage complete with garments etc which he could literally sift through. According to Mitra, AR and visual reality (VR) were the fourth and latest stages in the evolution of computing interface.

     

    The final day also stood out with India’s boxing icon, Mary Kom surprising everyone by giving a near-professional rendition of the popular, Alanis Morissete song, “What’s going on!”. Likewise, Bollywood singer Mohammed Irfan and actor Pankaj Tripathi entertained everyone with their songs and anecdotes respectively.

     

  • Here is a detailed list of all the entries that bagged the Creative and Media Abby Awards

    All the Abby Awards 2019 – Creative (including Specialised) + Media

    Day 1 Press Release_2019

     

    Day 2 Press Release_2019

     

    Day 3 Press Release_2019

  • It was yet another year of rationalisation and tweaking of Abby Award categories

    Viacom18, and not a creative agency, tops Creative Abby 2019

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Goafest 2019 came to an end on Saturday evening with broadcaster Viacom18 bagging the Creative Company of the Year at Abby 2019.

     

    Commenting on the winners, Shashi Sinha, Chair of the Awards Governing Council, Abby Awards, said: “It has been another great year of the Abby Awards We’re happy that the big winners are in Audio Visual. We have taken certain steps to encourage entries in those specific categories. We’ve opened up, bifurcated and streamlined certain categories to enable that. A lot of the work that has been entered here is very good work.”

     

    On the rise of digital that was evident in the list of Abby winners, Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club, added: “This has been the best year for digital ever. People are realising now what the true power of the platform is. Earlier digital was an add on, now with the advancement of the platforms the syntax has to change. In the shortlists there was almost 50-50 between digital and broadcast.”

     

    Adding on to the evolution of digital, Ashish Bhasin President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said: “In a few years we won’t differentiate between a digital agency and a non-digital agency, because down the line if an agency cannot do digital, I don’t think it can retain business. This is the democratisation that I was talking about, the market has opened up so that not only the big names, but even smaller and boutique companies are coming in with good work.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, Chairman – Goafest 2019 on the tweaking and rationalisation of award categories: “There is a proactive effort we have made to be fair to all constituencies, through our various categories. At present we see more affinity towards some categories while maybe some years down the line merging of a couple of categories will make sense. While the market and field evolves, we as custodians of the market standards will simultaneously evolve to reflect those changes.”

     

    There were a total of 2700 entries across the various creative and media categories.

     

  • Goafest veteran Sanjeev Kotnala reviews the three-day annual festival of creativity held last week

    Goafest2019: What You Missed & What They Messed

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    On Day 2 of Goafest2019, I tweeted ‘This is best Goafest Day ever’. Few have asked me as to what made me say so? Honestly, it has nothing to do freely availability of cold beer, lovely breakfast at Grand Hyatt or that the unfinished story had a new beginning. I will answer it at the end of this article.

    What was important was something entirely different.

     

    BLURRING OF LINES AT GOAFEST2019.

    Goafest2019 awards reflected reality. The lines defining the roles and expectations in the industry are blurring. The only relevant definition is being ‘creative solution contributor to growth’. The pseudo-line of controls like digital, creative, craft, print, traditional are no longer relevant.

    It surprises me when some industry stalwarts fails to recognise the new reality.

    What is there to be shocked of, if a digital agency wins PR Agency of the Year, a digital agency is the Direct Marketing Agency of the Year and a TV station is the Creative Agency of the Year. If you look at the second row of awards, you will find more such surprises.

    You can’t limit the scope of any organisation by the charter and contract. The festival itself has moved away from a sharply focussed singularly stated theme (Like Brand Dharma) to a broader eclectic mix of sessions.

    However, when Viacom18 won the top creative award, there was no point in rechristening it as ‘Company of the Year’. The era of brand purpose and growth, instead of relooking at redefining who can enter or who is an agency or a company, we should move to purpose-agnostic ‘Organisation’ terminology.

     

    MORE REAL WORK WINNING AT GOAFEST2019.

    The scam quotient is under control. The awards juries have been phenomenal. More Real Work Is Winning, as said by Shashi Sinha, Chair, Awards Governing Council GoaFest2019.

