Triple A Awards 2002: 'McCann da tashan' in full flow <font size="1" face="Verdana"><b><font color="#FF0033"><u>Triple A Awards!</u></font></b></font>

Three golds - including one for the Campaign of the Year - four silvers and four bronzes; a Copywriter of the Year award; a client who was named the Advertiser of the Year… for work done by the agency. For McCann-Erickson India, the Triple A Awards 2002 have proved as gratifying as the first monsoon shower, considering the agency won a lone bronze at last year's Triple A Awards.

"The feeling is simply great," an ecstatic Prasoon Joshi, national creative director, McCann-Erickson India, told agencyfaqs!. "Awards are not new to me, but the scale of what we have won here is amazing. Winning three golds out of the five that were given away is spectacular." The agency won its gold trophies for the ‘Hyderabadi' and ‘Punjabi' ads in Coke's ‘Thanda matlab…' series, as well as for the Campaign of the Year (the ‘Thanda' campaign). While, two other ads from the ‘Thanda' campaign also clinched silver and bronze awards for McCann. The agency also bagged the silver for the Showcase of the Year - TV, and a bronze for the Showcase of the Year - Press.

Without doubt, it was the advertising for Coca-Cola that contributed hugely to McCann's success at the awards. And Joshi is the first to admit it. "Nothing would have happened without Coke, Ashu (Ashutosh Gowariker) and Aamir (Khan)," he says. "It took all of us to create magic." A point that Shripad Nadkarni, vice-president (marketing), Coca-Cola India, also makes. "I know this is going to sound most cliched, but it is sheer teamwork," he says, brimming with excitement as he cradles the Advertiser of the Year award. "It took a Coke, a McCann, an Aamir Khan Productions, an Aamir and an Ashutosh Gowariker to get us where we have got. I must admit I am very pleased."

Joshi, who also picked up the Copywriter of the Year award, believes that it is his ear for nuances in the spoken word that enables him to come out with crackling scripts and dialogues for his commercials. "I actually take pains to understand how people talk," he says. "For instance, while making the recent ‘paanch' ad for Coke, I went back to my friends from Bihar to listen to them speak. I approached a guy who was an expert at ‘gaalis' to know the different ways in which people use verbal insult."

Naturally, Joshi is happy that the ‘Thanda' campaign has been acknowledged at the Triple A Awards. "If this campaign had not won, I would have been really surprised," he says, without waking modesty from its slumber. "However, I think that true recognition comes when the man in the street starts saying ‘Thanda matlab Coca-Cola' and knows the dialogues of the ads by heart. That connect has been made, and nothing makes me happier." © 2003 agencyfaqs!