MUMBAI: The Ad Club's annual Ad Review 2004, this time round saw a speaker back from the advertising fraternity after three years of witnessing speakers from the marketing community.

The speaker nominated for Ad Review 2004 was none other than the executive creative director Lowe R Balakrishnan- popularly known as Balki.

 
 
The issue that Balki raked up was the current judging format and whether one was judging mere creativity or does one actually analyse the thought and the idea behind an ad. Defining creative advertising as interesting advertising, he stated that any advertising forum today judges awards only bases it on the creativity and the simple impact, execution and the basic thought is overlooked. "You could be wiping out a huge problem for a brand by a very simple idea and not receive an award for it," pointed out Balki.

Balki further added, " The only way ads will be judged right is if the panel judges it right."

Putting together a list of commercials that he felt were brilliant advertising for 2004 across categories, Balki said that these were the compilation of ads that he had rated as the best of 2004 across agencies.

 
 
The list is as follows:

FOODS

1) Air action centre fresh ( Girl on the swing)
2) Alpenlibe lollypop ( Lage Raho)
3) Choco-tella ( Iske ander chocolate hain)
4) Saffola Gold ( Kal se)

BEVERAGES & TOBACCO

1)UB Export Soda ( Yakee Cool drink)
TOILETRIES & HOUSEHOLD CARE

1) Parachute Sampoora Tel
2) Silk n Shine ( Frog ad)
3) Tortoise mosquito coil ( Ear flapping)

HEALTH & COSMETIC CARE

1) Kohinoor Xtra time
HOME DECOR & LEISURE

1) Asian Paints ( Har Ghar Kuch Kehta hain)

AUTOMOTIVE & ACCESSORIES

1) Sumo Victa (Aap ki pehchaan)

SERVICES FOR HOUSEHOLD SECTOR

1) SBI Life Insurance ( Old couple)
2) TATA AIG Life
3) Manhattan credit cards ( Dinku)

BUSINESS PRODUCTS & SERVICES

1) Hutch ( Dog)
2) Indian Steel Alliance ( Boy girl)
3) Windows XP
4) N Gage
5) Nokia 3105 BDMA ( Tilted neck)

TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY

1) Indian Airlines
2) Air Deccan

Explained Balki, "We dont need to necessarily follow the Canne judging process. Canne passes a creative judgement."

 
 
Balki stated that the 'Campaign of the year' was most definitely UB Export Soda, which was a regional campaign in Karnataka.

In his concluding thoughts Balki remarked that most advertising forums force agencies to make a campaign extending into multimedia to qualify as a candidate for the campaign of the year. This he said only encouraged agencies to do false work and waste clients' money.