<font color="#FF0033"><b>Abby 2005 Countdown</b></font>: Clients make the difference for Leo Burnett

So what if Leo Burnett has more than 20 nominations for Abby 2005? K V Sridhar, Burnett's national creative director is not comfortable with the idea of talking about the agency’s nominations. “It takes the fun out of the event,” he reasons.

But Sridhar is happy to share his experiences as a member of the judging committee. “That is the only way one can catch up with some good work,” he adds. “While this year has been as good or bad as last year,” he says, “What rankles is the lack of big brand building campaigns, which is a function of market reality.”

On Leo Burnett’s work, that are his personal favourites and that “should win something”, Sridhar singles out the “What Your Bahana Is” campaign for McDonald’s.

“The feedback to this campaign has been great. It should get some recognition.” The same holds true for the Home Delivery campaign and the Mothers' Day campaign.

Sridhar is reasonably proud of the Hitachi Atom campaign as well. “Where is the AC became a very popular catchline with this particular creative,” he beams.

Speaking of clients that support good creative work, even on a small budget, Sridhar raved about Bajaj. “Our work for Bajaj Bulbs and fans have been good. That’s because the client encourages clutter-breaking work.” Others in his list include Tide and Sanctuary magazine, which required “sensitive handling”.

Sridhar is also quite optimistic about the Complan print ads. “Most print ads try to be too clever, or are disconnected. Complan was a truly good piece of simple and effective art direction,” says Sridhar.

Incidentally, Complan had brought the agency a silver in 1999 for Best Print Campaign of the Year. Last year, the agency had won a gold for its work with Senso restaurant (Italian Seafood Festival) in the Services for the Household Sector category. The second gold had come in for the agency’s interactive online work for the promotion of the horror flick 'Darna Mana Hai' in the New Interactive Media Category.

Industry Buzz: Hitachi Atom and Bajaj bulb are creatives that are serious contenders for the metals. Also in the reckoning would be the McDonald’s campaign. Last year, the agency had lost out on the second slot to McCann Erickson by a slender margin. This year, the agency would definitely take a shot at that slot.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!