The DIGIES are back with a bang

K V Sridhar, or 'Pops' as he is popularly known, in one of the interviews given to afaqs!, had once said, "There are two things in advertising - either tell me the reason that the product I am buying from you is useful enough, or if you are doing emotional advertising, it needs to be extremely honest, real, and the believability should be very high."

Previously known as the 'Digital Agency Awards', the DIGIES deviate from the traditional way of giving awards -- for single pieces of work (unless it is a 'campaign' category). The Digital Agency Awards seek to find the best agency in a particular kind of work or category, by judging an agency's body of work in a particular category. For the DIGIES, a participating agency has to submit a minimum of three and a maximum of seven pieces of work in any category it chooses.

So, a Gold win means that the award is not for a one-off piece of work. Instead, the DIGIES underline that the winning agency is the best in that particular category. That's why it is said, it is in the DIGIES that all your work counts.

In another move this year, the name has been shortened from Digital Agency Awards to something that was smaller, simpler, and more in tune with the digital world. Thus, the name of the event has been tweaked from 'Digital Agency Awards' to 'DIGIES' as it is more colloquial, and highlights the 'digital' as a category.

The DIGIES, in their third year, recognise works of excellence in various categories such as Display, Website, Viral Marketing, Social Media, Mobile, Integrated, Mailer/E-mails, Digital PR, Content Marketing, and Search. From this year, two new categories have been introduced: Brand Video, and Video - Brand Integration. Depending on the categories, judges will look at various aspects in an entry, which includes idea, content, design, interactivity, engagement, and overall experience.

Stalwarts from the industry have agreed to judge the best digital creatives. The Jury panel includes Anil K Nair, CEO and managing partner, digital, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, Carlton D'Silva, CEO and CCO, Hungama Digital Services, Divya Uttam, vice-president and business head - digital, Havas Worldwide, Gopa Kumar, vice-president, Isobar, Namrata Balwani, senior vice-president and head of office, OgilvyOne WorldWide, Delhi, Navin Kansal, national creative director, Indigo Consulting, Sanjeev Jasani, head of digital, Cheil India, Satish Ramachandran, senior vice-president - healthcare and interactive, FCB Ulka Healthcare, Shibu Shivanandan, founder and managing director, PivotRoots, Sumanta Ganguly, executive vice-president, LinTeractive, and Vineet Bajpai, chairman, Magnon/TBWA & Magnon eg+.

The award ceremony will be followed by cocktails and dinner. One can also enjoy a great evening by singing his/her favourite tracks and playing the guitar. There is also a contest for the 'wittiest acceptance speech'. The rules are simple: you will click a picture of yourself with the award, and complete the sentence 'We won #DIGIES2016 because...' in 10 witty words!

As in previous years, this year, too, the DIGIES has garnered huge support from the sponsors. While DainikBhaskar.com, and Wall Street have agreed to become associate partners, FIIB have agreed to become training partner, with Jobswitch as talent partner.