MUMBAI: It came as no surprise to anyone in the audience when Ogilvy & Mather yet again dominated the 40th Annual Abby Awards. As O&M group president and national creative director Piyush Pandey went up on stage to bag the Creative Agency of the year award the team broke out into a dance.
But giving them good competition with drums and gongs and other musical instruments of dubious variety were the Grey Worldwide team who cheered every award and their team on stage noisily.
The final tally for O&M was 20 Golds, 47 Silvers and 2 Special Golds earning them 425 points, way ahead of distant second Grey Worldwide, who bagged 10 Golds and 22 Silvers, to settle at 186 points, followed by Everest, Bates and Brand David.
Notwithstanding the controversies that surrounded the Abby Awards; the event itself was an entertaining one - thanks to the histrionics of Kunal Vijaykar the host for the evening, Cyrus Sahukar as Semi Girebaal from MTV trying to find herself the perfect brand fit, Indipop group Euphoria, jazz and dance performances.
For one, many big agencies - JWT, Leo Burnett, McCann Erickson, Mudra, Lowe - amongst others, stayed away from the awards this year as well. The divide in the ad world owing to two industry bodies - the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Advertising Club Mumbai - continues even as excellent work goes without being showcased at the event.
But coming back to the Abbys… This year the awards announced a new category - Ambient Media for advertising on sidewalks, elevators, human billboards - and a new award, the Young Abby, sponsored by Cadbury, which invited entrants to create a film and print campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk. The theme for the form was "the feeling is back". Abhinav Sinha won the Young Abby award.
The winners in the ambient category included O&M with a Gold for Hutch Rangshankara Theatre Festival (Cubbon Park) and two Silvers for Hutch Rangshankara Theatre Festival (Caesar's) and Independence Rock (Rock). Silvers in this category were also picked up by Grey Worldwide for their Mumbai Railway Police (One Rupee Idea) and Everest Brand Solutions for Support tent card.
Moving on to the other sets of awards, the fight was mainly between the Men in Black from O&M and the huge team in white tees from Grey Worldwide.
The Abby Awards this year received a total number of 3100 entries from India and the South Asia region comprising Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The awards in various categories are as follows:
In the print Food and Beverages category, the two Silvers were won by O&M for Cadbury Ulta Perk, while the gold was also won by O&M for Air Action Center Fresh-Onion. In the same category for film, the Gold was bagged by O&M for Protex Happydent - Dirty Harry.
In the Healthcare, Household Care, Toiletries and Cosmetics print category Grey Worldwide picked up three Silvers for Kiwi Shoe Polish and the other 2 Silvers went to O&M for Ranipal and Bates Enterprise for Benadryl-Congescity. The Gold in this category was bagged by O&M for Pond's Age Miracle - Anti Ageing. In the film ad for this category Ramesh Deo Productions won the silver for Pepsodent Toothpaste Cheater Cock.
In the print category for Clothing, Footwear and Accessories, the Silver was bagged by Bates Enterprise for Killer Garden. The film ads saw the Silver being picked by MTV Networks for MTV Roadies Cargo Pants- Graveyard.
In the print category for Consumer Durables the silver was won by Grey Worldwide for Haier Widescreen Television -Romeo Montague. The Silver in the film category was awarded to O&M for Moto Flip and Euro RSCG India for Voltas AC-India ka Dil India ka AC. The Gold was won by MTV Networks for X-Box 360- Porok.
The print Homes, Décor, Leisure category saw 7 Silvers. O&M bagged 3 Silvers for Lafarge Cement, 3 for HotWheels and one for Apsara Colorama. O&M also won the Silver in the film ad for Playwin Online Lotteries
In the print Automotives and Accessories VGC bagged a Silver for Snap on Wheel Aligners- The Center Spread while O&M took home 2 Silvers for Tata Safari -Tata Safari Spender and Tata Safari Just How while O&M's Tata Safari Slavery won the Gold in this category for print. The Silver for the film ad was taken home by Red Ice Films/ A Advertising for Thunder Bird.
