GOA: Goafest 2018, India’s foremost advertising, media and marketing convention felicitating creative thinking in India, kick-started its annual festival yesterday. This year, the festival is also celebrating 50 years of the prestigious Abby Awards, which have been handed out to creative geniuses over the years for their stellar work that has, today, put India on the global map where advertising, media and marketing is concerned.
The industry conclave presented by Discovery marked the first session of the day with Baba Ramdev who enthralled the audience by speaking about building inclusive, sustainable, decentralised and just brands. He enlightened them about the philosophy behind the brand Patanjali and stressed upon the need for marketers to build an emotional connect with the consumer. His session was followed by a talk by Pepperfry chief marketing officer and head of new business Kashyap Vadapalli who stressed the importance of building trust amongst consumers.
As the sun went down on day one, it was time for the presentation of the publisher and media Abbys which recognise the excellence in the use of media such as print, TV, cinema, outdoor, radio, events, digital and social media amongst others. A total of 38 media Abbys and 16 publisher Abbys were awarded. While Lodestar UM led the media Abbys with an impressive 10 awards including four gold medals, the highest number of gold, Jagran Prakashan, scored a total of five metals, thus taking a lead in the publisher Abbys. Other notable winners for the evening included Dentsu Webchutney in the media Abbys category with three silvers and one gold and Times of India that bagged two gold medals in the publisher Abby category.
This year, twelve creative legends were roped in to form the master jury which had been entrusted with the task of screening all the entries received, across all the categories and verticals and then to identify those worthy of being shortlisted and receiving the award. The 2018 edition of the Abby Awards also saw a number of categories and sub-categories being rationalised, to ensure relevance and effectiveness.
Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) president Nakul Chopra says, “We started Goafest all those years ago with the aim to bring together people from the world of advertising, media and marketing together to discuss and exchange exciting ideas. But today, this festival has grown into becoming one of the biggest congregations of some of the most brilliant creative minds in the country. It is these young people, who come here in droves to learn from and interact with the legends who paved the creative way for them, who make Goafest a festival worth attending. I am deeply grateful to the fraternity present here for making Goafest what it is today.”
Discussing the Abby Awards to be handed out at Goafest 2018, The Advertising Club president Vikram Sakhuja adds, “Over the last 50 years, the awards went through a lot of changes. So, we spoke to heads of agencies, to industry leaders and more importantly, to the young creative workforce out there who came up with two key changes to the awards this year. The changes include the rationalisation of categories to stay relevant to today’s young and dynamic creative geniuses and the formation of a master jury made up of industry masters to guarantee effectiveness. And it gives me immense pleasure to see the industry not only embracing these changes with open arms but also supporting us in our endeavour to keep improving the quality of the awards being handed out.”
Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) chairman of Goafest 2018 and vice president Ashish Bhasin mentions, “Goafest is always a great reminder of the amazing amount of creative talent we have in India. Seeing such young people brimming with energy, learning from the best in the industry and congregating together to exchange ideas is what enriches creative thinking. This year, we have upped the ante by bringing in a lot of technological changes and of course by sprucing up our speaker line up by bringing in stalwarts from varied backgrounds – be it advertising, marketing, music, film, yoga and much more.”
Stay tuned for more updates from Goa.
