Goafest 2009: Piyush, Bobby and Rakhshin join the list of jury chairpersons

Piyush Pandey will lead the Integrated jury, while Bobby Pawar and Rakhshin Patel will chair the digital and direct jury, respectively

The warm up can be felt by one and all. With the shortlisted entries and the names of the jury members for the Media Abbys already released, it was the turn of the Creative Abbys.

Ravi Deshpande, KV Sridhar (Pops) and KS Chakravarthy (Chax) were roped in as the jury chairpersons in the Creative Abbys for the Print, Out of Home and Radio categories respectively. The jury chairpersons for the Integrated, Interactive Digital and Direct categories have also been announced.

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M India, has been invited to chair the Integrated jury. From the agency being in two minds about attending the Goafest to Pandey chairing the jury for the category, it has been quite a transition.

Pandey has judged international award ceremonies such as the Cannes, D&AD, The Cup and the Dubai Lynx. He was president of the Cannes jury in 2004, and at D&AD in 2007.

Goafest 2009: Piyush, Bobby and Rakhshin join the list of jury chairpersons

Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, Mudra Group, is the chairperson of the jury of the Interactive Digital category. This is not the first time that he is judging the category – last year, too, he chaired the category for Goafest. He has also been a jury member for the category at events such as the Chicago Ad Club Show.

“This category is the future,” says Pawar, talking about the Interactive Digital category. “It's not about what it is right now – which implies the Internet – it was also about other avenues such as the mobile and many more to come,” he adds.

With the recession being a concern for many brands in the country, it is well known that digital and direct marketing media are likely to make the most of the downturn. Keeping that in mind, one assumes to see more work being churned out, and thus, more chances of better work.

Pawar has expectations from the entries pouring in for the category this time. He says, “I hope to see ideas which have more play value – they could be emotionally engaging, technology whizbangs – or just interactive. But they have to be truly engaging and better crafted. Last year, the element of craft seemed to be missing, which I look forward to seeing this year.”

Rakhshin Patel, consultant and director, M&C Saatchi Direct and Digital Communications, will chair the Direct category. She has judged many awards in the Direct category, including the Cannes in 2006.

“Direct is a very private medium and it’s difficult to figure out what it’s going to be like. However, I remember the category not having done well around five years ago, when there were mostly wedding and inauguration invites as part of direct – the quality had really dropped. But ever since, the category has seen a consistent improvement in terms of the work,” she reveals.

“With clients getting more educated about the usage of the medium, as well as senior people taking charge of the category and giving it direction, things have swung in a different direction,” she adds.

Ajay Chandwani, co-chairperson, Creative Abbys, Goafest 2009 and director, Percept, is of the view that the three newly appointed jury members will bring a huge amount of local and international experience in judging work at the Goafest and also bring a fresh process of selection.

Currently in its fourth year, the Goafest is the largest advertising meet and awards ceremony for the Indian advertising fraternity. This time, the meet is scheduled for April 2- 4 at the Cavelossim Beach, Goa.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com