Abby’s gets the cold shoulder again; this time from 11 agencies

It’s almost déjà vu for the Ad Club, as 2006’s conundrum seems to have relapsed for the Abby’s this year. agencyfaqs! has learnt that around 11 agencies have decided to stay away from the Abby’s this year, albeit for different reasons. These include Leo Burnett, JWT, Contract, Rediffusion DY&R, Lowe, McCann Erickson, Ambience Publicis, Publicis India, Mudra, Saatchi & Saatchi and Orchard.

Last year, nine agencies had given the Abby’s a miss. These were Lowe, Leo Burnett, Contract, Mudra, McCann-Erickson, Ambience Publicis, Publicis India, Saatchi & Saatchi and RK Swamy/BBDO. As can be noted, last year’s participants JWT and Rediffusion DY&R have had a change of mind this year, whereas RK Swamy/BBDO has altered its stance just a wee bit; it has sent sporadic entries from its regional office.

Each of the agencies that haven’t participated has its own story to tell. Executives at Leo Burnett, Ambience Publicis and Lowe are forthcoming when they say that clearly, it’s the camp phenomenon that stops them from participating, among other things.

KV Sridhar (‘Pops’), national creative director, Leo Burnett, highlights the agency’s dilemma: as it has a MNC-like culture, entering international awards are of prime importance. This leaves little monies to be spent on local awards, and Burnett would rather spend those on the AAAI GoaFest, than the Abby’s. “Clearly, the Abby’s are not changing with the changing times, and hence, major agencies are keeping away this year as well,” he says.

While Lowe’s reasons for keeping away are fairly obvious (one has read enough about the O&M-Lowe divide that took shape years ago), it seems Ambience Publicis, too, is dissatisfied with the Ad Club’s apparent ‘partiality’.

Another senior industry professional who wishes to be unnamed, is not so diplomatic when saying, “The Abby’s have become more of O&M’s internal awards, than anything else.”

But all is not lost – apart from O&M, Bates David Enterprise, Grey Worldwide, Percept/H, Everest Brand Solutions and FCB Ulka will compete in the race for metals at the Abby’s this year.

Meanwhile, industry veterans aren’t so confident about a combined awards ceremony taking shape as they were last year; Pops of Leo Burnett tells agencyfaqs!, “Most of the creative fraternity tried its best last year to convince the Ad Club and the AAAI to either have a combined award, or two awards that stand for two different things.”

“Sadly, I don’t see that happening ever… certainly not in the near future,” he muses.

Interestingly, when certain agencies had decided to stay away from the Abby’s last year, their work ended up winning nevertheless, as the production houses and clients ended up sending the entries in. Industry experts believe the same thing will happen this year.

However, Ajay Chandwani, chairman, Abby Awards Judging Committee and CEO, Percept/H, is unruffled. “This year, we have received a record number of entries – a total of 3,200 – from 40 agencies in India,” he says. Last year, 33 agencies had participated. “The agencies which are keeping away are the same as last year, so we aren’t really worried.” Further, the Abby’s has maintained its entry fee this year as well – Rs 2,000 per entry – contrary to popular media reports which claimed a fee hike this year.

With the cream of the crowd staying away, the Abby’s will certainly lose some of its steam this year as well.

© 2007 agencyfaqs!