Effie 2003: "O&M has changed the Effies forever" - Piyush Pandey

A lone bronze Effie for Kelvinator in 2001. And if that reflected poorly, not a single Effie nomination (leave aside an award) the following year. The Effie Awards have not been a favourable hunting ground for the otherwise award-rich O&M, prompting some within the industry to snigger that the agency was quite incapable of creating ‘real advertising that works'.

Well, those who had sniggered all along would have been forced to eat their words on the evening of August 22. For that evening, O&M put its Effie record in order by picking up the maximum number of trophies awarded that day. The agency won five Effies - four silver and one bronze - and also claimed the People's Choice Trophy for the best case study presentation. It isn't surprising then that the first thing that Piyush Pandey, group president & national creative director, O&M, did when he met this correspondent was wink and guffaw, "Kyon partner, kuchh logon ke mooh band karvaaya ki nahin?"

Pandey himself retreated to celebrate the Effie wins, but later spoke to agencyfaqs! about what he thought of O&M's performance this year. "The first thing I will say is this - O&M has changed the Effies forever," he smiles. "No one will ever dare to present their case studies in a dry and boring fashion. We have set a precedent with our sparkling presentations." He was, quite obviously, singling out the case study presentations that O&M had made as examples of how presentations should actually be done. "Look at the range… from funny (Center Shock) to moving (Pulse Polio) to clever (Sprite and Pru-ICICI), the presentations were lovely."

The man with the moustache has a point. Without doubt, Ogilvy's presentations had something extra in them - something that prompted one media analyst in the audience to say, "These guys really try harder." While the Sprite presentation used Walt Disney's famed motion picture, Lion King, as a backdrop to demonstrate how the ‘All taste, no gyaan' proposition worked, the presentation for Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund followed the pattern of an interesting ‘conversation' between the client and agency representatives. And, of course, the ‘minimalist' Center Shock presentation - which used Indian film clichés instead of PowerPoint templates to build its argument - was simply lapped up by the audience, enabling it to walk away with the People's Choice Trophy. (Did we say that the exaggerated ‘Center Shock hairdos' that the presenters wore reinforced brand recall?) In comparative terms, the only other presentation that broke the format by doing something different was that of Daikin (by Rediffusion DY&R).

But, of course, the Effies are not just about making great presentations. They're about recognizing and awarding advertising that is effective. On this account too, Pandey has reason to be pleased - all five of Ogilvy case studies that made it to the Finals eventually picked up Effies. But Pandey is a trifle disappointed with the results. "I believe that the Center Shock and Pulse Polio campaigns should have won gold Effies (both won silver Effies) for the kind of results they generated. But it's a subjective thing, I guess," he shrugs. What gives Pandey real joy is the fact that "some really great work" won at the Effies this year. "I am glad to see a lot of award-winning stuff in the Effie Finals - Center Shock, Coke, Sprite…" he says.

Just after the award ceremony, Nishi Suri, executive director & head of Mumbai office, O&M, had told agencyfaqs! that Ogilvy's performance this year "had redefined what's effective", and added that "this is going to set the stage for next year." Pandey is in complete agreement. "What came out clearly was that O&M is doing path-breaking work across categories," he says. "And if we continue to do path-breaking work that wins at the Abbys, there's no reason why we won't win at the Effies." © 2003 agencyfaqs!