    The displaying of the Abby Shortlist for people to file objection seems to be working. I wish they displayed not just a list but also the complete entry. For example, how would anyone know what is the creative associated with ‘Meri Doosri Country’ campaign by Sony Ten 2’s for the FIFA World Cup 2018, until it is accessible?

    If the full entry is displayed at the Shortlist level, it will solve my second demand automatically. I have voiced it many times. At Goafest2019, I personally spoke with people managing the show. We must make available full winning entries for the public. It can quickly be done digitally.

    It will help demonstrate that genuine creative is winning at the festival. And students and practitioners who could not make to Goafest2019 will have access to this precious information.

     

    SCAM PREVENTION IS NOT JUST GOAFEST’S RESPONSIBILITY.

    No awards body can control and check a scam winner. They rely on the client and the agency collectively signing an undertaking about creation, inspiration, originality and exposure.

    If a scam does happen after this, we must look inwards and question our inaction. To stop scam winners, we have to act like a professional vigilance team. Just like citizen vigilance helps stop terrorism, only professional vigilance can stop scam entrants.

    So, for a moment think about how you can contribute. Pledge that next time when anyone seeks help to stop such scams, you will find the time to raise objections if any.

     

    KNOWING EVERYTHING DOES NOT COUNT.

    Day 1- started with Dr A Velumani of Thyrocare shaking up delegates. Presenting his story of struggle and hardship, dedication, passion and nothing to lose approach.  Ravi Desai of Amazon followed it with ‘7 seminal shifts’ in marketing.

    I sat through Ravi’s presentation with a bored expression. I know all this. What are you adding to my knowledge?

    Later at night, I was discussing it with dear friend Sumit Roy of Univbrands, he questioned my reaction. I realised where my bias was creeping in. There is a huge gap between  ‘I know Vs. I think Vs. I act’. Our knowledge has changed, but behaviour has not seen a shift. There is a need for individual behavioural change and attitude re-referencing before we can expect industry level shift.

    By the time we had Phil Kemish, Co-Founder, Disrupt Marketing and Brandtrepreneur, speaking about the four Ps (Purpose, People, Passion and Physical – bringing the brand to life) of marketing attitude. I was a different listener, a different delegate.

    Once, you realise and want to bridge the gap between  ‘I know Vs. I think Vs. I act’, your reaction as a delegate will change.

     

    THINGS REDEFINED AT GOAFEST2019.

    Overall, there is a tremendous change. We are getting better at time management. I still do not subscribe to Chairman or anyone extending any session. It happened during Unplugged and few knowledge sessions.

    The shifting of live entertainment to just after lunch slot worked. It eased the pressure on the evening schedule. It helped in starting post-lunch sessions and the evening awards on time. It also ensured that in the after-party, there was enough time to serve drinks before the 1 am closure deadline.

    The festival delegate average age is sharply falling. There is a shift towards smaller organisations and digital companies participating. Suddenly, it felt as if I was in some other industry do.

    However, there is a significant change in the number of delegates visiting display areas. I am sure they are interested, but the tight schedule of sessions and awards leave no time. May be we can make them available on a pen drive as part of the festival kit. I am not sure how does this impact sponsorship, or it opens space for further activities.

    One understands and appreciates the magical sponsor slot. However, it needs to be monitored and curated in terms of straight plugging and content. The way Google launched Google Creative was absolutely understandable and appreciated. However, everyone was not like Google. Some brands overtly pushed their agenda masquerading as knowledge.

     

    GOAFEST2019. DAY-2. THE BEST DAY EVER.

    The Day 2 had an absolutely fantastic set of speakers in the knowledge session. Madonna Badger opened the day with talking about ‘Women are not objects’. She made her case with examples – Women are equal, but their objectification makes them less than equal. Gorden Bowen made a strong case for creativity. He pointed out the need to be Creativity Lead, data-driven and tech-supported way of working.  Barry Wacksman empathised on the need to be proactively being a disruptor.

    Harshvardansinh Zala, Founder and CEO Aerobotics, topped this with an exciting session. He is just 16. His inspiring talk made the delegates look inward. It at least made me re-evaluate my journey. Lt Gen Hooda spoke of training and values defining the work ecosystem in armed forces. More than talking of the Uri attack, he sensitised delegates sitting in the comfort of an AC, the hardship frontline soldiers face at the border in extreme positions.

