Tag: Atit Mehta

 

By Johnson Napier

 

When an award show in the dynamic world of advertising returns with its next edition, one always expects an element of newness or surprise to come along with it. In keeping with the tradition, Emvies, the annual awards property honouring the best works coming out from media agencies, managed to do just that. The Ballroom at Taj Lands End, Mumbai was a house under deafening noise attack last Friday (September 6) as The Advertising Club hosted the thirteenth edition of its popular awards show. *See Disclaimer

 

It is teamwork that matters: Atit Mehta   It’s a different feeling to see your brand being felicitated at an awards stage that is meant to be dominated by another industry in limelight. But it’s become a habit now for Hindustan Unilever Ltd. that won the Media Client of the Year award at Emvies 2013, a platform that felicitates good work done by media agencies in the year gone by.   Atit Mehta, Head of Media Services - South Asia for Unilever South Asia opens up on his excitement on winning the top prize at the Emvies and what makes HUL an organisation to vie for. Excerpts…   Like your Agency of Record (AoR), winning the Client of the Year award at Emvies has become a habit of sorts for you too. Your comments. Rather than a habit, the good work getting appreciated is a very satisfying feeling. This year has been great; HUL has again won the Best Media Client of the Year award and our agency has also won the Agency of the Year award so it’s double excitement for us.   What is the extent to which HUL associates itself with your AoR in reaching out the brand’s message to the masses? It’s teamwork that matters; they are our agency partners and whatever work comes out is a collaborative effort.   What is the thrust that HUL lays on ad spends for its products under various categories? We are quite a large advertiser but more than that it is the hard work and sweat put in by the agency members that has resulted in us attaining the top spot this year too.   How easy or difficult is it to get the desired work done by your agency year after year? It’s always a challenge but we push ourselves ahead with the belief that we need to excel and work hard every single day.   Were you disappointed that some of the entries did not win any awards? No, there is no disappointment as such.   What has been your emphasis on digital as a medium for advertising? How do you see it growing going forward? Digital is and will remain an important medium as we go forward.

While those in attendance will vouch for the extent of euphoria that descended upon the venue, what was more unnerving was the neck-and-neck battle that was on between the Top 3 players every stage of the way. But at the end there had to be a single winner and it was no different this year as that honour was bestowed upon Mindshare, the WPP-owned agency that’s part of the Group M stable. With 165 points and 18 metals under its belt, including 3 Golds, 9 Silvers and 6 Bronzes, the agency just about marched past the others to emerge Agency of the Year for the sixth year in a row. Also, retaining its place as the best of the lot was Hindustan Unilever Ltd. that emerged the Client of the Year for 2013 as well. With 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronze metals to its credit HUL ended at the top of the client list tally with 120 points.

 

But while Mindshare proved its dominance yet again what many would like to remember of the night was the manner in which it was challenged by surprise runner-up Lodestar UM. From the fifth position last year, the agency proved that it was right up there when it came to being the best as it finished a close second this year. With the most number of Golds (5) to its credit, the agency closed its tally at 150 points including 7 Silvers and a single Bronze metal. At No 3 was another regular Maxus, which ended its tally this year at 120 points that included 3 Golds, 6 Silvers, and 3 Bronze metals.  Maxus, also part of the Group M stable, was numero uno in the leaderboards for a good part of the awards ceremony.

 

In keeping with the surprise element this year, what was also noteworthy was the emergence of another minnow (in terms of awards competence) ‘ibs’ that walked away with the Grand Emvie for work on its client Tata Docomo – Hyper personalization: The world’s first CRM-powered campaign on Social Media. With 65 points, including 3 Golds, it occupied the No 7 spot overall on the leaderboard. Also noteworthy, and surprising, was the presence of creative agency Ogilvy, which gave the big media agencies a run for their prowess, as it occupied the fourth spot with 85 points. It included 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and a single Bronze award with its work on Lifebuoy Roti Reminder and Akanksha Foundation – Classroom Mumbai being awarded across multiple categories.

 

A total of 90 metals were handed out to agencies this year that had submitted the highest number of entries in 2013 at 742.

