Effie 2003: Judging comes to a close; 25 shortlists assessed

The 25 case studies that were brought to the judging table fell into three categories – Consumer Products, Consumer Durables and Services

The second and final round of judging for this year's Effie Awards - distributed for effectiveness in advertising and communication - concluded yesterday evening with 25 shortlisted case studies coming up for assessment. A jury that included names such as Rajiv Agarwal, Niteen Bhagwat, Mukul Deoras, Ravi Deshpande, Bharat Dhabolkar, Ramesh Iyengar, Prasoon Joshi, Deepa Kakkar, Kiran Khalap, Shyam Motwani, Pradeep Poddar and Arvind Sharma judged the shortlisted entries from this year.

The 25 case studies that were brought to the judging table fell into three categories - Consumer Products, Consumer Durables and Services. The highest number of case studies (10) came under Consumer Products, followed by Consumer Durables (eight) and Services (seven). The shortlisted entries under Consumer Products were Lipton Ice Tea (JWT, Bangalore), Coca-Cola (McCann-Erickson), Babool (McCann-Erickson), Lifebuoy (two entries, one each by Ogilvy Outreach and Lowe), Center Shock (O&M), Sugarfree (Mudra, Ahmedabad), Tide (Leo Burnett), Mint-O (FCB-Ulka) and Sprite (O&M).

The Consumer Durables shortlist read as follows: Daikin (Rediffusion | DYR), Asian Paints Exterior Emulsions (O&M), Bajaj Pulsar (O&M), LG Golden Eye (Lowe), Enticer (Mudra, Delhi), Indica V2 (FCB-Ulka), Tata Indigo (FCB-Ulka), Scorpio (Interface). In the Services category, the shortlist had Pulse Polio Immunization Programme (O&M, Delhi), Hutch (O&M), Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund (O&M), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (Lowe), Balbir Pasha/PSI (Lowe), Wipro Technologies (iContract, Bangalore) and Max/Sony (Euro RSCG).

Looking at the shortlist (this year's Effie Finalists would be decided from this shortlist) from the agency point of view, it is evident that creative powerhouse O&M has elbowed into the ‘effectiveness' space as well. With seven entries in the shortlist (eight, if one were to count Ogilvy Outreach's entry as well, although that one has been treated independently), O&M stretches a lead over Lowe, which has four of its entries in the shortlist. FCB-Ulka (three shortlists), McCann (two shortlists) and Mudra (two shortlists) are the other agencies with more than one entry making the grade. From the advertiser's perspective, Hindustan Lever (three shortlists), Coca-Cola India (two shortlists) and Tata Engineering (two shortlists) are the advertisers with multiple entries in the shortlist.

Making it to the shortlist stage is one thing. Qualifying as an Effie Finalist and picking up metals for advertising that worked in the marketplace is another. And that whittling down is what this year's 12 contending agencies and 21 advertisers would be keenly following. To know which of the 25 shortlisted case studies make a successful crossover to the Finalist stage, keep watching this space…

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