RC&M, Ogilvy Outreach dominate the show at RMAAI Awards, 2006

At the first Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India (RMAAI) Awards held in Mumbai, RC&M Delhi dominated the show by winning five trophies in all – three golds and two silvers. Ogilvy Outreach followed close behind with four trophies – one gold and three silvers.

In all, 52 entries were received from 13 agencies and five clients. The awards were categorised under seven categories, namely, Best Long-term Rural Marketing Initiative, Best Integrated Rural Marketing Campaign, Best Innovative Rural Marketing Initiative, Most Effective Use of Event Marketing, Most Effective Use of Sales Promotion and Point of Purchase, Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing Print and Implementation of the Year.

RC&M won both the gold and silver awards in the Best Innovative Rural Marketing Initiative category. The gold was won for its ‘Toofan’ campaign for Mahindra & Mahindra Tractors and the silver for the Opel Corsa ‘Caravan’ campaign. RC&M won its second gold trophy for an event called ‘Gramino ke Beech’ in the Most Effective Use of Event Marketing category. The third gold was also won for the ‘Toofan’ campaign for Mahindra & Mahindra Tractors under the Implementation of the Year category. The agency won a silver in the same category for ‘Gramino ke Beech’.

Ogilvy Outreach won its gold trophy for its campaign called ‘Samajhdaar Wheelwati’ for Wheel detergent in the Most Effective Use of Sales Promotion and Point of Purchase category. It won three silver trophies for its campaigns for Fair & Lovely, ‘Gori Gunwati Pratiyogita’, Clinic Plus Rural and Lifebuoy ‘Swasthya Chetana’ in the Most Effective Use of Event Marketing, Best Integrated Rural Marketing Campaign and Best Long-term Rural Marketing Initiative categories, respectively.

The silver awards won by Ogilvy Outreach in the Best Integrated Rural Marketing Campaign and Best Long-term Rural Marketing Initiative categories were also shared, respectively, by Rallis India and Tata Steel. Rallis India got the silver for its 4S campaign, while Tata Steel won it for its work on GC Sheet.

MART and ICICI Bank won one gold each in the Best Long-term Rural Marketing Initiative and Best Integrated Rural Marketing Campaign categories, respectively. MART won the gold for its ‘Rasoi Ghar’ campaign for HPCL. ICICI Bank won its gold for devising the ‘No White Spaces’ rural strategy.

There were no contenders in the Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing Print category. MART also won a special jury award for its ‘Rasoi Ghar’ campaign. This award was given on the basis of originality in rural marketing, innovation and consumer insight.

RMAAI was started in 2005 under president RV Rajan. It is an association of organisations that protect and promote the cause of rural marketing in India. The entries for the awards were judged by Rama Bijapurkar, Sunil Alagh and Harish Bijur, all three consultants with RMAAI.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!