The print category Silver for Financial Advertising was awarded to Alok Nanda & Co. Comm for Marico Corporate - One Out of while the Gold for the film ad in the same category went to SBI Life Video Game.
The print ad for Corporate or Organisational Advertising had Bates Asia bagging the Silver for Self with Save the Civet and O&M for Ogilvy India with Ogilvy on Digestion. The film ad Silver was picked up by Bank of India-Piggy.
In the print Retail Advertising category the Silvers went to O&M for The Reader's Book Shop- Gandhi and Percept H for Ghetto Bar- Soccer while the Gold was won by O&M for The Reader's Book Shop- Che
In the Business Products and Marketing of Services there were 7 Silvers bagged by O&M for Hutch Ringtone, Hutchison Telecom for Signature 1, Hutchison Telecom for Signature 3. O&M also bagged the Gold in this category for Hutchison Telecom Signature 2. Grey Worldwide took home 3 Silvers and a Gold for Visage Images and Universal Language Translator.
In the Travel and Hospitality category Grey Worldwide picked up 4 Silvers for TCI and Honeymoon Packages- 2 apiece and one silver went to Everest for the French Film Festival at Fun Cinemas. The Gold in this category was awarded to Grey for TCI- Taj.
In the print Public service category Everest bagged a silver for The Poona School & Home for blind Girls -Braille-Monroe while the other three Silvers were bagged by O&M for Hutch- Sanctuary Whale, Sanctuary Shark and IAPA -Mother-Son. There were five Golds in this category 4 of which were taken home by Grey Worldwide for their Times of India-Jaago Gujarat ads and O&M took home one gold for WWF-Space Courtesy.
In the Media print category, O&M bagged all three Silvers for Kolkatta TV - Kolkatta Taxi, Kettle, and Rickshaw ads. The film ad for the same category was bagged by O&M with a Silver for KBC-Kid, FCB Ulka's Zee Cinema-Pyaar Ki Shuruvat and MTV Networks for VH1-If you were a song.
RADIO: The Radio FMCG Category saw Brand David pick up two Silvers for Himani Memo Plus and Himani Sanjeevan Dhara with Art of Leaving. The Gold was picked up by O&M for Lexi Pens. In the Consumer Durables, cateogory Brand David bagged the Gold for Nitco-Dirt Free. In the services category, the Silver was bagged by O&M for Star 7827-Manorama.The agency also picked up two Golds in this category for Children's Little Theatre and Playwin Online Lotteries.
OUTDOORS: In the Outdoor FMCG category, the Silvers were bagged by O&M for Cadbury Ulta Perk and Bates Enterprise for Benadryl for Congescity. Grey Worldwide bagged the Gold for Kiwi Shoe Polish.
In the consumer durables category O&M picked up a Silver for Titan Watches and Grey Worldwide bagged a Silver for Haier Widescreen Television.
In the services category O&M took home two Silvers for Gold's Gym and The Reader's Book Shop- Mandela. The Gold in this category was shared by A for Adoor-Vertigo and Grey Worldwide for HoneyMoon Packages-Henna Hawai.
In the public service outdoors category the 5 silvers were shared between O&M which won 4 of them for Kathalaya- Rapunzel is back, WWF Space Courtesy, IAPA-Mother-Daughter and National Assoc for the Blind-Braille. Everest took home the Silver for The Poona School &Home for Blind Girls- Braille. The Gold in this category was picked up by Grey Worldwide for Times of India Jaago Gujarat.
DIRECT MAIL: In the direct mail Business and Consumer services OgilvyOne Worldwide won the silver for UTI Bank Meal Card while the Gold went to O&M for Childline 1098-Mask. The two other Silvers in this category were won by Everest for Cancer Patient Aids Association and Alzheimer's -Society of India. In the product manufacturing and distribution, the Silver was bagged by India Hotel Company while the gold was bagged by O&M Bangalore for Lenovo the Floating Laptop.
