Pickle Advertising wins Dry Ideas 2009

In its fourth year, the Dry Ideas Contest is a part of the Jal Satyagraha initiative by the Bhaskar Group

The Bhaskar Group has announced the results of the Dry Ideas Contest 2009 and Pickle Advertising has been judged as the winner in the Print category, while JWT has won in the Radio category.

The winning team from Pickle Advertising comprised of Rahul Jauhari, head, creative and Sandeep Sastikar, group head, art. The team from JWT comprised of Nirmalya Chakraborty, creative director and Rakesh Ranjan, art director.

Since 2005, the contest has been a part of the Jal Satyagraha initiative by the Bhaskar Group. It aims at recognising the best creative solutions in print and radio media to promote the celebration of a dry Holi, and in the process, conserve water. The winning entries of the contest intend to create awareness about water being a perishable and precious resource and the need to conserve every drop of it.

This year, the contest started on January 21 and concluded on February 16. It received responses from more than 70 agencies sending in more than 400 creatives from across the country.

The entries were judged by Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil Communications India; Shivjeet Khullar, creative mentor, K Factor Advertising; Prajjal Saha, associate editor, afaqs! and G Sanjay, chief marketing officer, Hyundai.

Sanjeev Kotnala, vice-president, marcom, Bhaskar Group, says, “I am thankful to the industry for the encouraging response that we have been getting over the years and what delights me is that it continues to grow. Dainik Bhaskar is committed to the cause of water conservation and will definitely lift it to new heights every year.”

In 2008, Concept Communications Mumbai was the winner, while DDB Mudra and Mudra Communications bagged merit mentions.

Jauhari of Pickle, says, “A water crisis in the world can be fatal. The ad, which urges readers to celebrate a dry Holi, uses a stark symbolic visual device to drive home the message. The visual uses the watergun, which has become synonymous with Holi, to connect to the festival.”

Sastikar adds, “This was a contest with a purpose and a message for the masses. That is what made it really challenging for creative people like us.”

Apart from the Dry Ideas Contest, the Bhaskar Group conducts two other contests every year – Think Negative, which focuses on AIDS awareness and Kritikar Awards, which focuses on encouraging creative talent at the regional level.

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