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O&M is Agency of the Year; Burnett comes second<font size="1" face="Verdana"><b><font color="#FF0033"><u>Abby Awards!</u></font></b></font>
By winning 23 points, O&M has been adjudged the Creative Agency of the Year at the Abby Awards 2002. Leo Burnett, with nine points, is at number two
Again. Or should it be, ‘oh no, not again'?
Confound it! Sure, creativity is all about saying the same, oft-repeated things differently. But having made a weak attempt at ‘creativity' with our opening line, let us say it in the most tried-and-tested, idiot-proof manner.
O&M has been adjudged as the Creative Agency of the Year at the Abby Awards 2002. Yes, again.
It certainly was a familiar script that played out at the Abby Awards function on the evening of March 9, 2002. As award after award went to O&M's credit, as the delirious cheering from the huge turnout of the ‘men in black' pushed the limits of decibel-level acceptability, it became clear there really was no other contender to the crown.
The final points tally tells its own tale. O&M docked a total of 23 points. Leo Burnett India, the No. 2 agency, scored nine points, 14 points less than what O&M managed. And Ambience D'Arcy and Contract Advertising - tied at the No. 3 slot - won four points each. Which is 19 points short of O&M's figure.
Domination, yes, but it's not as if the rest were simply blown away by O&M. Definitely not Leo Burnett, which stood out quite distinctively. Not Ambience and Contract either, both managing to hold their own. And Enterprise Nexus, MTV and Quadrant Communications too had their share of the limelight. Not to forget rmg david, which, in a quirky sort of way, finds itself in the O&M and Burnett league…
But first, a glance at how the points were tallied. Every gold Abby in the Single Ads and Campaign subsets carried two points, while every silver Abby was worth one point. Ditto in the case of the Radio, Outdoor, Internet Advertising and Site Design categories. Winning entries in the Unpublished Work category, however, were not awarded points. In the Best Continuing Campaign of the Year subset, a gold equaled four points, while silvers carried two points each. Strangely, this year, the Best Campaign of the Year category had been done away with. In all, entries in 18 product categories (including Unpublished) were judged.
O&M won its 23 points courtesy two gold and 18 silver Abbys. The agency won its first gold for the poetic justice-fraught ‘testament' commercial for M-Seal (in the Daily Household Products category), while the second gold was for last year's Fevicol campaign (also in the Daily Household Products category). Of the 18 silvers O&M won, one was for the Best Continuing Campaign of the Year - also for Fevicol (this category did not see a gold winner this year). Of course, credit for both O&M's golds and the Best Continuing Campaign silver must also go to Pidilite Industries, for backing such creative work.
Leo Burnett might have ended with far fewer points, but the agency too picked up two gold Abbys. Burnett got one gold for the ‘Swiss cheese' print ad for elevator brand Schindler (in the Corporate Communication category). The other gold came its way for the fabulous ‘Before-After' print ad soliciting eye donations (in the Public Service category). The agency also picked up five silver Abbys.
The only agency other than O&M and Leo Burnett to win a gold Abby this year was O&M-sibling rmg david. The agency struck gold for its hilariously rendered ‘rang barse' Radio spot for the United Colors of Benetton. This gold was, incidentally, the only award rmg picked up this year.
The other agencies that made it to the winners' list with more than one Abby are Ambience and Contract (four silvers each), Enterprise and MTV (three silvers each) and Quadrant (two silver Abbys). Mudra Communications, Rediffusion-DY&R, EAStudio, Alok Nanda & Co., Grey Worldwide, Mediaturf Worldwide, Goodhealthnyou.com and SchoolNet India picked up one silver Abby each. Incidentally, Contract and Saatchi & Saatchi won silver Abbys in the Unpublished Work category, but then, those don't count in the overall tally.
Of the other significant awards given away, one was the Art Director of the Year, and the other was the Copywriter of the Year. The first went to Uday Parkar, much to the delight of his colleagues at Ambience. O&M's Abhijit Awasthi gave his agency one more round to cheer by winning the second. The Bombay Ad Club also honoured ex-Lowe giant and theatre personality Gerson Da Cunha, copywriter-turned-photographer Gautam Rajyadhaksha, and ramp queen of yesteryear Anna Bredmeyer with Distinctive Recognition Awards.
The last big award was for the Creative Advertiser of the Year. Last year, Pidilite Industries and Bennett Coleman - two regular contenders for the award - were bested by Cadbury India. This year, however, the two were back in action. While Pidilite was in the fray with M-Seal and Fevicol, Bennett Coleman had winners in Femina, Maharashtra Times, Navbharat Times, The Economic Times and Planet M. Bennett Coleman (eight points) eventually won the award on the basis of a two-point lead over Pidilite (six points). © 2002 agencyfaqs!