Ashwini Gangal
Advertising

India Chapter of IAA announces Olive Crown Awards

The awards function will be held in March 2011 in Mumbai.

The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has announced the Olive Crown Awards. It will be the country's first awards for creative excellence in communicating sustainability. The awards will start receiving entries from January 1, 2011 and will culminate in the presentation ceremony in March, 2011. Mumbai has been selected as the venue for the awards function.

The Olive Crown Awards is poised to be India's first ever awards dedicated to creative excellence in the area of 'green communication'. It will address the need to recognise pioneering work being done by responsible corporate houses and agencies in communicating sustainability.

India Chapter of IAA announces Olive Crown Awards
The awards also seek to position marketing and advertising as critical components of not just economic growth but more importantly, responsible growth. To achieve this objective, the IAA felt that it was important to reward outstanding creative work that communicates sustainability in any form.

The Olive Crown Awards will be open to all marketing companies, advertising agencies and others who had created and placed paid communication that espoused sustainability in the calendar year 2010. It will cover a wide range of media and marketing disciplines including print, television, radio, digital, out of home advertising, printed literature, documentaries, events and advocacy campaigns. For now, the awards are open to Indian agencies only.

Ramesh Narayan, chairperson, Olive Crown Awards, IAA, during a telecon with afaqs!, shares more details about the awards. "The aim is to recognise and reward those who have done their bit for the environment through their advertising messages that encouraged people to be eco-friendly. The initiative will also serve to inspire others to go green."

He explains that today, advertisers and consumers alike are becoming increasingly interested in 'green' as a concept. While consumers see more value in a product if it is positioned as eco-friendly, advertisers are also seeing going green as a vital differentiator in the marketing mix, especially in today's 'me-too' market.

"We would like marketers to bring the green aspect at the top of their strategic agenda," Narayan adds. In line with the philosophy of the awards, all entry form related paperwork will be given a miss and everything will be done digitally.

Explaining the benefits of this unique initiative, Kaushik Roy, president, India Chapter, International Advertising Association conveys in an official communiqué, "These awards will encourage and in fact inspire marketers to communicate sustainability in every facet of business, and motivate advertising agencies to bring communication of sustainability on top of the agenda."

Roy adds that in the bargain, the IAA will encourage positive thinking/debate on matters of sustainability, and will position itself and the industry as not just custodians of a particular brand but custodians of Brand Earth.

The Energy Resource Institute (TERI) will be the 'knowledge partner' for the IAA in this endeavour. The Olive Crown logo has been designed by B Ramnathkar of Umbrella Design.

For the record, founded in 1938, the International Advertising Association (IAA) is a strategic partnership which addresses the common interests of all the disciplines across the full spectrum of marketing communications, from advertisers and media companies to agencies and direct marketing firms, as well as individual practitioners. It has grass root level representation in 76 countries. It may be recalled that the India Chapter was adjudged and presented the 2010 IAA Chapter Excellence Award at the IAA World Congress held in Moscow in May 2010.

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