Nuggets

Share of media glory

The IPG group’s Lodestar UM and Group M’s Mindshare topped the charts at the Media Abby Awards of Goafest 2015. Lodestar bagged the maximum golds for its work on clients such as Tata Motors and Nerolac while Mindshare India, which got a solitary gold for its work on Nike in the Digital Display category, topped the medals tally with 11 awards. Mindshare’s tally would be much higher if one accounted for the haul by the group’s agencies from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan who also picked up awards at the ceremony. The media awards have seen increasing participation on a year-on-year basis. Nakul Chopra, chairman, organising committee, Goafest 2015, said this year has seen the maximum number of entries ever in the media category — 674 entries, a 9 per cent jump over the previous year.

Sisters dominate

JWT India and its sister agency Contract India dominated the Creative Abby Awards at Goafest 2015. Of the total number of 344 awards given away under the Creative Abby awards, both the agencies combined to sweep away nearly 20 per cent of the metals on offer. The other agencies who came out shining in Goa included Taproot Dentsu, Ideas@work, Scarecrow communications and Publicis India. While Contract India bagged a truckload of awards for its work on clients ranging from Tata Docomo to Asian Paints Royale, JWT’s award-winning work spanned clients such as Nike, Nestle, Godrej and Tata AIA Life Insurance. The awards this year saw the participation of nearly 250 organisations, including agencies and media companies that sent direct entries. Nearly 110 organisations managed to win awards at the 10th edition of the annual gathering of India’s communications fraternity.

Heavyweight Scarecrow

It rained awards for Scarecrow Communications during the Creative Abby Awards at Goafest last weekend. While the agency’s rich metal haul of one gold, four silvers and eight bronze metals gave it a slot among the top five most creative agencies at this year’s festival, the agency is already gearing up for a second round of celebrations. In a business where large agency networks are increasingly gobbling up independent agencies, Scarecrow has been chosen as the only Indian representative in the top 20 list of the world’s leading independent agencies in 2015. Established five years ago, Scarecrow has worked on large companies including ITC, Reliance, Emami, Zee, Danone, Nestle, Henkel, and Housing.Com to name a few. Manish Bhatt, founder director, Scarecrow Communications, calls it a proud moment for India’s advertising, marketing and business communication industry.

Melt the difference

In recent times, India’s advertising fraternity has been sharply divided among the lines of those who participate in Goafest and those who don’t. While the advertising industry was taking pot shots at each other, there is somebody who’s spotted an opportunity. Kyoorius, a Mumbai-based organisation, has launched MELT 2015, a two-day festival of creativity for the advertising, media, digital and marketing industries. The festival has been conceptualised in partnership with global association for creative advertising and design, D&AD, media services major GroupM and broadcaster Zee. The festival, which will be held in Mumbai during May 21-22, hopes to attract 5,000 people over two days who connect creativity with marketing. For those who are concerned about the statistics, this will be twice the size of delegates at this year’s Goafest. And yes, some agencies that were missing at the Abby awards at Goafest will be vying for honours at the Kyoorius Awards.

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