Leo Burnett wins the Agency of the Year at 9th Mirchi Kaan Awards

Amidst fun and a lot of stand up comedy at the Comedy Store, Mumbai, Leo Burnett won the Agency of the Year at the 9th Mirchi Kaan Awards.

The agency won four gold, four silver and nine bronze metals at the awards that recognise excellence in radio advertising.

Radio Mango 91.9 won a silver for its campaign on World AIDS Day. Contract Advertising managed to win three bronze metals. Grey India won two bronze metals, while JWT India won one bronze.

Lingo India won an award for excellence in production.

Along with winning the Voice of the Year (Male), Leo Burnett's Nikhil Mehrotra won the Radio Writer of the Year. The same agency's Toshi won the Voice of the Year (Female).

Heinz India won the Client of the Year.

This year's Crystal Award went to Leo Burnett for the 'Beemari' campaign that was created for Uninor.

Ogilvy India won the Best Radio Creative of the Year (Clients' Choice) for Perfetti Van Melle's 'Pinku' campaign.

Result India won the award for Best Use of Radio as a Medium for the 'It's Hot to Pledge' campaign created for Birla Sunlife Insurance Protection Solutions.

Speaking about sweeping most of the awards at the Kaan Awards this year, K V Sridhar (Pops), national creative director, Leo Burnett says that the agency is blessed to have such a great bunch of writers. "We had decided around six years back to not to let go of any radio opportunity that comes our way. Radio as a medium is very challenging, inexpensive and unexploited, and we as an agency have decided to exploit it to the fullest," he says.

The winners will be felicitated at a gala event hosted by Cyrus Broacha.

The jury for the award included renowned industry professionals such as Ravi Deshpande, chairman and chief creative officer, Contract Advertising; Ramanuj Shastry, chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi; Prathap Suthan, chief creative officer, Iyogi; Priti Nair, founder and director, Curry-Nation; Malvika Mehra, national creative director and senior vice-president, Grey; Manohar Nayak, managing director, Lingo India; Amit Akali, senior vice-president and national creative director, Grey; Josy Paul, chairman and national creative director, BBDO India; Tista Sen, national creative director, JWT Mumbai; Rekha Nigam, managing director, Vihaan Communications and Deepa Krishnan, president, creative, Lowe Lintas.

In the 9th edition of Mirchi Kaan Awards, the entries and the number of participating agencies have doubled. Also, the nominations have increased by around 50 per cent. This edition of the Kaan Awards is known to have unprecedented response. There were a record 300 entries, a 50 per cent jump over last year. The number of participating agencies doubled to 33 agencies. And, the number of entries for the Best Use of Radio as a Medium saw a tripling of entries to a record 31. Entries were spread across 15 categories, ranging from food to cosmetics.