Indian agencies win big at PMAA; bring home 55 awards in all

At the 11th Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia (PMAA), Indian agencies made a loud noise and their presence was felt as they brought home 55 of the total 122 awards that were given away.

The awards that were given out were: The Dragon for the Best Campaign in Asia, 10 Dragons for the Best Campaigns in their Country, as well as 51 gold, silver and bronze metals and 60 Orders of Merit, in 16 different categories.

Mudra Max India performed exceedingly well, winning 12 awards in all, including the coveted Dragon for the Best Campaign in Asia, for its 'Silent Anthem' Campaign for client Big Cinemas; it also brought home the Best in India award for the same campaign under the 'Dragon for the Best Campaign in their Country' category.

The idea, conceptualised by Big Cinema's agency Mudra Max, challenged the language-inspired violence against migrants, with a language-themed promotion featuring a piece of music common to all Indians -- the National Anthem. The agency invited young students of School for the Deaf to gesture the Indian National Anthem in sign language and broadcasted this presentation to cinema audiences.

It also won a silver metal for its 7UP Lemon Pattalam Season 2 campaign, a silver for the Volkswagen Vento campaign, and five other Orders of Merit.

Jagran Solutions won 10 awards in all, including golds for its campaign for Casio's 'Casio Music Workshop' in the Best Use of Social Marketing, in the Promotion Marketing Campaign category, and Yahoo! India's 'Learn with Yahoo' in the Best Activity Generating Brand Volume category.

It won a silver for the Yahoo! campaign again, in the Best Retail, Key Account or Channel Specific Campaign category; additionally, it won seven Orders of Merit for its campaigns for Dabur's Odomos Oil -- Mosquito Free Movement; Valvoline, CavinKare's Maa Juices -- Pum Palam Pum campaign, Bihar Government -- Arogya Rath campaign, and Yahoo!.

Hungama Digital bagged four awards, including a gold in the Best Digital Promotion Marketing Campaign category, and a bronze in the Best Activity Generating Short or Long Term Brand Loyalty for its augmented reality advertising campaign for 7UP -- You Click, I Dance, a bronze in the Best Use of Social Marketing in a Promotion Marketing Campaign category for 'Golmaal Charades' -- a dumb charade game launched for the movie Golmaal 3, and Order of Merit in Best Digital Promotion Marketing Campaign category for the creation of the Bull of Fortune Facebook App NandiBull, for the movie, 'Isi Life Mein'.

Bates 141 won three awards for its Virgin Mobile Indian Panga League campaign, including a gold in the Best Use of the Internet in a Promotion Marketing Campaign category, a silver in the Best Small Budget Campaign category, and an Order of Merit in the Best Digital Promotion Marketing Campaign category.

Solutions Digitas bagged five awards in all, including a silver for its campaign for Samsung 'Start Tabbing' in the Best Digital Promotion Marketing Campaign category, and a bronze for Nestle's KitKat Break Banta Hai campaign in the Best Product Launch or Re-Launch category. The rest were Orders of Merit for its campaigns on Hewlett-Packard India's HP Printing Haat campaign and Samsung.

Besides Bates 141, OgilvyAction and Encompass also picked up three awards each.

OgilvyAction won a silver for HUL's Project Swasthya Chetna in the Best Event or Experiential Marketing Campaign category, and two Orders of Merit for Ambuja Cement -- Balwaan Bachhe and Dabur Real Activ -- Fit and Fat Brother campaigns.

Encompass won three Orders of Merit for its campaigns for Castrol FIFA Activation, Pepsi WOW Your Hangout, and Mercedes-Benz Star Drive 1 Experience.

JWT Mumbai, Accentiv', Vibgyor Brand Services, Aircel and Evolve Brands received two awards each.

Accentiv' won a silver for its Edenred India Ticket Cricket Premier League campaign in the category Best Small Budget Campaign, and an Order of Merit for the same campaign in the Best Use of the Internet in a Promotion Marketing Campaign category.

Vibgyor Brand Services won a bronze in the Best Event or Experiential Marketing Campaign category for Maybelline's 'Gals in the City' campaign, and an Order of Merit for its Bausch & Lomb Eyecare's 'Model of the Week' campaign.

Evolve won a bronze for Symantec Software Solutions' Norton Champs campaign in the Best B2B Campaign category and an Order of Merit for the same campaign in the same category.

Telecom provider Aircel won itself two Orders of Merit for its Pocket Internet campaign in the Best Brand Building Campaign category, and Save Our Tigers campaign in the Best Use of Social Marketing in a Promotion Marketing Campaign category.

JWT bagged two Orders of Merit for Kellogg India Heart to Heart and Birla Sun Life Insurance's 'Not Jobs but Passion' campaigns.

SOI Live Marketing & Events, Krayon Entertainment, Candid Marketing, MRM Worldwide and Big City Promotions won an Order of Merit each. SOI Live Marketing & Events won it for Jaypee Cement's 'Punjab Me Kranti' in the Best Innovative Idea or Concept category. Krayon won for Horlicks Wizkids in the Best Brand Building Campaign category. Candid Marketing won for Google's Internet Bus Project in the Best Event or Experiential Marketing Campaign category. MRM Worldwide won for Hero Honda GoodLife Program in the Best Activity Generating Short or Long Term Brand Loyalty category, while Big City Promotions bagged its Order of Merit for Wella Kolestint Hair Color Application campaign in the Best Product Launch or Re-Launch category.

This year, the Dragons of Asia were dominated by campaigns that employed multiple execution techniques. According to Mike Da Silva, director, PMAA Dragons and the MAA Globes, "Three stand out campaigns were: McCann Erickson Malaysia's 'Receipt Story' campaign, where Retailer Book Xcess customers submitted and read short stories printed on the backs of cash register receipts, the Mudra Max 'Talking Newspaper' campaign to launch the Volkswagon Vento, which used light-sensitive micro chips embedded in four major city newspapers, allowing the Vento to actually 'talk for itself'; and finally, Hungama Digital in India used the augmented reality technique to engage customers with movie star Allu Arjun, continuing 7UP's involvement with Indian movie stars."

The winners at the PMAA awards will represent Asia at the MAA Globes 2011. The MAA Globes is the longest running and the most prestigious promotion marketing award programme in the world, recognising the best of the best from promotion marketing programmes in North & South America, Europe, West Asia, Asia and Australia.