Category: Awards

  • Goafest 2023 Governing Council and theme Unveiled

    By Our Staff

     

    As Goafest gets set for its 16th edition in late May 2023, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club have announce the Governing Council and Committee Members for Goafest 2023.

     

    Following is the Governing Council for Goafest 2023:

         • Prasanth Kumar, President, Advertising Agencies Association of India and CEO, South Asia, GroupM

         • Partha Sinha, President, Times of India Group and President of The Advertising Club

         • Jaideep Gandhi, Chairman, Goafest 2023; Founder, Another Idea

         • Mohit Joshi, Co-chair, Goafest 2023; CEO, Havas Media

         • Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India & Chairman, The ABBYs Award Governing Council

         • Ajay Kakar, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club & Co-chair, The ABBYs Award Governing Council

         • Anupriya Acharya, CEO South Asia, Publicis Groupe

         • Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison

         • Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman & CEO, FCB Group India

         • Shashi Sinha, CEO-India, IPG Mediabrands

         • Ajay Chandwani, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club

         • Malcolm Raphael, Senior Vice-President, The Times of India Group

     

    The sub-committee members for Goafest 2023 from Advertising Agencies Association of India are:

         • Content Committee Chairman: Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media & OOH, Madison Communications

         • Delegates Committee Chairman: Sam Balsara, Chairman,  Madison

         • Creative Committee Chairman: Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman & CEO, FCB Group India

     

    Creative Committee Joint Chairman: Anusha Shetty, Chairman & Group CEO, Grey Worldwide India

         • Client Associations Chairman: Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands

         • Client Associations Joint Chairman: Prasanth Kumar, CEO South Asia, Group M

         • Advertising Associations Committee Chairman: Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman & Managing Director, R K Swamy

         • Events Committee Chairman: Ashish Bhasin, Co-Founder & Chairman, RD&X Network

     

    Prasanth Kumar
    Prasanth Kumar

    Said Prasanth Kumar:  “We are blessed to have great leadership working together to make Goafest ’23 a remarkable event. This year sees greater support and collaboration across the industry coming together. As always, Goafest is a passion centre and while we discuss greater opportunities across the industry and celebrate our great work am sure will push the boundaries as a collective team and achieve greater progress.”

     

    Sam BalsaraOn opening up delegate registrations for Goafest 2023, Sam Balsara added: “Goafest has earned its position as a destination that celebrates creative excellence in most disciplines in Communication in South Asia. We look forward to welcoming teams from across India, South Asia and indeed the  globe to come and participate in Goafest as  we exchange thoughts and discuss the future of communication and increasing its role and accountability to the marketer, further making way for growth of the Industry.”

     

    Partha Sinha
    Partha Sinha

    Added Partha Sinha: “With each edition of Goafest, India’s position in the global creative industry is only strengthened. Given the format and scale of Goafest, the festival has firmly positioned itself as the most sought-after creative festival in South Asia. With day-long sessions and masterclasses led by the brightest minds in the industry to evenings that honour and celebrate work that has set new benchmarks and trends, Goafest is the only festival of its kind in India and Asia that drives value, encourages creative excellence and discusses pertinent topics, aiding our industry’s growth. We look forward to hosting our industry colleagues and partners once again at Goafest.”

     

    The theme Goafest this year is: ‘The Future of Creativity is Here’. With advancements in technology, including machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, the boundaries of creativity are being pushed further than ever before. There is a rise in innovative tools and technologies that enable new forms of creativity; for example, virtual and augmented reality (VR & AR) technologies are already opening up new avenues for artistic expression, allowing creators to build immersive, interactive experiences that blur the line between the physical and digital worlds.

     

    Rohit Ohri
    Rohit Ohri

    Unveiling the theme, Rohit Ohri said: “Generative AI is pushing the boundaries of what is possible and opening new doors to creativity and innovation. This technology will allow our industry to explore newer ideas at a much faster pace and is likely to play a significant role in shaping the future of creativity. Inspired by this game-changing development, we have used Generative AI in the design process of our three-day festival. With sessions and masterclasses that deep-dive into the creative technology landscape, we are sure to re-envision how we collaborate with machines to bring transformative ideas to life.”

