This year there were a total of 712 entries as against 654 last year. 65 agencies, largely from South India, fought for a place in the hall of fame across 36 categories. In the Television Commercials – Promo Spots Category, there were 19 entries and four nominations. Of the four nominations, two were Vijay promos and both of them made the grade to pick up the honours.

Vijay TV's Gold award winning Jet Li promo

The Gold was won by the promo for the Jet Li Action Movie “Once upon a time in China” (which ran as part of the Weekend Action Film Festival) and the Silver by the Sagalai Vs Ragalai promo (a comedy running on weeknights). Both the promos had cleverly woven elements from popular Tamil films in an interesting, creative and humorous way to promote the respective properties.

Vijay TV's Silver award winning Sagalai Vs Ragalai promo

The Gold winning effort used a famous scene from Thiruvilayadal, a classic movie of the 60s, to introduce Jet Li as the hero of the movie. The promo that won the Silver, cleverly used leading star Rajinikanth’s scene from the movie Baba. A tactical post-production job ensured that visually it was seamless. The audio was tweaked using a mimicry artist to warn the two anchors of the show to give the viewers a good laugh in typical Rajni style.

The dynamic team

Vijay, with its strategic and structured approach to on-air promos, comprises a team of creative talent who has a great understanding of the Tamil idiom. Ramesh Mydur, a veteran in the ad-film making industry at Chennai, leads the team. Vijay is continuing to pioneer the on-air promo effort in this market and has raised the bar on the quality of promos aimed at consumers.