Emvies 2002: Lodestar is Media Agency of the Year; WPP is runner-up

The second annual Emvie Awards for creative excellence and innovation in the field of media planning and buying were awarded yesterday evening by the Bombay Ad Club, at a ceremony held at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel. Although the function was a relatively low-decibel affair, a small but enthusiastic turnout of media professionals lent enough cheer to compensate for the absence of numbers. And wisecracking MTV VJ Nikhil Chinappa, who hosted the show, added enough zing to the proceedings with his relentless double entendres, which had the audience in splits.

But, of course, the real heroes of the evening were the media agencies that were vying for top honours. And as award after award was announced, it became fairly clear that Lodestar Media was the frontrunner for the coveted Media Agency of the Year award - although WPP Marketing & Communications wasn't far behind, as the final points tally reveals. However, before we go into the details of who won what, here's a brief overview of this year's Emvies.

Unlike last year - where, in all, just three categories constituted the Emvies - this year's awards consisted of six categories. Other than the three categories from last year - Media Strategy, Media Research and Media Innovation (last year, it was termed ‘Invention') - this year's function also recognized the Best Media Marketer of the Year and the Best Media Agency of the Year. Further, the Media Innovation category was sliced into five sub-categories - television, Internet, press, radio and outdoor - and Emvies were awarded in each of these. Also, a Lifetime Achievement award was given away this year.

Much to the delight of its vocal supporters, Lodestar Media won the Media Agency of the Year award on the basis of the 40 points it gathered during the course of the evening. The agency won two gold Emvies (10 points each) and four silver Emvies (five points each) to lead runner-up WPP Marketing & Communications by 10 points (WPP won two gold and two silver Emvies).

Lodestar won its golds for Media Graphics (in the Best Media Research category) and Nerolac (in the Best Media Innovation - Outdoor category). The agency picked up two silver Emvies for Indica V2 (one in the Best Media Strategy category, another in the Best Media Innovation - Internet category), and one each for Whirlpool (in the Best Media Strategy category) and Impress (in the Best Media Research category, where it also won a gold).

WPP bagged gold Emvies for Close-up (in the Best Media Innovation - Internet category) and Lakme Sunscreen (in the Best Media Innovation - Press category). It won silvers for Pepsodent (in the Best Media Innovation - TV category) and Spice Telecom (in the Best Media Innovation - Radio category). Incidentally, Spice was the lone entry in this category.

Apart from Lodestar and WPP, the only other agency to win a gold Emvie was Madison Communications. The agency picked up its yellow metal for Maruti Versa (in the Best Media Innovation - TV category). Madison also won a silver Emvie for Program Predictor (in the Best Media Research category).

Ogilvy Outreach, Universal McCann and The Media Edge shared one silver Emvie apiece. Outreach won for Castrol (in the Best Media Innovation - Outdoor category), Universal for Van Heusen (in the Best Media Innovation - Press category), and The Media Edge for Colgate (in the Best Media Innovation - TV category).

One of the highlights of this year's Emvies was that no gold was awarded in the Best Media Strategy category (both the silvers went to Lodestar). Another interesting point was that in two categories (Best Media Research and Best Media Innovation - TV), agencies shared silver Emvies - Lodestar and Madison for Best Media Research, WPP and The Media Edge for Best Best Media Innovation - TV.

This year's Lifetime Achievement award was given to Suren Chawla, India's first recognized media director, and one of the pioneers of media planning in India. The other significant award that was given away was that of Media Marketer of the Year. While Dainik Bhaskar, Chitralekha and MTV were nominated, Chitralekha eventually walked away with the award. © 2002 agencyfaqs!