Ankit Bhatnagar
Marketing

An Ad in the Life of India: Declaring the winners

After evaluating the multiple entries received, The Times of India announced the lucky winners of the 'An Ad in the Life of India' contest concluded in March.

An offshoot of the 'A day in the life of India' campaign, which was a 'collection drive' of images and experiences that define India as a unique nation, launched by The Times of India in January 2011, 'An Ad in the Life of India' was a contest that ran on afaqs.com, specifically targetted at the advertising community.

Commenting on the initiative, Rahul Kansal, chief marketing officer, BCCL (Bennet Coleman & Co), says, "The idea behind this initiative was to highlight what we are -- the pulse of India -- and present various moods of it in a fun manner."

An Ad in the Life of India: Declaring the winners
An Ad in the Life of India: Declaring the winners
Surprised with the originality of the creative ideas, Agnello Dias, co-founder and the chief creative officer, Taproot India, who also judged the entries, says, "I'm glad that people took the trouble of creating something new and appealing. A lot of the selected entries were quintessentially Indian, while some others portrayed international settings, but Indian ideas."

'Life Saver,' an entry by Sarbjit Sarbajna, executive creative director, Solution-Digitas, was adjudged the best in the Print category.

Describing the campaign and its significance, Sarbajna says, "The brief for this initiative was quite vast, it offered a large canvas for creative ideas and the possibilities were immense. India itself is a brand and can be showcased across the world through these campaigns."

Sunil Shah, senior visualiser, Makani Creatives, whose entry 'Save Girl Child' won the third prize in the Print category, says, "Through many such open-for-all campaigns, talent gets encouraged. This should be made into an annual campaign."

'An Ad in the Life of India' was done in partnership with afaqs.com, targetting the advertising fraternity. To participate in the campaign, all one needed to do was to upload a print ad or a television commercial that made a comment on India.

Prizes were kept for the top three entries in each of the categories -- Print and Film. The first prize was a trip to Cannes, or Rs 3 lakh, the second prize was Rs 1.5 lakh and the third prize was Rs 1 lakh.

In the Print category, 'Life Saver' by Sarbajit Sarbajna of Solutions-Digitas, was adjudged the best entry. 'Naseeb Ki Kitaab' by Dilip More of Metal Communications was adjudged the second best, while 'Save Girl Child' by Sunil Shah of Makani Creatives was given the third prize.

In the Ad Film category, 'Dhako India' by Network 18 took away the top honours. 'Ape Piaggio 3w cargo' campaign by R K Swamy BBDO won the second prize and 'Aap ki Sarkar Aaj Tak' by TV Today Network won the third prize.

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