 

As for the gold winners, Mindshare won two golds for work on ‘5.2 years of digital content viewed in just six months!’ campaign for Axe Deodorant in the Best Media Innovation – Digital (social media) category while its work on ‘Cholchhe Na Aar Cholbe Na: “Can’t Happen”, Won’t Happen Anymore!’ for ABP Ananda in the Best Integrated Campaign – Media/ Media Property category accounted for the third gold for the agency. As for Lodestar UM, its work on ‘National Headache Reliever’ campaign for Saridon (Best Media Strategy – Consumer Products) was one of the most appreciated and also won it a gold alongwith its work on ‘Making Milk Exciting – The Olympics’ campaign for Amul Milk (Best Media Innovation – Sponsorship), ‘Unfinished Stories’ campaign for Tata Docomo (Best Media Innovation – Print, dailies) and ‘Coke Studio: One with youth’ campaign for Coke Studio (Best Integrated Campaign – Consumer Products). Maxus bagged three golds for work on ‘The Advantage and Disadvantage’ for Fiat that won two golds in Best Media Strategy – Consumer Durables and Best Media Innovation – Digital (Search) categories, while the third gold came from ‘Your Wish is My App’ campaign for Nokia Lumia (Best Media Innovation – TV – Media/ Media Property).

 

 

It’s not been that easy this year: Ravi Rao   Emvies 2013 could be summed up as the closest contest ever fought between the Top 3 medai agencies in recent years. But it was business as usual for Mindshare as they bagged the Agency of the Year award for the sixth year in a row.   In conversation with MxMIndia, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia at Mindshare shares his excitement of repeating the feat year after year, and, what to expect from the awards going forward.   Lodestar UM and Maxus nearly toppled you from the top spot but in the end you prevailed and won the Media Agency of the Year title yet again. Did you expect the kind of contest that was witnessed at the Emvies this year? It has not been that easy this year. Two agencies Lodestar and Maxus almost gave me a heart attack with many of their works being appreciated. But this year was the sixth year in a row that we managed to win this title. The way the contest was fought this year only means that it is going to be a tough race again next year but I can assure you that we are going to give our best shot next year as well.   Did you expect such a tough challenge from them? I did expect a close race from Lodestar UM and Maxus. I had seen some of their presentations and they were really up there. But all I want to say is that we want to continue to excel and keep giving the others a stiff competition. We will keep doing that all the time.   Are you disappointed that a few entries did not make the cut and that the Grand Emvie did not come to you? There were a couple of shortlists that did not make the mark, so, yes, I am a bit disappointed over there. But that’s life; we’ve got to keep moving forward.   Any entries or agencies that managed to spring up a surprise this year? I think the entry by ibs on Tata Docomo was brilliant. It was an agency that one had not heard of much before but the kind of work that they put up and the awards that they bagged this year makes them worthy of an admiration.   How has Emvies as an award evolved this year? Are you happy with the way things panned out on this platform? I think this is one of the best media awards that you’ll see. Over here, the clients also decide on the calibre of work to be rewarded and for me that’s a huge compliment for the media agencies.   Any words of advice to your sibling-cum-competitor Ajit Varghese? I’d like to say ‘hats off to you Ajit Varghese!’. It was such a close touch-and-go contest all the way. I know they are going to keep coming stronger… and I am prepared for that!   What do you anticipate for the year 2014 on the awards front? I cannot say about 2014 right now but I wish and insist that it is us only.

The other two big winners from the client’s end were Cadbury India Ltd that bagged a total of 3 Golds, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze awards while Tata Docomo was third with 1 Grand Emvie and 3 Golds to its credit. Also noteworthy was the Young Emvie of the Year award that was bagged by Farah Siddiqui of Mindshare.

 

As for the awards tally, the other winners include MediaCom Communications and ibs that secured sixth and seventh places with 80 and 65 points while DDB Mudra Max with 50 points, MEC with 30 points and OMD India with 20 points finished the tally in the eighth, ninth and tenth positions respectively.

 

The awards presentation was interspersed with media professionals performing and competing for team and solo Indian and Western categories of the Band Baja Award.

 

*MxMIndia was a Media Partner of Emvies 2013

Photographs by Puneet Chandok. Courtesy: DNA