     

    Changemaking technologies and the changemakers behind them are reshaping the world while creating a positive real-world impact on communities, societies, and countries. While some may worry that AI will replace human creativity, it is certain that it will instead be used to enhance and augment human creativity, leading to even more groundbreaking and innovative creations.

     

  • India Today wins Society of Publication Designers awards

    By Our Staff

     

    India Today Group Creative Editor, Nilanjan Das has won two Best Infographics and one Best Spread Illustration award from the prestigious New York-based The Society of Publication Designers (SPD).

     

    A communique adds that the India Today entries beat others from the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, Businessweek, Forbes, Media Vox, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post Magazine and many other leading publications.

     

  • More jury chairs for Abby 2023 announced

    By Our Staff

     

    More jury chairs for Abby One Show 2023 have been announced. Valerie Pinto, CEO, Weber Shandwick, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO & Co-founder, Gozoop and Ashwini Deshpande, Co-Founder and Director of Elephant Design, join as Jury Chair for Public Relations category, Jury Chair of Mobile Category, and Jury Chair of Design category respectively.

     

    Said Ashwini Deshande: “It is an absolute privilege to be judging the Design category at Abby One Show Awards. India is a unique playground for brands and consumers. I define Design as a creative way of solving a challenge.  I am hoping to see great work based on real life insights that solve a challenge in a delightful way.”

     

  • PR Professionals awarded Patna Metro mandate

    By Our Staff

     

    PR Professionals, ithe ntegrated communications agency, has been awarded the public relations mandate of Patna Metro. The scope of work includes public relations, stakeholder mapping and engagement, and crisis management, among others. Patna Metro with two lines and 24 stations is an urban Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) under construction in Patna, Bihar’s capital city.

     

    Said Dr. Sarvesh Tiwari Founder & Managing Director, PR Professionals: “The Patna Metro project is a significant milestone for Bihar and we are honored to have been chosen as the communications partner for it. We have a proven track record of providing effective communications solutions for large-scale infrastructure projects, and we look forward to working closely with the Patna Metro team to deliver a world-class mass rapid transit system to the city. We will leverage our expertise and experience of MRTS projects and ensure seamless communication and engagement of Patna Metro with its key stakeholders, including the media, government, and the general public.”

     

  • Goafest 2023 to also award music talent, with Advertising Rocks

    By Our Staff

     

    With an aim to give India’s creative community a platform to showcase their musical talent, Goafest 2023 has announced ‘Advertising Rocks’, a platform for the musicians in the fraternity to showcase their talent and also win some dosh.

     

    With three categories – Vocals Solos (Indian), Vocals Solos (Western) and Bands (Indian & Western – mixed), all finalists will be given an opportunity to perform for a jury and delegates at Goafest and will be offered an all expenses trip consisting of air-fare, stay and entry at Goafest 2023. Moreover, the winning bands stand to win cash prizes of Rs 2,00,000 and Rs 1,00,000 for the first and second place respectively and soloists stand to win cash prizes of Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 for the first and second place respectively.  Winners will be selected on the basis of final combined score by a jury and live voting attendees at Goafest.

     

    On announcing ‘Advertising Rocks’, Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India and Goafest 2023 Co-chair said: “Advertising Rocks is a unique initiative and platform that recognizes the musical talents of people beyond their daily roles in the advertising and media industry. The initiative not only celebrates their creativity but also brings the industry closer together in a fun and innovative way. Being a music lover myself, I can’t wait to see the level of excellence that will be displayed at Goafest’s Advertising Rocks! this year.”

     

    Added Subhash Kamath, Former CEO of BBH and curator of ‘Advertising Rocks’: “The advertising and media industry is full of musical talent. Over the years, I’ve heard some wonderful singers and bands. What better occasion than Goafest to give this talent a stage to perform in front their peers? Advertising truly rocks!”

