Ogilvy & Mather tops again at Effies 2005

Televisionpoint.com Team
Effective advertisement was the name of the game. Effies 2005, the awards show where the advertising mavericks had descended in numbers, were not a trifle to be sucked at. The who’s who of the advertising fraternity was there, all eager to gather metal more precious than bronze and all raring to raise the bar a little higher.

The Advertising Club Effies 2005 were held today, October 24 in Mumbai, it had 79 entries from 12 agencies and the winners were judged in a round of twos, the first being on the strategies and results, and second round judged the ads on the basis of creativity. Effies this year has introduced three new categories of Internet, mobile and integrated marketing communications mediums.

Creative powerhouse Ogilvy & Mather was the darling of the night, it was honored with six awards, including the People's Choice Award for the best case study presentation and the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Award. Piyush Pandey, chairman, O&M India was surprised to note that Tata Sumo Victa did not win an Award. O&M was followed by Contract Advertising and McCann Erickson on the awards list.

O&M's work for SBI Life Insurance, which demonstrated the importance of life insurance in an old couple's life in young at heart campaign, bagged the most prestigious one for the agency, it was cast on by Atmaram Bhende and Asha Bhende. O&M took the gold in the consumer durable's category for the Titan watch ad featuring Aamir Khan, the What's your style campaign. O&M also bagged the Silver trophy in the Consumer Products segment for its advert on Air Action Center Fresh. O&M also won the Bronze Effie for their Hot Pack Mailer in the integrated marketing communications category. O&M also won a Bronze trophy in the 'Integrated Marketing Communications' category for its campaign on IBM.

Significantly, the Grand Effie Award was won by McCann Erickson for its work on Saffola Gold – Dil Ki Hifaazat Aaj Se in the consumer products category. The other center of attraction was the Yahoo! Big Chair Idea Award, actually a special patented RS 2 Lakh chair was imported from the US. It was specially brought to India as a part of Yahoo!'s strategy to be associated with newer innovations.

In the Consumer Products category, Lowe and McCann Erickson shared the Gold for the Surf Excel, Save two buckets water campaign and Saffola Gold Kal Se campaign respectively. McCann also won the bronze in the category for Perfetti Van Melle, Happydent White. JWT was presented with a Bronze trophy for its Kellogg's Corn Flakes ad.

In the Consumer Durables category, Contract Advertising bagged both the Silver and the Bronze trophies in this category for its ads for Asian Paints Royale and Asian Paints Tractor Emulsion, which features Saif Ali Khan putting up a guitar, gifted by his mother.

In the Services category, O&M and Contract Advertising won the Silver for their campaigns on Domino's Pizza, 30 minutes nahi toh free and SBI Life, respectively. While, FCB Ulka bagged a Bronze trophy for its ad for Naukri.com.

In the Corporate Advertising category, Leo Burnett was honored with a Bronze Effie for its campaign for Indian National Congress, Congress Ka Haath Aam Aadmi Ke Saath.