Tag: Goafest 2014

 

It’s been a grueling few months for Pratap Bose, President of the Advertising Club and Chair of the Awards Governing Council. While the controversies may have embroiled the Creative Abby awards last year, Bose reaped the fruits this year with around a 50 per cent drop in number of entries. Hours after announcing the awards, Bose spoke to Pradyuman Maheshwari in sunny Goa.

 

Are you happy with the way Abby 2014 has turned out to be?

From the point of view of both the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Ad Club, I think we’ve achieved what we set out to. As President of the Ad Club, my No 1 objective was to make it an ethical show. Cut out all the crap that we had last year and restore the faith. At least in the way we judge the entries, in the way that we awarded what we did award and clearly establish clear-cut processes and  control systems. Not that it was missing last time but we just tightened it to a higher degree of efficiency. And I’m happy with the results.

 

But you couldn’t get Ogilvy back!

No, I couldn’t. Yes, but Ogilvy didn’t participated even last year. That’s a decision that they’ve taken. A lot of efforts were made to get them on board. But at the end of the day, I think you have to respect their decision.

 

But they spoke of some pre-conditions, issues that they had which had to be resolved and that didn’t happen.

Pre-conditions don’t work. Because you have to be empathetic to a system and a process that is for the industry.  I don’t think we’re going to bend backwards for any agency however big or however small they would be. And therefore you know if someone is coming on a negotiating table to enter awards, then I don’t think that’s something we’re gonna entertain beyond a point.

 

But you were willing to negotiate with them a bit. As in, hear them out..

Yes, of course. There’s no issue on listening or meeting with people.

 

And that didn’t happen.

Yes, the meetings did happen. I didn’t personally meet but meetings did happen with Ogilvy urging them to participate but they just stood to their earlier guns.

 

And are they going to come back next year?

Next year is the 10^th anniversary of the Goafest. We’ve got to put a lot of effort. We’ve realized that putting a festival and bringing it up really to the glory years needs a huge amount of rethinking, a huge amount of effort on all our part (both AAAI and Ad Club) and I honestly would start working on it 6 months before the event.

 

When we spoke when you had just taken charge of the Ad Club, you were all set to look at the Abby but you still couldn’t get Ogilvy…

No, I think it’s not just about the awards. I think you have to look at it in various lenses. Is this an industry conclave? Is it attracting the top clients? Is it attracting people like Prakash Javadekar who we had … more and more such people who are relevant to our business? Is the judging process absolutely fair, unequivocally fair? Are the processes adhered to? Are you awarding the best pieces of work? Is the content of the festival of the highest level? So, you’ve got to improve on all of those things. You’ve also got to give back. And that’s something, we can’t judge. Only those who’ve been to the festival, experienced it, can comment.

 

Just one last thing about Ogilvy. Ogilvy did participate at Kyoorius. So obviously there’s something where they agreed to that philosophy & they didn’t participate here. Your comments.

I think we’re making a big issue out of that, right?

 

Of Ogilvy’s participation?

Yes! For example if Ogilvy didn’t participate in Spikes and participated in Adfest, would it be an issue? In my view, it wouldn’t be . They’re gonna be at a lot of award shows. It’s your prerogative. The huge amount of pressure on delivering numbers and margins, you can’t possibly enter everything. So there is a dramatic decrease and shift in the participation worldwide and not just in India. If they decide to participate in X vis-à-vis Y, that’s their decision. And we respect that decision. There are many agencies that didn’t participate in Kyoorius either. You could got to look at it very pragmatically.

 

No comebacks on Lowe at all? Is it a gone-case story?

I respect their decision. I think the one thing I like about Balki and Lowe is that they’ve been consistent in what they’ve said all through, And they’ve not been dilly-dallying and sitting on the fence. Having said that , I would’ve loved to have them in the Creative Awards. But that’s a decision they’ve taken not just for awards in India, but internationally also.

