Mondelez India and Ogilvy win top honours at Effie India awards

Winning the Effie India client and agency of the year were Mondelez India and Ogilvy respectively. On the other hand, Leo Burnett was awarded the coveted Grand Effie Whisper India’s campaign ‘Whisper: Changing the education system to keep girls in school.’

The Effie India awards which acknowledge new benchmarks in effectiveness in marketing and advertising communication received 986 entries, the highest ever in 22 years, and saw participation from 53 agencies.

The Agency of the Year award was a hotly contested affair where Ogilvy emerged victorious with 354 points followed by Leo Burnett with 342 points. McCann Worldgroup stood third with 303 points.

“Outstanding work always happens on the back of outstanding clients. All the Cadbury success is because we have a fantastic client,” states VR Rajesh, group president, Ogilvy India.

When asked about the use of technology in most if not all Cadbury campaigns, he says for Ogilvy “we’ve discovered a new mantra of creativity which exists in the cusp of people, culture, technology, commerce, platform, and that it is going to manifest."

Speaking on winning the Grand Effie for Whisper India, Leo Burnett shared a quote from CEO Dheeraj Sinha, "At Leo Burnett we are particularly proud of creating work that solves real problems for both the client and the people. Our work for Whisper “The Missing Chapter” does exactly that – helping spread period education to stop 23 million girls from dropping out of school. The real impact of this initiative is in how it will add back to the society and the economy."

Speaking to afaqs! after the event, Sinha, on what they do when they start work on a brand said it was all about how the can make the brand bigger and more successful and an even deeper part of consumers’ lives.

On Spotify he says, “The challenge is to get bigger, get to Tier II, Tier III cities and that is what we are working on right now.”

He goes on to add that what gives the agency joy is that it didn’t win for one campaign but won awards across brands and for multiple campaigns.

Sinha goes back to the interview with afaqs! where he’d spoken about how the culture of an organisation can influence its output. “… if the culture is right, we create great work and win.”

On the client victories at Effie India awards 2022, Mondelez India, Whisper India, and Spotify India emerged as the three leaders with 218, 144 and 110 points respectively.