McCann-Erickson, Bangalore, is Cresta finalist with Levis

So what if some in the creative community still snigger, ‘Cresta what?' The fact remains that the celebratory mood at McCann-Erickson's Bangalore branch is just not going to die soon.

Close on the heels of its impressive performance at the New York Festivals 2002, it's party time again at Landmark Plaza, Langford Road. The agency brass has just learnt that McCann-Erickson, Bangalore, has made it to the Finalist list at the Cresta Awards for the Levi's Jeans Copper Rivets print ad. This year's Finalists (174 in total) represent less than 3 per cent of total entries and were selected by senior creative people from 11 cities during the month of July.

The final winners will be chosen by Cresta's International Grand Jury comprising 48 leading creative directors, film specialists and graphic designers from 31 countries. All the winners will be notified by mid-September, 2002. The 10th Annual Cresta Awards presentation will be held in New York City on October 28, 2002.

While the Cresta Awards - which was launched in 1993 by Creative Standards International, in partnership with the International Advertising Association - may not be as popular as the Cannes or the Clio Awards, it finds a place among the Top 10 advertising festivals in the world. According to the official website of Cresta Awards, "The Cresta Awards are steadily gaining recognition among industry creative gurus worldwide as a truly tough and prestigious awards programme. To win a Cresta means you're hot, because Cresta stands on its promise of adhering to the highest standards of creative excellence and it delivers the reputation and value that top-level creatives seek. Cresta's name is becoming synonymous with ‘achievement' among the worldwide marketing communications industry."

Significantly, at the New York Festival earlier this year, McCann-Erickson's Bangalore office had picked up a Gold World Medal for PRO FX Speakers in the Home Entertainment category and its three-ad print campaign for Levi Strauss won a Finalist certificate in the Apparel category.

So while McCann-Erickson awaits the results with bated breath, agency executives on their part are gearing up to celebrate its 100th birthday. The agency has come up with a special project branded ‘A 1,000 voices, a 100 years' to commemorate the occasion. "We thought that many agencies on such occasions normally come up with the usual pro bono work and even that is done with an eye to bagging awards and have very limited personal creative expression. Hence, the idea to do something different, where the McCann name and its history will not feature anywhere," says Dileep Ashoka, vice-president and general manager, McCann-Erickson, Bangalore.

As part of the ‘A 1,000 voices, a 100 years' project, the agency is trying to involve school children in various socially-relevant causes. "We have contacted at least 40 schools in Bangalore and received entries from 12 of them," says Ashoka. These children were asked to make paintings on themes of their own choice - such as population, traffic, pollution etc. The agency now plans to use their work to make calendars, greeting cards and hoardings. The agency is negotiating with media houses and its other clients to get these sponsored. "Neither the agency name, nor that of the sponsors should feature anywhere. We do not want personal mileage out of this. The work will only have the project tag," he explains. © 2002 agencyfaqs!