 

But they participate in the Effie.

Yes, so they’re not participating in creative awards. They’re happy to participate in awards where the client’s work is recognized in terms of the Effie’s and even globally. So Balki doesn’t enter Cannes. So generally he’s not entering creative awards. I wouldn’t like to call it a policy, but he’s taken the stand that he doesn’t want to be judged in terms of creative people, in terms of work that he does.

 

Goafest organizing committee chairman Srinivasan Swamy said that Goafest is a lot more than just awards.

Yes, absolutely.

 

But ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you that Goafest is all (or only) about awards

We’ve been asked that question a lot. So I’ll answer it in two ways. Goafest needs to stand for more than just awards. If you raise the level of content to such a great degree that assuming there were no awards, and you had a festival that had such an incredible standard, but if you had, say, a thousand people just for content, then I think you’re really moving in the right direction. Having said that, in the way that it’s perceived right now, people come to Goa to win the Abby. That’s because it’s been for a long, long time.

 

So do you think there’s an attempt to distance from the Abby because it wasn’t having enough participation this year?

There are various reasons for that. I’ve said the Abby needs to move to a platform where it recognizes everyone in the communication business. So just in the sheer number of categories and verticals we’ve expanded. And it will continue to do so. Even Cannes is doing that.

 

The bread and butter of an ad awards is still Creative, right?

I think that’s a perception that the media and the old blokes as I call them, have. That’s not true. I don’t buy that. When I go to Cannes, I’m interested in branded content. I’m interested in social media. I’ll be extremely interested in health this year. It’s the new categories that excite people.

 

If you ask this question to a true blue creative person

Well, he’ll still say it’s print, craft, radio and whatever. But I think that’s a narrow version. If you look at the number of people who’re coming to Cannes today who are expert in design just to a category, it’s an ever-evolving challenge. Design can be limitless. I personally look at it from a very wide angle lens. I’m a photographer myself. I think if you look at every part of the communication process, there’s a lot more rather than just limiting to the creative.

 

In terms of the reputation of the Creative, in terms of the way it’s done, do you think the reputation has gone up? If last year was 3.5 on 10, what do you think would it be this year?

Yes, considerably. But to be very honest, you know I keep saying. I think here media are just looking for spicy hot news to break in and make a big story out of it. I don’t know you must’ve heard me saying this a 100 times. When we all came to Goa last year, there was no problem when we arrived in Goa. All the problem happened when we left Goa.

 

Come on! It happened because of the advertising people. The media just reported it. You look at what happened at Tata Chemicals…

I’m not getting into the details. It’s not just put the brakes on. I don’t agree we were 3.5 on 10.. I don’t know. Perceptually 6 on 10 or 5 on 10. I think it’s gone up quite a few notches to about 8 on 10. But at the end of the day you must realize you’re judging the best of creative work available for that period. So I could argue that in 1993, the quality of advertising and the awards given was substantially better or worse than this year. So, you must understand one thing. Even in the biggest advertising festivals in the world, you’re limited by the number of entries you get and the quality of entries you get.

 

JWT was the No 1 agency this year with 40 medals. In the absence of the big guys, is it a case of, as they say in Hindi, ‘Andhon mein kaana Raja’? How will history look at their perforrmance? Five years later, obviously nobody would know that this is what happened. What’s your view?

So if you go for a Test series in the old without Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and you’ve still won it, in the record books you’ve won it, you can’t criticize the people who’ve put in their 100 per cent on the field just because stars weren’t there irrespective of the result.

 

So what are the takeaways from Abby 2014?

There are many. I think we’ve got to go back to the drawing board earlier well in advance. Probably October this year is when we’ve gotta really look at creating a festival. As I said earlier, this year was about getting it back on the rails especially in the way it’s judged. Irrespective of the number that’s fallen down, the process is very good, we’ve fixed that. Now we’ve really got to get the tempo up and take it back to where it should belong.

