Effies '09 case studies: New venue, new theatrics

A total of 33 shortlisted case studies were presented on Monday as part of the Effies, the Advertising Club of Bombay’s annual awards for effectiveness in advertising.

Most agencies began queuing up early morning for a dry run of their presentations at KC College’s Rama Watumull’s auditorium, a change from the Welingkar’s, which has hosted these presentations for the past few years.

Attendance was low-key, but advertising professionals from Lowe Lintas, O&M, Mudra did show up to support their agencies.

The case studies were divided into six categories – Mobile advertising, Consumer Products, Corporate Advertising, Services, Consumer Durables and Integrated Advertising Campaign.

O&M's big bet this time was Vodafone's Zoozoos. It made the grade in mobile advertising, besides finding a place in other categories like Services and Integrated Advertising campaign. The telecom brand wanted to promote its range of value added services, yet unknown to consumers and therefore released 29 TVCs involving the Zoozoos, spread over 47 days of the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

O&M also presented case studies on Sprite, Center Fresh, Limca, Pond’s, Bajaj Pulsar, Tata Sky Plus and Sakshi. The Sprite case study listed out the brand’s ‘Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas’ campaign in its quest to become the No.1 youth drink in the country. The Center Fresh case study (Zubaan pe Lagaam) was particularly well-received. Limca’s 'Fresh Ho Jao' campaign showcased the resurgence of the brand to become more relevant to the generation of today, from being a drink of "our parents".

Lowe Lintas' big bet for the Effies was the case study for Tata Tea (Jaago Re). The campaign, believed to be a crucial component in the run-up to the 2009 Assembly Elections, was about the positioning of Tata Tea as a beverage that awakens consumers. Arc Worldwide, which developed Jaagore.com, also presented a case study on Tata Tea, in their objective of garnering one billion votes for the elections.

Lowe Lintas also presented a case study on Idea Cellular’s 'Democracy' campaign which helped it garner market share as the telecom expanded its footprint across the country, besides Havells (Shock Laga) campaign and a joint-case study with BBH Asia Pacific on Axe (Call Me) where the agency handled the non-TV part of the campaign.

Besides TVS Scooty's Women on Wheels, Mudra got its act together for Shell Foundation’s Khidki Amma – Gossips through the Window - campaign for Shell Foundation. The campaign utilised the kitchen window in rural India – perhaps the only way to reach village women – to tell them about the ill-effects of kitchen smoke and how it causes air pollution. The agency also presented a case study on the rebranding of Union Bank of India (Your dreams are not yours alone) which was one of the largest rebranding exercises of a public sector bank in India. Mudra also made good use of its in-house stand-up comedian Ashwin Mathew to present its Power of Ideas case study for The Economic Times.

JWT presented four case studies – Kellogg’s Special K (Be Special) campaign, Indian National Congress, The Times of India Chennai campaign and the Teach India initiative. The Kellogg's case study elucidated on how the brand had to battle the philosophy that being a little overweight is treated as a sign of prosperity in Indian families.

Rediffusion Y&R made a strong case for Airtel's M-commerce facilities in a two-part stand-up comedy act, preceded by a spoof on Oprah Winfrey (Choprah When Free) for Kaya Skin Clinic.

Bates141 and McCann Erickson presented a case study on Virgin Mobile and Stayfree All Night (Savdhan - Attention) campaigns respectively.