MUMBAI: GroupM‘s Mindshare leads the Media Abbys shortlist this year with 20 entries from India and one entry from Sri Lanka.

IPG Mediabrands India‘s Lodestar UM follows with 16 entries, while GroupM‘s Maxus falls one short to be a close third. Madison Pinnacle has the fourth highest shortlisted entries with 14.

The Media Abbys has a record 660 entries this year (beating last year‘s record of 628 entries) across 18 categories. The thrust is on digital with 260 entries coming from this medium. The rest 400 entries were from TV, Print, Radio, OOH and Branded Content.

It was perhaps the result of Media Abby chairman Ashish Bhasin‘s foresight to further divide the digital category into Digital Search, Social Media, Display, Content, Medium and Mobile. The other categories for Media Abby Awards include Best Use of TV, Cinema, Newspapers, Outdoor, Special Events, Radio, Sponsorship, Branded Content, Mixed Media, Youth Marketing, Pro Bono, and South Asia Mixed Media.

Speaking at the announcement of the Media Abbys shortlist, Bhasin said, "We realised that having one broad category for digital is not fair. The medium is fast catching on to traditional media and has a lot of variety within itself. Comparing a mobile campaign with a website design is like comparing apples to oranges. So we thought of creating the sub categories and giving the different aspects of digital a fair chance to compete."

Bhasin also stressed that this year nearly 50 agencies (big and small) participated in the Media Abbys, of which 27 agencies feature in the shortlist. "It is heartening to see that even independent and upcoming agencies are willing to participate. This year has seen a very encouraging participation from the entire industry," Bhasin added.

Apart from adding sub categories to the Media Abbys, this year was also the first time that the entire judging process was digital. Each jury member was given a laptop with headphones to see the case studies. The scores were entered online which were then collected on a common server and compiled. The entries for the awards were required on a USB drive rather than the usual hard copies.

"We wanted to make the process as efficient as possible. By going digital, we have increased the transparency and are also doing our bit for the environment by saving paper," explained Bhasin.

The final judging process for the Media Abby Awards will be held on the 8 March 8 and the Media Awards will be held on 5 April 5 along with Digital, Design and Direct.