<font color="#FF0033"><b>Abby Awards 2005:</b></font> Contract may ride on Fame alone

The campaign for Fame AdLabs could be Contract’s trump card

For an agency that has almost always found its name among the top five award winners in the Abby lists – it had even dislodged O&M as the Agency of the Year in 1999 – Contract Advertising didn’t have a particularly good outing at last year’s Abby Awards, coming well behind rivals such as Ambience, Enterprise and Leo Burnett.

It would only be natural then to assume that Contract would want to put up a better show at this year’s awards. However, the fact that Contract doesn’t have too many nominations this year (less than 10, we’re told) doesn’t augur too well for the agency.

It explains why Raj Nair, vice-president & creative head, Contract Advertising, Mumbai, says he is being “extremely pragmatic about Contract’s chances at this year’s Abbys”. And while he acknowledges that there is no direct correlation between the number of nominations an agency gets and the number of awards it subsequently wins, he admits that “fewer nominations this year is disappointing”.

“We have some nominations in Film and some in Print,” he adds. He is, however, hopeful that the entries for Fame AdLabs (which picked up awards at the last Triple A Awards as well) will translate into metal. “Given the fact that one of the Fame entries has won a Finalist certificate at this year’s AP AdFest too, I think we may have something here,” he says.

Of the work entered from the other agencies, Nair admits that the Tortoise campaign has been creating quite a buzz. “I haven’t seen the Tortoise work, but since everybody is talking about it, it must be good.”

Industry Buzz: While no one wants to discount Contract, which has quite a tradition of winning awards at the Abbys, there is a feeling that the agency doesn’t have enough creative firepower this time around. But the ‘loo’ and ‘sinking hoarding’ entries for Fame AdLabs have impressed quite a few people, which should give the agency some cheer going into the awards.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!