O&M hits a half century; JWT at 24

O&M regained its supremacy in the metal sweepstake bagging a total of 50 metals at Goafest ‘09. O&M’s tally includes eight Golds, 17 Silvers and 25 Bronzes.

The agency bagged maximum Golds (three) in the out-of-home category while garnering one each in all the other categories except Direct.
Said Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M India, “I am a very proud man today as the tradition of the agency goes on. We are 100% ahead of our nearest competitor and that shows we are on the right track and that the youngsters are doing a brilliant job. Not getting a Grand Prix in one category doesn’t matter as our award tally shows the sphere of Ogilvy’s width; we’ve got more Golds, Silvers and Bronzes than anyone else and that is what really matters.”

JWT’s final tally of 24 metals brings them to second place with five Golds, five Silvers, 13 Bronzes and one Grand Prix. The coveted Grand Prix, the only one in the entire metal tally, came in the Direct category for Times of India’s ‘Teach India’ campaign. Said Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India, “There is a very talented team behind all this, besides a small element of luck. We do invest in people and training talent and I think getting them to focus around good work are some of the advantages that we are seeing now.”

Leo Burnett stood third with a haul of 17 metals including one Gold, two Silvers and 14 Bronzes. It brought home the Gold for the ‘Loo’ print campaign it did for Exhaust Fan. Despite sending limited ‘token’ entries to Goafest ’09, McCann Worldgroup ended the day with 13 metals, albeit no Golds. Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional executive creative director, McCann Erickson A-Pacific and the jury chairman for the Film category, felt that the jurors had been unreasonably harsh while judging the home-grown entries.

He said, “We need to be a little more inclusive of the 99% real work that we put our heart and soul behind. There is a lot of work that has been done with a lot of pain and has really worked for the client and that needs to be recognized. Yes, we need to have international standards, but what works in this country has to be acknowledged and recognised.”

Another agency that deserves a mention is Publicis Communications that surpassed expectations by winning 13 metals including two Golds, seven Silvers and four Bronzes. Commented an elated Emmanuel Upputuru, NCD, Publicis, “It’s a concerted attempt over the last few months. I have to say that we are not satisfied. We would have liked to win more and will come back for more next year.”

A total of 19 metals were given out in the ‘Interactive Digital Advertising’ category, of which the two Golds went to: JWT India for the ‘Run/Ban Jallikatu’ website done for The Times of India and Media2win for the viral ‘Adultdost.com: India’s First Adult Dating Website’ for Tata Sky.

The Times of India could well bag the ‘Client of the year’ award if there was one. Its ‘Teach India’ , ‘A Day in the life of Chennai’ and ‘Run/Ban Jallikatu’ campaign bagged a total of 12 metals across categories. Said Bhaskar Das, executive president, BCCL,“ The JWT brand team has done a fantastic job. It has been a well coordinated effort on their part. Teach India is a highly emotive effort, besides being effective and so is ToI Chennai campaign. We are extremely excited.”