     

    Said Ashish Bhasin, Co-Founder & Chairman, RD&X Network and Chairman of the Events Committee at Goafest 2023: “Advertising Rocks is an exciting initiative that will surely drive engagement prior to the festival as well as on-ground. It also gives us an opportunity to know our industry colleagues beyond the creative business. We encourage the industry to participate actively in Advertising Rocks and look forward to some interesting performances at Goafest 2023.”

     

    And one more quote. Said Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India & Chairman, The ABBYs Award Governing Council and Ajay Kakar, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club & Co-chair, The ABBYs Award Governing Council: “Our industry can boast of multi-faceted talent. And this initiative will draw out the hidden musical talent that either gets neglected or doesn’t have a platform to express itself, in this fast-paced life. Goafest is known to dial up excitement levels for our industry folks.  Advertising Rocks offers a unique proposition for our industry to showcase its musical talent. It will be fascinating to see our colleagues perform for our industry at a festival of this scale.”

     

  • Bobby Pawar, Emmanuel Upputuru, Sabyasachi Mitter are Jury Chairs for Abby 2023

    By Our Staff

     

    Emmanuel Upputuru, Founder of Efgh Brand Innovations, Sabyasachi Mitter, Founder and Managing Director, ibs + Fulcro and Bobby Pawar, Chairman and CEO, Havas Group India, are Jury Chairs for Green Abby category, Jury Chair of Technology category, and Jury Chair of Static Print respectively, at the Abby One Show Awards 2023.

     

    Said Mitter said: “The Abby One Show Awards is without doubt the gold standard of the advertising awards in India. With technology becoming ubiquitous in marketing and communication and CX becoming a critical lever of business success, the technology category at the Abby One Show awards is really the one to watch out for.”

     

    And this is what Pawar has said in the communique: “I am thrilled to be on the Abby One Show Jury in a category I love which is Print. I look forward to raising the bar further in this prestigious award show.”

     

  • Abby 2023 announces ‘Young Maverick ABBY Award’

    By Our Staff

     

    It’s raining press releases from the Goafest team. So when it’s not a new set of jury chairs there’s a new feature of the event. Like the announcement by the Advertising Club about a new award category, the ‘Young Maverick ABBY Award’ to “recognise and promote the new generation of talent, and reward the work they have created”.

     

    Open to advertising professionals – individuals or teams, under the age of 30, entries for the Young Maverick Abby Award will be judged by a panel of industry leaders and experts based on creativity, originality, and impact for work created between March 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 under the category verticals of Art, Design, Digital, Film and Craft.

     

    Speaking on introducing the new category, Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India and Chairman, The Abbys Award Governing Council and Ajay Kakar, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club & Co-chair, The ABBYs Award Governing Council said: “It is important that we turn the spotlight on emerging creative talent. We are excited to introduce the Young Maverick Abby Award category at The Abby  Awards 2023 and recognise the outstanding work of young professionals who are pushing boundaries and challenging conventions in the advertising industry. We are certain that by providing a platform for deserving talent to showcase their creative passion and work, we will not just empower them but also encourage new thinking, new talent and innovation in the industry.”

     

    The winners of the Young Maverick ABBY Award will be announced along with other awards during The Abby Awards 2023, scheduled to be held at Goafest 2023 on May 24-26, 2023.

     

    Information on the new category is at https://abbyawards.com/. The last date to submit entries for the Young Maverick Abby category is April 28, 2023.

     

  • P G Aditiya, Guneet Monga & Mangesh Rane also Jury Chairs for Abby 2023

    By Our Staff

     

    P G Aditiya, co-founder and CCO of Talented, Guneet Monga, Founder of Sikhya Entertainment and Mangesh Rane, Founder and Creative Director, Open Strategy and Design, join as Jury Chair for AV Cinema, TV, Digital OTT Category, Video Craft, and Out of Home and Ambient category respectively, at the Abby One Show Awards 2023.

     

    Said Aditiya: “I am thrilled to watch, critique and recognise the best work from film which is such a team sport with an equally incredible team of jurors at this year’s Abby One Show awards.”