 

By Shobhana Nair

 

If the big boys from creative-land were missing, the mood and atmosphere more than made up for it. The show, as they say, went on. And that’s what made the difference.

 

Day 3 of Goafest was the Big Night for Colvyn Harris and his team at JWT. After his agency bagged the coveted ‘Grand Prix’ for Direct on Friday, after the last of the awards were presented on Saturday, JWT recorded 40 metals and emerged as  the agency with the highest number of awards won. Taproot India was the second-most awarded agency with 29 metals. There were three Grand Prix awarded in Creative – other than JWT, Alok Nanda & Company for Design and Digital Law and Kenneth for Digital.

 

In terms of Golds, JWT won five, followed by Umrella Design with four. There were many agencies/organisations taking away three Golds – Alok Nanda, BennetT, Coleman, Digital Law and Kenneth and Taproot India.

 

As reported earlier, Lodestar UM won the maximum awards this year at the Media Abby. Said Pratap Bose, President, The Advertising Club and Chairman of the Awards Governing Council.  “I am very satisfied. The onus was on to deliver an award which is rewarding the best possible work in terms of processes by being fair and transparent. I think we achieved that.”

 

Around 1700 delegates participated at the 2014 edition of Goafest which was held indoors. “This year Goafest has been refreshingly different and what we are not used to seeing it earlier. Bringing it on the beach was really repetitive for the last few years but this time it has been nice. It has given the much needed change that was needed,” said Lara Balsara, Executive Director, Madison World.

 

“It was a successful Goafest,” said Arvind Sharma, President, Advertising Agencies Association of India and Former Chairman & CEO India Subcontinent at Leo Burnett, adding: “And I hope that it is not a view of a few people or the many people that I have spoken to but to a majority of people who have been there.”

 

Srinivasan Swamy, CMD, RK Swamy and Hansa who took on the role of the Chairman of the Goafest 2014 organising committee in February was satisified with the arrangements and turnout. “We put in a good amount of effort to make this happen. From the feedback we have received, lot of people have said that they are very happy with all the arrangements and quality of speakers.”

 

Meanwhile, the concluding day of Goafest 2014 was a fitting finale to the three-day extravaganza. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar appears to have impressed most in the fraternity with his honest, no-nonsense address. “I absolutely loved what Mr Prakash Javadekar spoke. He was prepared and made a lot of sense. He left the room with lot of positivity.” said T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC Global.

 

The pre-afternoon knowledge seminars were conducted by Vanitha Narayanan Managing Director, IBM India and Ajay Chaturvedi, Founder and Chairman, HarVa. Founder of Arsha Vidya Mandir, Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati reminded the ‘always loaded with work’ delegates about the fundamental principles of life through his seminar. Pearls of wisdom like “plenty can give temporary satisfaction and not permanent contentment” were shared by the Swami.  “There are some basic things in life irrespective of which industry you are in. He said things like chase happiness which is what we are not doing. You do forget what you are doing in your day-to-day life,” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific.

 

Alicia Souza, Illustrative designer and E-Commerce entrepreneur stressed the fact that ideas are always around us. Norm Johnston, Chief Digital Officer, Mindshare got the audience hooked with his graphical illustrations on the power of digital. “85% of users watch TV and have a mobile device handy at the same time” was what he said during his session.  Said Colvyn Harris, on the session:  “Johnston was very insightful as to where our entire industry is moving. His way of showing interactivity through the dart board and the tennis table racquets were nice. What I liked was how marketers are using this technology in different ways. His width and depth with what he showed us today in a short time was good.”

 

The founders of Bharath Gyan, DK Hari and Hema Hari conducted a seminar who believed in developing pride in the people of India about our rich culture and heritage. Habib Faisal,Screenwriter and Director was present the Goafest 2014 as one of the key speakers.

