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IMPACT THE MARKETING, ADVERTISING AND MEDIA WEEKLY 14 Focus
OCTOBER 10-16, 2005

India’s scoreboard at London International Advertising Awards 2005:
Four agencies, nine finalists, One Winner

GOKUL KRISHNAMURTHY
(WITH INPUTS FROM DEEPTI KHANNA BOSE)
In 2002, the Indian creative lions roared at the London International Advertising Awards (LIAA). The Grand Winner in Print and Outdoors was the 'Smoking Cowboy', still fresh in memory for many — crafted by Piyush Pandey and his team at O&M to spread the message that smoking kills.

At last year's LIAA, there were two winners from India: JWT Bangalore for Levi's 'Great Depression' in the Print (Copywriting) category and RMG David New Delhi for WWF India 'Plant more trees' in the Outdoor (Billboards) category.

The LIAA awards are into their 20th year and are among the most respected internationally. They stand out due to a unique identity amongst the Cannes and New York Fests of the world. The Jury Chairman for advertising this year was WPP chief Neil French and LIAA being LIAA, lists the members of the jury on its site. That's perhaps why some creative minds consider the awards in the Queen's land to be the fairest of them all. And this jury for 2005 also has a host of Asians, including our very own Piyush Pandey and Josy Paul (rmg david).

This year, we learn that there is but one winner, from among nine finalists from India. And given that there is going to be just one winner in each category: with no silvers or bronzes, the waiting game will prove more exciting for the four Indian agencies in the fray. JWT with four finalist nominations; rmg David with three; and O&M and Dentsu one finalist nomination each, represent the Indian contest at LIAA 2005.

On another tangent, one notices that four of the nine finalists are from south India (Chennai and Bangalore) and another four are from Delhi. The land of Abbys has one finalist at LIAA. The creative sparks seem to be flying stronger down south these days.

JWT is in with the four finalists nominations from the south. Two of these are from Chennai for the Cannes metal winning piece for Red Cross; and two from Bangalore; for work on Kingfisher and Dockers.

Anita Gupta, Senior VP and GM at JWT Chennai, is elated. She says, "After our first big win, we said more will follow. And that's exactly what's happened. Having more international wins compared to any other network in the country this year, is proof enough of JWT's renewed creative fervour. This is just the beginning… and once again, more will follow!" Well, only time will tell.

JWT Bangalore's work on Kingfisher Lager has been talked about a lot after its release. The consumer category (print) campaign for Kingfisher and Dockers point-of-purchase campaign has worked wonders for the agency at LIAA. Dayanand Sheelavantar and Sainath Saraban, Creative Directors at JWT, Bangalore, were the brains behind the KF campaign.

Dentsu, Delhi, is in the race for copywriting for female infanticide, with this powerful 'Lizard' story Print, Poster and Outdoor category JWT Chennai's Public Service/Social Welfare campaign for Red Cross, titled, "When you give, we give", which won the Silver at Cannes earlier this year

rmg David, Delhi, has one finalist in the Print category, also a Public Service/Social Welfare campaign for WWF, "Carbon Paper"