PRINT CRAFT: In this category for art direction the 4 Silvers were shared between Bates (Karan Rawat), O&M (Amol Ghotkar) and GreyWorldwide( Payal Jhutani) bagging 2 Silvers while the Gold went to Bates for Killer-Immortal created by Karan Rawat and A for Adoor Vertigo won by V.Sunil.
Dilip Khomme (O&M) picked up the award for excellence in Illustration with Silver for Apsara Colorama- Phrases.
The photography awards were picked up by Jatin Kampani(Gravity)for K.Raheja Universal Calendar and Prasad Naik for Ravissant.
FILM CRAFT: The category for direction had Abhinay Deo bag Silver for Motorola from Ramesh Deo Productions. The Gold was shared between Red Films/A Advertising for Thunder Bird directed by Abhinay Deo again and Shoojit Sarcar for Camlin Permanent Marker for Ramesh Deo Productions.
The Silver for original score went to Corcoise Films- Dhruv Ghanekar and Ashutosh Pathak for Reliance Infocom - Rang Cha Gaye. The Gold was bagged by Amar Mangrolkar for Clickjobs.com (Footcandles Film).
The editing awards saw Ramesh Deo Ptoductions bag a Silver for Century Ply (Huzefa Lokhandwala) and the Gold was awarded to Shiv Kumar Panicer for Piaggio Ape by Flying Saucer.
In the animation category, Vaibhav Studios bagged two silvers for Amaron and Aids Awareness (Bula-Di- Campaign). Tan Lee Chia bagged the Gold for Appy Fizz (MFX).
Aksha Pardasany won Silver in the performance by an actor category for Band Aid by Black Magic Motion Pictures.
INTERACTIVE DIGITAL MARKETING: The Silver for Web banners was picked up by Ogilvy One for Hutch- Wherever you go, our network follows. The Mosquitoes/Promosites Silver was picked up by OgilvyOne for Mentos Help Line and the Gold in this category was picked up by B.C Webwise for Sunsilk Gang of Girls.
The Silvers for Digital Innovation went to Webchutney Studio for makemytrip.com-Moving Train and OgilvyOne for meethamoment.com by Cadbury.
CAMPAIGN: In this category the Food and Beverages saw two Silvers being shared between O&M Mumbai for Cadbury Ulta Perk and Grey Worldwide for Appy Fizz and Friends.
In the health care/household care/toiletries/ Cosmetics category Grey Worldwide bagged 2 Silvers for Kiwi Shoe Polish and Pantene Pro V.
In the Clothing/Footwear/Accessories segment Bates enterprise picked the Silver for Killer Immortal.
In the Consumer Durables category Grey Worldwide picked up the Silver for Haier while O&M picked up a Gold for Moto Flip.
In the Home Décor/Leisure segment, O&M picked up two Silvers for Lafarge Cement and Lafarge Concreto.
In the financial advertising category, the Silver was awarded to O&M for SBI Life.
In the retail-advertising category, the Gold was awarded to O&M for The Reader's Book Shop.
In the Business Products and Mktg of services, Grey Worldwide picked up two Silvers for Universal Language Translator - Maze and Visage Images - India while O&M won the Gold for Hutch - Signature.
In the travel and hospitality segment, Everest won a Silver for the French Film Festival while Grey Worldwide picked one for TCI-Words.
The Media campaign saw O&M pick a Silver for Kolkatta TV and MTV Networks grab a Gold for MTV-Sorry for the Interruption.
The public service campaign saw Grey Worldwide pick a Silver for Times of India- Jaago Gujarat while Meridian Communications won the Gold for WWF & Bangalore Bias.
The Integrated campaign had 2 Silvers up for grabs both picked up by O&M. The O&M team picked up one for SBI Life and O&M Pvt Ltd picked one for Hutch- Rangashankara Theatre Festival.
The advertiser of the Year was Hutchison Telecom followed by Times Group and Travel Corp. of India.