     

    Added Monga: “I am happy to be associated with Abby One Show Awards Jury of Video Craft. I am sure with so much talent in India we can hope to raise the bar of excellence.”

     

    Said Rane: “Abby is a grand celebration of not just what we have done, but what we want to become.”

     

  • IAA hosts first digital event TechPulse

    By Our Staff

     

    The India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) hosted its first-ever onground digital event, TechPulse.

     

    The theme of the event, “Digital Transformation: Implications for Advertising and Marketers,” saw discussions on opportunities and challenges presented by the digital landscape. Said Neena Dasgupta, Chairperson, IAA TechPulse, and CEO & Founder of The Salt Inc Consulting, CEO of Aidem Ventures: “With TechPulse, we brought together some of the brightest minds in the advertising and market industry. Going forward, IAA TechPulse will provide a platform for industry professionals to learn, share, and collaborate on the latest developments in the field.”

     

    IAA India chapter TechPulse kicked off with a minute of silence in honour of Siddharth Rao, Co-Founder WebChutney (acquired by Dentsu) and Punt Partners. Neena Dasgupta and Avinash Pandey, President – IAA India Chapter and CEO, ABP Network, set the context for the event before a conversation by Megha Tata, CEO Cosmos-Maya, and Anant Goenka, Chairperson, IAA TechPulse & Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, on the change in content delivery in linear and integrated context.

     

    The main event began with a session by Neeraj Roy, Founder & CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Limited, on the role of technology in India’s digital foundation and the opportunities it presents for maximizing efficiency. The event also saw a session by Charulata Ravi Kumar, MD of Accenture, on the topic of digital disruption and its impact on socio-economic changes.

     

    Karthi Marshan, Advisor, Kotak highlighted on the need for cautiously adopting the latest developments specifically in the areas of Banking and Finance. Niraj Ruparel, Emerging Tech Lead at GroupM/WPP presented some novel applications of Generative AI. Tarun Katial, Founder & CEO of COTO App discussed the marketer’s dilemma in the conversational AI era and how to solve it.

     

    TechPulse also featured a panel discussion on “Marketing Solutions in a cookie-less world,” moderated by Nandini Dias, Former CEO, Lodestar UM. The panel members, Prasad Shejale, Founder & CEO, Logicserve Digital, Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO, Indian Express Digital, Siddharth Dhabade, Managing Director, MiQ, and Neil George, Managing Director, Nivea India, discussed the challenges and opportunities of marketing in a cookie-less world.

     

    Satya Raghavan, Director Marketing Partners at Google India, highlighted developments happening at Google in understanding consumer behaviour given emerging environmental and contextual constraints. Shilpa Sadana, Associate Director of Sales at Affinity Global Advertising and Ritu Mittal, Head of Marketing and Digital at Bayer Consumer presented a case study highlighting the significance of research insights in formulating creatives for digital platforms.

     

    The need for integrated media measurement and possible guidelines for it was presented by Priya Choudhary, Director of Business Solutions & Insights at Google India. This was followed by an panel discussion, moderated by Vivek Malhotra, Group CMO (India Today Group) and COO Consumer Revenue, focused on the new world of cross-media measurement. The panel members, L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, Anand Chakravarthy, Chief Growth Officer, Omnicom Media Group, Vishal Chinchankar, CEO, Madison Digital, Gowthaman Ragothaman, Founding CEO of Aqilliz, and Prasun Basu, Head of Growth and Digital Transformation, Kantar, discussed the need for cross-media measurement and the challenges that come with it.

     

    The last session was by Amer Jaleel, former Group Chief Creative Officer and Chairman of MullenLowe Lintas Group, on the importance of creativity in the world of technology, data, and methods.

     

    The event also announced innovation awards to recognise the enterprises and the foresight of individuals to implement innovative thoughts into action. The innovation awards were identified under four segments – Marketing, Media, Agency and Platforms:

    :: Prasad Pimple, EVP and Head of Digital, Kotak Life was presented the innovation award for going deep into customer mindset segmentation and linking psychographic triggers to behaviour to unlock value across all digital activities.