    Cricketer Virender Sehwag batted all questions upping the run rate. Part of the leadership series, he differentiated three leadership styles with relatable examples. Saurav Ganguly; creating the team, Anil Kumble; setting the target and keeping focus, and MSD- getting work done by the team.

    The only blip on Day 2 was Sidhant Chaturvedi and Kalki Koechlin talk. It went nowhere in spite of the interviewer Kubbra Sait trying her best. Jonita Gandhi’s unplugged session was nice. She got the crowd involved and moving with her.

     

    GOAFEST2019. CHANGE AND STRUGGLE THE NEW CONSTANTS.

    Change is a constant. The struggle is another constant in life. Without it, even the change does not make sense. Struggle in life happens at multiple fronts. In a multi-dimensional festival like GoaFest, it’s a churn towards the better.

    This time round there was so much learning in what is loosely called celebrity slots. Harshwardansinh Zala, Lt Gen Hooda, Virender Sehwag, Pankaj Tripathi and Mary Kom. You could have them as entertainment and/or as an inspiration. The choice is yours. But do put your filter through the test of the filter of ‘I know Vs. I think Vs. I act’

    Unlike the Mumbai roads that are repaired just before the monsoon, I hope Goafest management committee will visit the challenges now, much in advance. And we will have a brilliant Goafest 2020 on 10-11-12 April, the second Thursday-Friday-Saturday of April.

     

     

    TOMORROW: GOAFEST2020. Unsolicited advice to help make it better.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is a senior marketing and strategy consultant. His columns appear on MxMIndia every Wednesday and on special occasions. The views here are personal

     

     

  • Senior advertising professionals from across the globe reiterated the fact that creativity still ruled the roost despite the advent of high technology in the making of advertising commercials, notes Rahul Chandawarkar

    Day2@Goafest2019: Creativity takes centrestage

    By Rahul Chandawarkar

     

    BAMBOLIM (Goa): Creativity took centrestage on Day 2 of Goafest 2019. Senior advertising professionals from across the globe reiterated the fact that creativity still ruled the roost despite the advent of high technology in the making of advertising commercials.

     

    Gordon Bowen, founder and global chairman of McGarryBowen was of the opinion that creativity would always outlast data. Bowen who was speaking in the morning session of the Knowledge Seminar sponsored by Colors Marathi said that contemporary advertising was creativity led, data supported and technology driven. Driving home his point, Bowen said: “Even the Bible says that God is the creator. Creativity will always remain relevant.”

     

    Day2@Goafest2019: Key Takeaways

    :: Creativity would always outlast data

    :: Majority of the Fortune 500 companies were stagnating and losing the battle to smarter, swifter, digitally savvy companies.

    :: Speed was of essence in the transformation process.

    :: The three key stages of transformation were business transformation, experiential transformation and marketing transformation.

    :: The #Women Not Objects campaign initiated by Badger and Winters agency had made a positive impact in the USA.

    :: The youth in metro and non-metro India no longer thought differently.

     

    Rahul Chandawarkar, a former newspaper editor, is a communications strategist and active triathlete based in Goa. He has been covering the Goafest for mxmindia.com since 2017.

     

     

    Bowen shared several video clips of award winning advertising campaigns designed by his company for United Airlines, Chrysler, Hallmark cards and Chevron where the common thread clearly was the high level of creativity.

     

    Bowen, an unabashed fan of the Indian advertising world, complimented it for its ‘three-pronged’ strengths of being collaborative, humane and passionate.

     

    The same thread was carried forward by Barry Wacksman, vice chairman and global chief strategy officer at R/GA in the afternoon session of the Knowledge Seminar sponsored by MX Player. Pointing out how majority of the Fortune 500 companies had stagnated as they had lost the marketing battle to smaller, more digitally savvy companies, Wacksman said that transformation was the need of the hour for all of them.

     

    Wacksman, who stressed the need for speed in the transformation process, said that it constituted three stages, namely, business transformation, experiential transformation and marketing transformation. He further explained each stage with an advertising intervention created by his company which had helped the client manifold.