 

The other speaker who struck a chord through his seminar was Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director, Google India. His session ended with the Google Reunion Campaign evoking much response from the audience. “The real power of the internet is to tell stories and tell them in an amazing way,” said Anandan. Commented Kunal Lalani, Managing Director, Crayons Advertising on the session: “Rajan Anandan’s session was on how digital will change most of the things in the world. It was all about how interactive the world is going to be, how connected the world will be and how information access will happen.”

 

 

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By Shobhana Nair

 

He came, he saw, he conquered.  I&B minister Prakash Javadekar, who took charge of the portfolio earlier this week as a Minister of State with independent charge, was at the Leadership Summit at Goafest 2014.

 

Prakash Javdekar on Key Issues: On FDI in News: It’s at a certain percentage. We need to see what impact it makes on the content as we have our civilization and cultural ethos. We need to analyse what impact it will have on India. We are not stopping businesses from partnering with global media.   On freedom of expression in the social media: It’s a 10-year-old IT act which is being followed. Every freedom is accompanied with some responsibility which needs to be preserved but by not putting people to jail.   On FM Radio Phase III launch: A decision on Phase III and IV of the digitisation process will be taken soon.

Speaking to a packed hall, he emphasized on the differences between the UPA-led government and the newly elected one. “For 10 years, there was no leadership but since 10 days, there’s been complete leadership. The previous government had no mission without commission. But we believe in mission without commission. There’s been a paradigm shift in Indian politics.”

 

Having tasted success through recent advertising campaigns during the Lok Sabha elections, Javadekar spoke on the effect a good advertising campaign can have on people. The new I&B Minister also set the tone clear for anxious media professionals on whether the freedom of press will be curtailed. “I believe in freedom of expression through advertisements, messages, media and every platform. There has to be an absolute freedom. Assurance of complete freedom to the media is important in new India. The right to criticism is your right. Only when that freedom is nurtured, can we say that we have achieved as a democratic nation.”

 

Without making any commitments or announcements, the former BJP spokesperson assured that all stakeholders will be consulted in the media before taking any decision for the bigger interest of the public.  However he had a very clear agenda in reviving Doordarshan and AIR. “My passion is simple. I want to make DD a competitive and a prominent channel. We also need to re-energize and put air into AIR which is very popular and has fantastic content.”

 

Commenting on the issue of television audience ratings, the minister commented, “It’s a private issue as advertisers are ready to believe in them.” And added in jest: “Miya biwi raazi toh kya karega kaazi… humein kya karna hai!” However, he was aware of the industry-backed BARC.

 

The minister promised the audience that will take key decisions only after taking the views of all stakeholders.

 

Photograph: Fotocorp/Shailesh Mule

 

By Shobhana Nair

 

The concluding day of Goafest 2014 was a fitting finale to the three-day extravaganza. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar appears to have impressed most in the fraternity with his honest, no-nonsense address. “I absolutely loved what Mr Prakash Javadekar spoke. He was prepared and made a lot of sense. He left the room with lot of positivity.” said T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC Global.

 

The pre-afternoon knowledge seminars were conducted by Vanitha Narayanan Managing Director, IBM India and Ajay Chaturvedi, Founder and Chairman, HarVa. Founder of Arsha Vidya Mandir, Swami Paramatmananda Saraswati reminded the ‘always loaded with work’ delegates about the fundamental principles of life through his seminar. Pearls of wisdom like “plenty can give temporary satisfaction and not permanent contentment” were shared by the Swami.  “There are some basic things in life irrespective of which industry you are in. He said things like chase happiness which is what we are not doing. You do forget what you are doing in your day-to-day life,” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific.

 

Alicia Souza, Illustrative designer and E-Commerce entrepreneur stressed the fact that ideas are always around us. Norm Johnston, Chief Digital Officer, Mindshare got the audience hooked with his graphical illustrations on the power of digital. “85% of users watch TV and have a mobile device handy at the same time” was what he said during his session.  Said Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India on the session:  “Norm Johnston was very insightful as to where our entire industry is moving. His way of showing interactivity through the dart board and the tennis table racquets were nice. What I liked was how marketers are using this technology in different ways. His width and depth with what he showed us today in a short time was good.”

