The Hindu Business Line : We always knew it

So we're back. But then where were we these past two months? Hey, we deserve a break, don't we? And anyway, everybody else was holidaying as well. But now, we will get back to the serious business of giving you a not so serious view of advertising and the people and events that make, shake and even fake this mad ad world in Mumbai. Fasten your seat belts, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Emvie time

The Emvie awards for excellence in media are relatively new. Introduced by the Advertising Club Bombay just a few years ago, these awards are riding the fast train along with the industry they are attempting to honour. This year, over 600 media maniacs crowded into the Grand Hyatt near the domestic airport for a night of music, glamour and awards. The AdClub seems to have put the confusion about the Abby awards behind it and set about creating anther cracker of an event. Malaika Arora sizzled, Shubha Mudgal set the house on fire with her unique voice and Mindshare walked away with not just the market share of the business but also the lion's share of the awards.

Watch this event. With the media throwing its considerable weight behind it, it is all set to rival Abby Nite for sheer pizazz. And in any case, in the agency business, media is the flavour of the season.

Arvind anniversary

Arvind Sharma, MD, Leo Burnett India

Arvind Sharma, as you all know, heads Leo Burnett. In fact, he headed Chaitra Leo Burnett and oversaw the transition from what was Walter Saldanah's agency to what is one of India's most aggressive multinational agencies. Over the last few ,Leo has pushed itself into the leading creative space with a slew of impressive campaigns and awards.

Arvind Sharma, an IIM product, has been an agency man throughout. He joined Clarion many hundred years ago, and is remembered by old Clarion hands as a real detail-oriented slogger. He moved to Chaitra and has headed Leo Burnett since the takeover from Walter. His trademark loud laughter is hard to miss anywhere and it was very much in evidence last week when his most outstanding partnership turned 25. Yes, Arvind Sharma celebrated his silver wedding anniversary at the ITC Grand Central Ballroom, and it was done in style.

One saw Shantakumar of Saatchi towering above the crowd, resplendent in a turban, Pradeep Guha, Shekhar Swamy, Pranesh Mishra, Vikram Sakhuja, Chaks, Pops and Agnello Dias, to name a few advertising types mingling with Arvind's family and friends. A few short speeches, some pretty good canned marriage music, and everyone made the most of an overcast Sunday afternoon and partied away into the evening.

Ashu and Vikram

Ashutosh Srivastava and Vikram Sakhuja have more and more reasons to be happy. The recent rejig at the company has seen these two gentlemen take charge of not just national, but regional responsibilities. And now, they sweep the most prestigious media awards in the country. Take a bow, you guys. You deserve it.

Black Dog MCP

We must quote out of a little colour advertisement for Black Dog whisky. The copy reads: "The men's bar at the Bangalore Club is perhaps the last bastion of the male chauvinism. For over a century, things have remained unchanged and they have proudly not allowed women in, so gentlemen can hold conversations uninterrupted on important issues like shoes and bags. A tradition proudly old fashioned. Just like us. Black Dog."

Now this is in a place like Bangalore with its cutting edge cosmopolitan crowd. And for a brand owned by Dr Vijay Mallya's company. I wonder if the king of good times, who revels in the company of the opposite sex, and surely respects them as well, has read his advertisement. I bet you won't see Dr Mallya in the men's bar of the Bangalore Club. Wonder what other women have to say about this advertisement. We have not even dwelt on its surrogate nature. Its content is enough to make us seek out the competition and patronise them.

Cannes awards

COLVYN HARRIS, CEO, JWT India

Twelve Lions have been caged and brought back to India. No, this is not to re-stock the Gir forest. This is the tally of awards the Indian contingent bagged at the annual Cannes Advertising Festival. Not bad at all.

The Chennai JWT team will have much to cheer about, and JWT on the whole would be just recovering from some serious partying. How often do you get a Gold Lion in the Press Category? Colvyn Harris and Bruce seem to be serious about positioning JWT as a "creative" agency, not just a "brand-strategy" agency. The clients might actually like the latter, but hey, the former is surely more sexy! And someone has to make O&M sweat a little. Congrats to all the winners _ JWT, O&M, Rediff, Leo and Madison. You've done us proud.

Victoria

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