     

    For business transformation, Wacksman gave the example of how a banking app (Next Bank) was created in Brazil to encourage the younger generation to use banking services. In the example on experiential transformation, Wacksman explained how his company had used a video of basketball ace Michael Jordan taking a dunk shot wearing a particular model of Nike shoes. This resulted in record sales within two hours of the video being uploaded on the Android platform. Similarly, by introducing a gaming character called ‘Galaxy Skin’ on the Samsung Galaxy Note Pad 9 mobile phone, sales of over 240% was achieved for consumers in the 18-24 age group.

     

    Earlier in the day, Madonna Badger, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Badger and Winters grabbed everybody’s attention when she spoke of her company’s highly visible, #Women Not Objects campaign across the USA. Badger who showed the audience multiple, contemporary product advertisements in which women have been portrayed as mere objects said, “This is an unacceptable situation. Women cannot be portrayed as mere objects.”

     

    Badger also shared a video survey undertaken by her company across the USA which showed how this advertising was having a negative impact on school-going children. Badger has even taken her campaign to the Cannes Lions International festival of creativity to reach out to the advertising fraternity at large.

     

    In the afternoon session, Navin Shenoy, marketing head, youth, music and English entertainment at Viacom 18 made a presentation on the topic of ‘MTV Youth Insights’ giving the audience a peep into MTV’s research wing.

     

    Quoting research figures, Shenoy pointed out the youth in metro and non-metro India no longer thought differently. A significant takeaway of Shenoy’s presentation was that youth from non-metro India was increasingly comfortable living and working in his/her hometowns.

     

    According to Shenoy much of this transformation was because of the reach of television, the internet and social media across the length and breadth of India.

     

    Day 2 at Goafest 2019 was also highly entertaining owing to some very interesting sessions like the one featuring Bollywood actress, Kalki Koechlin and emerging actor, Siddhant Chaturvedi of ‘Gully Boy’ fame and cricketer Virender Sehwag, who had the audience in splits with his easy-going humour.

     

    Child prodigy Harshwardhansinh Zala, all of 16 years old and founder of the Aerobotics 7 technology company had the audience awestruck, while Lt Gen DS Hooda ( retd), the Northern Army commander during the 2016 surgical strikes into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) stirred patriotic emotions and Bollywoood singer Jonita Gandhi had everybody tapping their feet and clapping their hands with her peppy music.

     

  • Goafest veteran Sanjeev Kotnala offers tips to the AAAI & Ad Club thinktank

    Unsolicited advice to help make Goafest2020 better

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    In the article yesterday, I discussed ‘what you missed, and they messed?’ with reference to advertising industry’s biggest festival of creativity and ideas. Goafest2019 finished on April 13, 2019. Like always, it had its own moments of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  There has been tremendous change as the festival keep evolving.

    Here I am sharing few inputs, that may help the Goafest Managing Committee see things differently:

    1. REALIGN. Do meet the absentee agencies now. Show them the new picture and help to get them positively polarised towards the fest.

    2. Launch a Goafest2019 survey among delegates. Provide a platform for free, honest expression and suggestions. Run it with all delegates and all sponsor and organisations on the corporate level.

    3. ENHANCED TRANSPARENCY. STOP SCAMS. Share all entries in their totality at the time of Shortlist. Give it enough time for people to check and raise an objection. Make the association protocol, SOP for objection resolution public.

    4. ENHANCE EFFICIENCY AND FESTIVAL CONSTRUCT. Capture data to make more sense of priorities and preferences. Track people movement. Record entry and exit details from different zones.

    5. TRANSPARENCY. Include a session where jury members express and share what they were looking at, what kind of discussion happened, and what favoured the significant winners.

    6. SESSIONS OF IMMEDIATE RELEVANCE. The festival needs more sessions like the one by Ambarish Mitra, CEO & Founder, Blippar who spoke about augmented reality, virtual reality and its rapid evolution in the marketing and advertising realm.

    7. SCHEDULE SHARING. Speaker schedules should be shared much in advance along with the title and synopsis for every speaker activity. Stop hiding timeline inefficiencies by creating a block of activities. Restrict evening dinner timing. Force discipline and movement to the after-party.

