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JWT and Bates 141 win at the Jay Chiat Planning Awards

While JWT won a gold for The Times of India's Teach India, Bates 141 won a bronze for its work on Virgin Mobile

The Jay Chiat Planning Awards, held annually, recognise planners who have developed strong and innovative insights, and seen their work evolve through creatives that affect both the consumer and the business. The awards were announced on September 22 this year.

JWT and Bates 141 were the only Indian agencies to win at the Planning Awards.

JWT won a gold award in the Social Strategy category, for The Times of India's Teach India project. The case study was titled, 'When over two million Indian kids said 'Jai Ho''.

JWT developed an integrated campaign, including television commercials, outdoor, print, ambient media and an online microsite. To date, Teach India has recruited over 100,000 volunteer teachers, 2 million students, 100+ NGOs, 31 companies and 32 schools.

JWT and Bates 141 win at the Jay Chiat Planning Awards
JWT and Bates 141 win at the Jay Chiat Planning Awards
Dhunji S Wadia, managing partner, Mumbai, JWT says, "Our clarion call was 'Let's learn to teach'. Conventional thinking and past social programmes have always asked for volunteers, but have had little success. But all we asked for was two hours, and hardly anyone could refuse that."

Last year, JWT had won a Grand Prix at the AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies) Chiat Day Planning Awards, for its work titled Diamond Bride for DeBeers. This was also the first Indian piece of work to be shortlisted for the award.

Bates 141 brought home a bronze in the Campaign for New Brand category for Virgin Mobile. The case study was titled, 'Building a Youth Brand in a Youthful country'.

Dheeraj Sinha, CSO, Bates 141, says, "Jay Chiat Awards are the biggest global awards that celebrate strategic brilliance. This award places us at par with the best in the world. It's a big encouragement for our belief in ideas which create change in the culture and marketplace. It underlines our belief as an agency that all our client work should be creatively sparkling and strategically brilliant."

The 2009 Jay Chiat Awards were marked by a record-breaking 187 entries, of which 46 were shortlisted. Of the eight categories in the awards programme, only two -- Campaign for Existing Brand and Campaign for New Brand -- were given solely for advertising.

The other non-advertising categories -- Brand Experience, Idea for New Product or Content, Innovative Design, Media Communications, Research Innovations and Social Strategy -- demonstrate how strategic thinking has impacted more than just advertising.

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