 

The founders of Bharath Gyan, DK Hari and Hema Hari conducted a seminar who believed in developing pride in the people of India about our rich culture and heritage. Habib Faisal,Screenwriter and Director was present the Goafest 2014 as one of the key speakers.

 

The other speaker who struck a chord through his seminar was Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director, Google India. His session ended with the Google Reunion Campaign evoking much response from the audience. “The real power of the Internet is to tell stories and tell them in an amazing way!” shared Mr. Anandan. Said Kunal Lalani, Managing Director, Crayons Advertising on the session: “Rajan Anandan’s session was on how digital will change most of the things in the world. It was all about how interactive the world is going to be, how connected the world will be and how information access will happen.”

 

The three-day fest concluded with the awarding of the last of the Creative Abby awards.

 

 

By A Correspondent

 

It was the Big Night for Colvyn Harris and his team at JWT. The agency bagged 40 metals, and emerged as  the agency with the highest number of awards won. There was of course a Grand Prix that it also bagged for Direct.

 

Taproot was the second-most awarded agency with 29 metals. There were three Grand Prix awarded in Creative – JWT for Direct, Alok Nanda for Design and Digital Law and Kenneth for Digital.

 

In terms of Golds, JWT won five, followed by Umrella Design with four. There were many agencies/organisations taking away three Golds – Alok Nanda, Bennet, Coleman, Digital Law and Kenneth and Taproot India.

 

 

By Shobhana Nair

 

Picture this: A rain dance, instant caricature, foot massage, a cycling competition with a co-worker… all this and more in Goa happened on Day 2 of Goafest 2014, the annual congregation of ad and media professionals. Apart from the knowledge seminars which witnessed marketing gurus doling out gyaan, there were enough opportunities for delegates to unwind. Andthen there were the Abby Awards presented for eight categories. The Grand Prix were awarded to JWT India for Bay beat Collective in Direct Abby (pictured above) and Alok Nanda Company for India Bulls Group in the Design Abby.

 

The second day kickstarted with Preethi Mariappan, Executive Creative Director at Razorfish Germany’s session where she spoke about how it wasn’t about getting more ‘likes’ for your brands but it was about building an engagement with people. “You need to connect with people for engagement. Talk to them. There is no magic formula,” she said. Melanie Varley, Chief Strategy Officer – Global, MEC said “Social is the new TV’ during her knowledge seminar.The afternoon saw a session by Ashish Mehrotra, Business Head, Vubites & Senior Vice President, Rediff India who emphasised on the usage of internet technology to turbo-charge a TV ad campaign.

 

But the highlight of the day was clearly the Advertising Conclave with top-notch marketers on the panel. Sanjay Warke, Country Head–DS Division, Toshiba India presented the keynote. Deepika Warrier, VP, Pepsico, Sanjay Tripathy, EVP, HDFC Standard Life; Sameer Satpathy, EVP and Business Head, Marico; Anuradha Narasimhan, Director – Marketing, Britannia Industries presented their views on the relationship that clients and advertising agencies share. This ‘high on thought’ session was moderated by Karthi Marshan, Head, Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Group and it evoked a mixed response from the packed hall.

 

Anupriya Acharya, Group CEO, ZenithOptimedia confessed that this session was very interesting as there were clear contextual points relevant to today’s problems. Do ‘integrated’ agencies work in today’s age and time was one of the most discussed topics at the session. Warrier clearly was in favour of hiring the best people to get work done but it was met with a differing viewpoint from Shekhar Swamy, Group CEO, R K Swamy Hansa in the audience. “The speakers were well-prepared and engaging. We are delighted to have them. But it’s not necessary to agree with them. The whole point of such forums is to get a debate going and sometimes you ask a question to get the debate going,” Swamy said.

