McCann, Atul Kasbekar emerge winners at 6th FAB Awards

It's a special moment for McCann-Erickson India and photographer Atul Kasbekar. The two achieved the distinction of being the first-ever Indian nominees to win FAB Awards when their entries struck metal at the recently concluded International Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards, held late last week in London. While McCann, Mumbai, bagged two FAB Awards - one for the Coca-Cola poster campaign (‘man in shadow' and ‘barber shop'), the other for the ‘Sweetex banner' for Boots Piramal - Atul Kasbekar claimed one FAB trophy for the sensual Kingfisher calendar.

Talking about the win, an excited Prasoon Joshi, national creative director & executive vice-president, McCann-Erickson India, says, "Winning awards do make you feel very good, irrespective of whether they are won at the national or the international level. And winning an award like the FAB, which is a very crowded category, makes this win special." Joshi, of course, wasn't able to attend the awards ceremony and receive the two trophies for his agency as work had held him back. "I wish I had gone there to receive the award," he says a trifle ruefully. "It was just that I have been very busy here in Mumbai. My representative called me to inform me about the win."

For the record, there were a total of 10 entries from India that were shortlisted for awards at this year's FAB Awards. Seven of these were from McCann alone, while Atul Kasbekar, Orchard Advertising, Bangalore, and Delhi-based Visual Eyes had one nomination each. The other prominent nominees at this year's awards included AMV.BBDO London, Lowe London, Leo Burnett Chicago, Leo Burnett Sydney, DDB USA, BBDO Germany, McCann-Erickson Germany, McCann-Erickson Argentina, DDB Hong Kong, J Walter Thompson Thailand, BBDO Mexico, Ogilvy & Mather Oslo, Publicis Frankfurt, Euro RSCG Belgium and CLM/BBDO France. © 2004 agencyfaqs!