Webchutney and JWT share Green Agency of the Year award at Olive Crown

Webchutney and JWT India emerged winners at the second Olive Crown Awards conducted by the India chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA-IC). The award recognises responsible communication by advertising agencies and corporate houses.

The awards ceremony was held at the Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai on March 3.

Nokia India was adjudged the Green Advertiser of the Year, with 50 points to its credit.

Ogilvy India bagged the Campaign of the Year award for its Vodafone iFold campaign. The agency won a gold Crown for this campaign. Nokia - I Recycle My Phone campaign won Webchutney and JWT India a silver Crown, whereas the Volkswagen - Think Blue campaign won the same honour for DDB Mudra and Mediacom in this category.

JWT India won a gold for Nokia - I Recycle My Phone in TVC/ Cinema Corporate category.

In the Events category, Lodestar won a gold for the Garnier - Converting a newspaper eco-friendly campaign. In the same category, Mathrubhumi, too, won a gold. Last year's big winner, Dentsu, won a silver in this category for the Toyota Greenathon campaign.

In the Digital category, Webchutney won a gold Crown for the campaign created for Nokia. The Volkswagen Think Blue campaign helped DDB Mudra and Mediacom win a gold in the Out of Home Category.

Webchutney's Abhishek Saxena won a gold Crown, whereas Umbrella Design's Uttam Sutar won a silver Crown in the Young Green Art Director of the Year category for the Nokia and Times of India campaigns, respectively.

Many agencies won Crowns at this ceremony. Webchutney and JWT India won two golds and one silver, to secure the top spot. Mudra-Mediacom won a gold and a silver Crown. Along with a gold Crown for the Campaign of the Year, Ogilvy India won a silver for the 'Slap' campaign created for Thane Municipal Corporation, in the TVC/ Cinema Corporate category.

Umbrella Design bagged three silvers for its Times of India-Ganesha campaign. Lowe Lintas won two silvers for the Suzlon-'PALS' campaign.

A special Green Crusader award was presented to Rajendra Pachauri, who won the Nobel Prize as chairman, IPCC. Also, a special Green Initiative award was presented to Ogilvy India and Mathrubhumi. However, this award was not a part of the award tally.

This year, a special category of awards, the Olive Crown Green Hungama award, was introduced. Kartik Ramnathkar and Komal Udeshi won a silver Crown each in this category. For this category of awards, participants up to 30 years of age were required to send in a 60-second (maximum) film to encourage citizens across the world to protect the Earth.

The guests of honour at the function were Nita Ambani, chairperson, Reliance Foundation and Member of Parliament Priya Dutt.

Olive Crowns were presented to winners in 14 categories and were judged by a panel of judges that included some of the most respected creative names in the business.

The jury included names such as B Ramnathkar, director, Umbrella Advertising; Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer and managing partner, JWT India; Gangadharan Menon, director, Roadmap Consultancy and Marketing Services; Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO India; K S Chakravarthy (Chax), national creative director, Draftfcb Ulka; Raj Nair, regional creative director, Contract Advertising; Raj Kurup, founder and creative chairman, Creativeland Asia; Satbir Singh, chief creative officer and managing partner, Euro RSCG; and Saumya Sen, founder-director, Leapfrog.

The jury was chaired by the IAA India Chapter president, Kaushik Roy.

The judging process took place on Wednesday, February 22.