 

Acharya though agreed with what Warrier said. “You do need the best talent in every shop. Just because an agency has set up an integrated operation doesn’t mean that they do have the best talent in each of their verticals. I think more than integrated, time has come for agencies as well marketers to be comfortable in working in an environment which thrives on extended eco-systems. It’s more about working in eco-systems which help you succeed rather than one stop shop which means everyone should be under one agency.”

 

Sanjay Tripathy pointed out some key issues that concern the clients and the agencies. “Agencies have issues with the remuneration part of it and how it has to be structured. Agencies don’t think they are getting enough remuneration for the work they are doing. Sometimes, they are unfairly judged. The client has bigger problems – accountability and capability of the team.”

 

If the session got the audience charged, what it ended in had many in the audience with goosebumps: Starting with Deepika Warrier all the marketers on stage sang in chorus ‘Humein Tumse Pyar Kitna Yeh Hum Nahin Jaante’, a song from the 1981 film Kudrat, echoing their sentiments for the ad agencies.

 

So if Day 2 went off well with energizing seminars, did any one miss the top guns from the fraternity? Said Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow: “Goafest had lot of challenges as the media made it look like it was a boycott by the agencies. Actually it is not! Goafest is for the young talent and it’s not the question whether honchos are participating or not. These young talented people keep floating from one agency to another. It is here that they get recognised by these very ad agencies who are not here.”

 

Hmmm. With just  a day to go, guess there are many more fun and invigorating times in store.

 

Photographs: Shailesh Mule/Fotocorp

 

Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India is a delighted man as his agency has win several metals including a Grand Prix for Direct. Shobhana Nair caught up with him hours after the win.

 

What does winning so many awards including the Grand Prix mean for JWT?

Personally, we want to do the best for our clients and their brands. This happens to be a validation of the work that we have done. We are delighted and we are more delighted when we win for our clients. As far as the creative team is concerned, their winning is a validation that the work they do is better than what the industry does.

What’s your personal favourite from amongst the winning entries?

The Grand Prix winning is obviously a favourite. If you get recognition from peers through a fair jury process, why would you wish anything better?

What was the idea behind ‘Genomusic Project’ for Bay Beat Collection which won a Grand Prix in the Direct Response Digital Category?

The idea around this was that your DNA can be used to create a unique music track. It’s an end-to-an end platform. On Facebook, there is an app to express why you should be there. Somebody is sent across to take your DNA samples which will be blended in to the music. So it’s unique and never done before.

Back to the Creative Abby, did the fact that some top agencies not participating increase your chances?

The Olympic Games takes place despite countries not participating in them. In Cannes, some agencies participate and some don’t but the ones who win believe their work is good. Coming back to India, Goafest is a property by the industry, for the industry. It’s very easy to boycott an industry function. Do we want to do that? No. We want to support this institution thinking that it will do well. If some agencies choose not to enter for whatever reasons, it’s not political. This is a clean event as there’s a jury. People have done a good job and they should be recognized.

By A Correspondent

 

On Day 2 of Goafest 2014, awards were presented in eight categories, a few of which are part of the larger Creative Abby bouquet.

 

In Print Craft, there were 27 awards presented from the 189 entries received. In Outdoor, there were only 29 metals of the 290 entered. Both Design and Direct saw a Grand Prix being awarded. In Design only 25 of the 188 entries got awards, while in Direct, 13 of the 55 entries received took away awards. In Branded Content and Entertainment, 21 of the 54 entries received secured awards. In Brand Activation and Promotions, 18 of the 108 entries received were awarded. In the newly created Public Relations and Broadcast Abby categories, there were 24 of 42 and 33 of 99 entries respectively.

 

The Grand Prix were awarded to JWT India for Bay beat Collective in Direct Abby and Alok Nanda Company for India Bulls Group in the Design Abby.