    :: Niraj Ruparel, Emerging Tech – Lead at GroupM/WPP for diving deep into Conversational AI and Metaverse and bringing the two together to unlock and implement some of the best experienced innovations.

    :: Neha Barjatya, Director Marketing, Google India for combining the power of platforms and the ambition of empowering rural women to create sustained opportunities and strong communities.

    :: Vivek Malhotra, CMO India Today Group and COO Consumer Revenues for innovating on integration content, context and audience behavior to grow the customer base exponentially.

     

  • Creative Abby shortlist announced

    By Our Staff

     

    ABBY One Show Awards 2023 attracted a total of 2282 entries this year as compared to 2007 entries last year.  Out of these a total of 736 entries have made it to the Final Round of metal and merit voting. The number of entries making it to the final round is around 32 percent indicating tough One Show global norms for earning metals.

     

    This year 181 companies entered the Creative ABBY 2023 out of which a total of 110 companies were shortlisted after the first 2 rounds.

     

    Among the Advertising agencies whose work has been shortlisted in alphabetical order are BBH, Cheil Worldwide, Cog Culture, Crayons, Creativeland Asia, Enormous, FCB India, Grey Group, Havas Worldwide, Law and Kenneth Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Manja Brand Works, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Lintas, Publicis Health, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, Sideways, TBWA, Tribes, VMLY&R Wunderman Thompson.

     

    The full list of companies shortlisted is in the table attached.

     

    Among the Digital companies whose work has been shortlisted in alphabetical order are Atom Network, BC Web Wise, Blink Digital, Centrick, Digitas India, Flibbr Consulting, FCB Kinnect, Gozoop, Grapes Digital, ibs Fulcro, Interactive Avenues, L S Digital, PivotRoots Digital, 22feet Tribal, Schbang, SoCheers, Sociowash Media, Social Panga, Wirality Media.

     

    Other digital companies shortlisted can be seen in the table attached.

     

    Media companies whose entries in Creative have been shortlisted are Havas Media, Laqshya Media, Madison World, Mindshare, White Rivers Media.

     

    Broadcast companies whose entries in Creative Abby have been shortlisted are Culver Max, Disney Broadcasting, NGC Network, Star India, TV18 Broadcast & Pictures, Viacom18 Media, Zee Entertainment.

     

    Publishing companies whose entries in Creative Abby have been shortlisted are ABP, Bennett Coleman & Co., Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, HT Media, Hindustan Times, Hindustan Media Venture, Jagran Prakashan, The Hindu Group, Sangbad Pratidin.

     

    The Design companies shortlisted in alphabetical order are Alok Nanda Communications, Brandmovers, Cog Culture, The Honest illustrations, Hyphen Communications, Open Strategy and Design, Tree Design, Sharpener.

     

    The video craft companies whose work is shortlisted are Bang Bang Films, Belief Films, Breathless Films, Chrome Pictures, Cutaway Films, Footloose Films, Future East, Good Morning Films, Hungry Films, K Silent, Kitchen Video, Little Lamb Films, Perfect Ten Films, Pick Films, Prodigious, Script Room, Superfly Films, Thinkpot.

    Creative Abbys shortlist report

  • Goafest 2023 unveils agenda and speaker line-up

    By Our Staff

     

    The Goafest 2023 organising committee has unveiled its speaker line-up and the agenda for the festival.

     

    The three-day event will see over 60 leading global and Indian speakers and performers across 20 knowledge seminars and 11 masterclasses.

     

    Leading advertising personalities like Nick Law – Global Creative Chairperson – Accenture Song and Ed Pank – Managing Director – WARC APAC will address the audiences. Besides this, celebrities from Indian sports and Bollywood like Harbhajan Singh, Tabu and Rana Daggubati will talk abut their achievements and stories of strength.

     

    The panels will see participation of leading corporate personalities like Hemant Malik of ITC Foods, Rohit Kapoor of Swiggy, Prabha Narasimhan of Colgate-Palmolive, Chandan Mukherji of Nestle India, Priyanka Gill of Good Glamm Group, Ravi Santanam of HDFC and Vipul Prakash of MakeMyTrip.

