Shamni Pande
Advertising

HTA, Bangalore, takes the Spice route to NY Fest

With 16 awards in its kitty, the Spice Telecom ad by HTA, Bangalore, has made it to the Finalist list at the New York Festival this year

HTA, Bangalore, is on a roll. Its work for the Spice Telecom account has won 16 national awards so far and has got some international attention on the way too. "We have just received intimation from the New York Festivals committee that our Spice Telecom 'Go Slow Campaign' has achieved Finalist Status in the 2002 Competition," an obviously elated Dhunji S Wadia, senior vice-president and general manager, HTA Bangalore, told agencyfaqs!.

This year 1,202 entries from 35 countries were submitted to the competition committee. As a Finalist, the Spice Telecom ad will compete for a Gold, Silver or Bronze World Medal in its category Telecommunications Service/Equipment. The highest scoring Gold winners would then go on to compete for the Grand Award "Best of Show". On June 20 this year, the New York Festivals will announce the winners at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Broadway, New York.

At home, the radio spot for Spice Telecom has gone and won the RAPA award at the 27th RAPA (Radio and TV Advertising Practitioners Association) Awards 2001 celebrated on May 17 in Mumbai. Some months prior to that it won the Best Institutional Service Campaign at the Calcutta Ad Club Awards. At the same festival it picked up trophies for Best Indian Language Press Advertising, Best Outdoor, Best Rural Communication and a total sweep in the Radio category of awards.

The same story was repeated in at Chennai Ad Club Awards - Spark 2002. There, HTA Bangalore won the best Corporate Campaign (Press), POP, Rural Advertising and Brand Building awards. It also swept all the awards in the radio category. Senthil Kumar, the creative director on Spice, also got the Copywriter Of the Year award at Ad Club, Chennai.

"We are happy to get recognition for work that has worked in the market place, seen the sales graph go up for the brand and receive accolades from our peers both nationally and internationally," says Wadia. His glee is obvious. The agency's achievement has been noticed in the JWT network. In a note of appreciation to HTA, Bangalore, Peter A Schweitzer, president and CEO, JWT Worldwide, has acknowledged "this is the first case that one brand has won so many awards consistently - sometimes winning as many as eight different awards in different media at an awards ceremony. A JWT Worldwide record! Good work, will draw heavy metal. No matter where it is judged."

The consistently humorous use of the local idiom has given the brand a distinctive, memorable identity. The Go Slow campaign that has got the New York Festival nomination is a simple idea that urges consumers that since STD (long distance) calls are at local rates, the user need not talk fast and can actually "Go Slow". A series of four radio commercials recite the Suprabhatham, Mysore Mallige etc - with the opening sequences going at high speed and the announcer interjecting to state, "STD calls are at local rates throughout Karnataka...Go Slow".

"The credits go to the creative team at HTA Bangalore and the creative client Spice Telecom," says Wadia. "We are crossing our fingers and hoping for the best for this ad at the New York Festival." © 2002 agencyfaqs!

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