| MUMBAI:
AMO Communications was declared the winner of the UNFPA-Laadli National Creative
Excellence Awards for Social Change by 'Population First' for the category - print
ads/cartoons at the awards ceremony, held on June 30, 2008 at Y. B Chavan Hall.
(For the winning campaign – please ref. attachment) Suneel
Katarnave - Art Director and Viral Bhatt - Copy writer, teamed up to execute the
campaign idea. The awards were open to creative professionals from any organisation
and also to freelance professionals. The categories for the awards included TVCs;
slogans, lyrics and songs; print ads/cartoons; posters/outdoor media; photography;
and innovative merchandise materials. The entries were judged by some of the stalwarts
in the advertising industry viz. AP Parigi, MG Parameswaran, Pranesh Misra, Mohammed
Khan, Pradeep Guha, Priti Nair and Ramesh Narayan. 'Population
First', a Mumbai based NGO working on population and health issues within the
framework of women's rights and social development had instituted these awards
to specifically target the social issue of female foeticide and falling sex ratio
in the country.
'Laadli' is the name of an ongoing girl child campaign in
Mumbai. AMO
Communications also bagged the bronze at the Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC)
Social Awareness Campaign competition, presented by Outdoor Advertising magazine
(OAM) & Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA). The
winners were announced at a grand award ceremony at the OAC 2008 convention, held
at Nehru Science Center, Worli on 28th June 2008. The contest was launched by
IOAA to creatively highlight social issues that needed to be addressed. The winning
concepts would be rolled out as a campaign across outdoor formats in the country.
The competition received more than 3000 entries from across the country and was
judged by a jury of senior advertising, marketing and media professionals headed
by Pratap Bose, CEO, O&M. Minoti Shetye and Gwendoline Fernandez, from AMO
Communications, bagged the bronze for their entry on 'Stop Domestic Violence'.
(plz ref. attachment) Commenting
on the win, Elvis Dias, Managing Director, AMO Communications said: "The
recent spate of awards for AMO proves that our pursuit for creative excellence
has now become a process. A lot of social messages are shocking but fail to connect
with the heart.
The trick in designing communication aimed at influencing
social change is to create something that connects with the heart. The message
must convert to action, only then it would have achieved success. I think this
is exactly what the team has achieved." "We
have set aside a budget to actively promote communication towards initiating social
change and will be executing such campaigns across various mediums. This gives
us immense satisfaction. Next on the line is a campaign to deter the spit fire
types from painting the town red, with an edible but non-edible substance, called
paan," he added. Said
Bob D'Silva, Creative Director, AMO Communications, "We, at AMO, are glad
that we are doing our bit for the society. Honestly, the awards and cash are but
incidental. " | 