     

    The sessions will also see industry leaders like Rajan Anandan of Sequoia Capital,  Sam Balsara of Madison, Josy Paul of BBDO, Rohit Ohri of FCB, Anusha Shetty of Grey, Dheeraj Sinha of Leo Burnett, Vikram Sakuja of Madison, Subhash Kamath, Anupriya Acharya of Publicis, Tarun Katyal of Coto, Lata Venkatesh of CNBC TV18, T Gangadhar of Quotient, Aditi Mishra of Lodestar UM, Amin Lakhani of Mindshare, Mohit Joshi of Havas Media, Naveen Khemka of Essence Mediacom, Geet Lulla of Comscore, Pankaj Krishna of Chrome DM and Salil Kumar of ITGD sharing their invaluable insights.

     

    Special sessions curated by the Advertising Standards Council of India on Creator Calling Creator, by the IAA on Voice of Change on Gender Bias and Ad Asia 2023 Seoul Roadshow by AFAA have also been scheduled. Advertising Rocks, a unique industry initiative and Musical Contest, will also be staged.

     

    On the entertainment end, there’s singer-composer Kanika Kapoor, playback singers Papon, Divya Kumar and Asees Kaur and Digital Creator and Stand Up Comic, Aiyoo Shraddha. Plus DJ Suketu, Savio and DJ AJ for the late evenings.

     

  • MullenLowe US & Squarespace win big @ ADC

    By Our Staff

     

    MullenLowe US New York and Squarespace New York led the way among top winners in the ADC 102nd Annual Awards Global Creative Rankings.

     

    Based on cumulative points for all Cubes and Merits won, MullenLowe US New York was crowned this year’s ADC top-ranking global agency.  The agency won two Best of Disciplines – in Brand/Communication Design and Illustration – for “Something To Offend Everyone” on behalf of Brooklyn Film Festival.

     

    Squarespace New York also had a strong year, winning a total of eight Gold Cubes, as well as Best of Discipline in Brand-Side  for “The Singularity”, working with Q Department New York, Final Cut New York, and Smuggler New York/Los Angeles.

     

    Highlights of the ADC 102nd Annual Awards Global Creative Rankings are as follows:

     

    ADC 102nd Global Agency Rankings

    1. MullenLowe US New York

    2. VMLY&R New York

    3. FCB New York

    4. Dentsu Tokyo

    5. Serviceplan Germany Munich

    6. Performance Art Toronto

    7. Rethink Toronto/Montréal/Vancouver

    8. VMLY&R Mexico City

    9. McCann New York

    10. adam&eve DDB London (tie)

    11. DDB Chicago (tie)

     

    ADC 102nd Global Agency Network Rankings

    1. VMLY&R

    2. DDB Worldwide

    3. FCB

     

    ADC 102nd Global Brand-Side Agency Rankings

    1. Squarespace New York

    2. Spotify In-House New York

    3. Google Brand Studio APAC

     

    ADC 102nd Global Brand Rankings

    1. Squarespace

    2. Coors Light

    3. The New York Times Magazine

     

    ADC 102nd Global Non-Profit Client Rankings

    1. Brooklyn Film Festival

    2. PAWS NY

    3. Flutwein

     

    ADC 102nd Global Production Company Rankings

    1. Smuggler, New York/Los Angeles

    2. Helo, Los Angeles

    3. Paulus Co. Ltd, Seoul

     

    ADC 102nd Global Music & Sound Company Rankings:

    1. JSM Music New York

    2. Yessian New York

    3. Human New York

     

    ADC 102nd Global Highest Ranked Work:

    1. “Chillboards” by DDB Chicago with adam&eveDDB London, NORD DDB CPH Copenhagen, and Molson Coors for Coors Light

    2. “Something to Offend Everyone” by MullenLowe US New York for Brooklyn Film Festival

    3. “I Will Always Be Me” by VMLY&R New York for Dell Technologies and Intel