<font color="#FF0033"><b>Abby Awards 2004:</b></font> Hutch winning the Continuing Campaign felt nice - Mahesh V

For Mahesh V, senior creative director, O&M India, winning the coveted Copywriter of the Year award at this year's Abbys is a case of being first-time lucky. "This is the first time in my nine-year career in advertising that I entered my name for the Copywriter award at the Abbys," he chuckles, adding that the award came as a bit of a surprise. "I really did not expect to win the award as my work from last year does not adhere to the traditional definition of copywriting. But I am pleased to win the award, nonetheless, as it tells me that what I have been doing is not so wrong after all."

While winning the Copywriter of the Year award undoubtedly gives Mahesh joy, what pleases him immensely is the fact that the Hutch campaign ended up winning the biggest awards at the Abby function. The campaign picked up four gold Abbys, including the Campaign of the Year, and also claimed the silver Abby for Best Continuing Campaign (the gold for Continuing Campaign went to Fevicol, for the record). "Campaigns for brands like Coke and Hutch winning the big awards is, I think, a good sign, as the big brands that have it in them to raise the overall standard of creativity in our advertising," Mahesh opines. "Hutch has shown the way, and I think the best sight this year was that of our clients standing together on stage after winning the Creative Advertiser of the Year award."

Although the Hutch campaign picked up almost every Abby it was capable of winning this year, the one that Mahesh holds dear is the silver for the Best Continuing Campaign. This can be surprising, considering the advertising picked up four golds, but Mahesh reasons it out by saying, "Because of the nature of the product and the category it operates in, most of the advertising we do for Hutch is feature- and service-driven. So, on Hutch, there is very little scope to create advertising that has a single, continuous ‘campaign' idea that stretches over three years - which is the only way the brand can hope to win an award for Continuing Campaign."

Mahesh reveals that the team, while entering Hutch in the Continuing Campaign category this year, wrote out a full argument explaining why Hutch advertising might not have a consistent campaign idea over three years. "We argued that Hutch should not be overlooked for an award in the category because of the absence of a continuous idea. I am happy the jury has taken note of this, and has awarded the consistency of good thinking on the brand, independent of campaigns. That's why the Best Continuing Campaign feels nice."

The copywriter is also happy that his long-time art partner, Rajiv Rao, has won the Art Director of the Year award (jointly with Santosh Padhi of Leo Burnett India). "Rajiv is no stranger to awards, but this one gives both of us a good feeling as this was for some good work that both of us have done on Hutch," says Mahesh. "In fact, the very fact that almost everyone (the client included) associated with the Hutch campaign won an award at the Abbys is proof of the fact that this was one of those campaign where everyone shares the credit for creating good advertising." © 2004 agencyfaqs!