Young Achievers Awards 2009: Ogilvy, McCann lead pack of winners

The Advertising Club of Bombay held the second edition of the Young Achievers Awards on Friday at the Taj Land’s End in Bandra. While the turnout was lower than the other awards ceremonies organised by the club, there was enthusiasm galore as the young talent of the advertising and marketing communications fraternities gathered for recognition.

The YAA is an award formulated by the Young Turks (a committee set up by the Ad Club of Bombay) headed by Sunil Lulla. Open to people aged below 30, unlike other awards, only one award in each category was awarded.

Lulla, in his welcome address, spoke about how the 2009 version of the YAA has been bigger than the previous one, with the number of entries in the 10 categories almost doubling.

The ceremony kicked off with the Young Achiever of the Year – Social Change category.

The four nominees in the category were Viraj Swaroop of Contract Advertising for Sanctuary Asia – Monkey, Donkey, Goat and Rat campaign; Ryan Mendonca and Mark Benjamin of Ogilvy India for Breakthrough – Domestic Violence – Ring the Bell; MTV India’s Initiative Against Drunken Driving campaigns; and Sachin Kamble of Ogilvy India for the Vodafone Essar – Vodafone Mousepad campaign.

There were two winners announced in the category, with Ryan Mendonca and Mark Benjamin of Ogilvy India taking the trophies.

The next category was the Young Achiever of the Year – Photography, wherein the only nominee was Amol J Jadhav from Shoot at Sight for Times of India’s Lead India campaign.

The Young Achiever of the Year – Business Initiative category had two nominees, with Abhijit Kumar of Mudra for the TVS Scooty – Women on Wheels campaign and Vikas Bissa of Reliance Communications for Big TV’s direct to home service launch. Mudra’s Kumar bagged the honours in this category.

The Young Achiever of the Year – Film Direction and Young Achiever of the Year – Digital categories also featured one nominee each, with Ayappa Kongandamadappa of Footcandles Films for DLF IPL 2 – Ek Desh Ek Junoon; and Vasant Karkera from Tribal DDB India for Idea Cellular Mobile Roadie Challenge being short listed in the respective categories.

In the Young Achiever of the Year – Brand Marketing category, the nominees were Reliance Communications’ Bissa for the Big TV campaign and Prasanna Kumar of Mediacom for Gillette Mach 3 – India Votes: To Shave or Not to Shave campaign.

The winner in this category was Mediacom’s Kumar.

The nominees in the Young Achiever of the Year – Design category were Kunal Mhabadi of Rediffusion Y&R for Books & Beyond – Bad TV, 50 Cent and Eddo Brandes; Ogilvy India’s Kamble for the Vodafone Essar – Fashion Victims ‘Bag’ campaign; and Siddhi Mukesh Yadav from McCann Erickson India for Fedrigoni – Monsters, Ink. Yadav was announced the winner in the category.

Yadav won her second award for the evening in the Young Achiever of the Year – Art category for the same campaign. The nominees in this category, besides Yadav, were Kunal Sawant of Leo Burnett for Bajaj Industrial Fans – Air Plane; Ogilvy India’s Kamble for Vodafone Essar – Fashion Victims ‘Fur Coat’; and Kapil D Tammal from McCann Erickson India for Cocco’s Face – Hiroshima.

The Young Achiever of the Year – Media category also saw two joint winners, with Himanshu Phutela and Naresh Batra of Lodestar Universal winning the trophies for the Tata Nano – Utilizing the power of Nanovations. The nominees in the category also included Waseem Surve and Akhil Padman of Maxus for Vodafone – Vodafone Call Conference; and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music – Nokia Re-creates ‘Midas Touch’.

Ogilvy India’s Mendonca returned for his second award for Breakthrough – Domestic Violence – Neighbour campaign in the Young Achiever of the Year – Copy category. The other nominees in the category were Faraz Alam of DDB Mudra for Islamic Research Foundation – Bush; Ogilvy India’s Saurabh Kulkarni for Centerfresh – Small Talk; Prajato Guha Thakurta of McCann Erickson India for Fedrigoni – Monsters, Ink; and Publicis Ambience’s Nikhil Panjwani for Cupid Condoms – Savings of a Lifetime.