    8. HELPING GETTING SPONSOR THE DUE. (A) Once after-party starts, stop all ports serving drinks. Helps maximise sponsor return from parties. (B) Rightsize and re-position the sponsor logo on stage panels to ensure they are part of the picture frame.

    9. DELEGATE COMFORT.(A) Introduce premium seats that one can pre-book by session or by day. (B) Include a section in the app where the participants can see the complete list of questions asked to a speaker. (C) Let the speakers choose the question, or the moderator choose the question. Or a third panel to select the question to be raised.

    10. GOA QUOTIENT. Think about somehow increasing the missing Goa quotient, else we may as well call it the ‘Hyatt Advertising Fest’. Even if that means adding a feni stall. Floral-print-T-shirts, food items. May be offer some discounts.

     

    Like every piece of unsolicited advice, I hold no liability if it does not give the desired results. So act on your own risk.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is a senior marketing and strategy consultant. His columns appear on MxMIndia every Wednesday and on special occasions. The views here are personal

     

  • Awards have an increased focus on digital, experiential marketing and topical advertising

    Kyoorius announces jury for creative awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The sixth annual Kyoorius Creative Awards has announced its jury chairpersons. These are: Agnello Dias (Chairman & Co-Founder, Dentsu Taproot & Creative Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network India), Amer Jaleel (CCO & Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group), Anita Nayyar (CEO – India & SE Asia, Havas Media Group) and Valerie Madon (Chairwoman – Singapore & CCO, Havas Group SE Asia).

     

    Other jurors include Ajay Gahlaut (CCO, Publicis Worldwide India), Ajit Mohan (VP & MD – India, Facebook), Anusha Shetty (CEO, Autumn Worldwide), Arun Iyer (Founding Partner, Spring Marketing Group), Carlton D’Silva (CEO & CCO, Hungama Digital Services), Deepa Geethakrishnan (NCD – HUL, Lowe Lintas), Farrokh Madon (Chief Creative Partner, Walter Thompson Singapore), Joji Jacob (Co-Founder & Creative Partner, BLK J Singapore), Josy Paul (Chairman, BBDO India), Kainaz Karmakar (Group Creative Director, Ogilvy India), Marco Versolato (CCO, Wunderman Thompson Singapore), Partho Dasgupta (CEO, BARC India), RajDeepak Das (CCO – South Asia, Leo Burnett), Rochelle Chhaya (COO, OMD APAC), Rohit Raj (Co-Founder & CCO, The Glitch), Rodger Beekman (Chief Experience Officer, PwC), Satbir Singh (Founder & CCO, Thinkstr), Senthil Kumar (CCO, Wunderman Thompson India), Siddharth Banerjee (Director – Global Sales Organisation, Facebook India), Sidharth Rao (CEO & Co-Founder, Dentsu Webchutney), Sonal Dabral (CCO – SE Asia & Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy India), and Swati Bhattacharya (CCO, FCBUlka). More jurors will be added and announced soon, notes a communique.

     

    The 2019 Kyoorius Creative Awards invites entries from across India under the Kyoorius Advertising Awards, the Kyoorius Media Awards and the Kyoorius Digital Awards. Submissions for all entries close on May 3, 2019.

     

    Said Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder and CEO, Kyoorius: “The Kyoorius Creative Awards is the advertising industry’s most representative competition, attracting over 3,000 entries every year.  Our intent has always been to discover and unearth agencies, marketers, or creators, who set new benchmarks in creativity, with a special attention to cultural context.”  The awards are being conducted in ‘coordination’ with The One Club For Creativity (organisers of The One Show awards)

     

    This year, Kyoorius has introduced new disciplines including Experiential Marketing, Topical Advertising, Digital Video and Audio, Digital Video and Audio Craft, and Creative Use Of Data, while fine-tuning the existing advertising, media and digital categories.  Entrants can submit work by visiting http://awards.kyoorius.com.

     

    Judging will be held in Mumbai from May 16 to 18 May. The Kyoorius Creative Awards will be presented on Saturday, June 1, 2019 in Mumbai.