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It was a decision that stumped many in the ad world. Ogilvy saying it would not participate in the Creative Abbies at the Goafest this year did send shock waves in the advertising industry. India's largest ad agency has after all been the most successful at the Creative Abbies, winning 15 times in 16 years since the awards were instituted.
While Abhijit Awasthi, Ogilvy's national creative director, did indicate that the Creative Abbies failed to inspire and motivate his people - a feeling they had been getting for a few years now - the decision to stay away from the awards, he said, was restricted to the current year only. "We are yet to take a call on whether we will participate or not in the next year. We are exploring a few options to motivate our people at the local level. One of the options is to start our own internal awards. This is still at the discussion stage, however, at the moment," he says.
If Ogilvy does decide to go the Lowe Lintas way of instituting its own internal awards, it could, say ad industry sources, be the end of the road for the Men in Black, who have been a constant fixture at the Creative Abbies for two decades now.
But the question coursing through most minds is: Does Ogilvy's absence make a big difference to Goafest?
The numbers tell a different story. Despite O&M's absence, the Creative Abbies this year have seen more number of entries - 4,300 to 4,200 last year. This has taken the total number of entries (that is, media and creative put together) to nearly 5,000 - higher than the 4,800 entries that Goafest saw last year.
Besides, the number of agencies and companies entering their work in Goafest this year is also up - crossing the figure of 200 - as opposed to about 175 last year. Of this, the lion's share is of agencies and companies who have entered their work in the Creative Abbies alone.
"We are certainly thrilled with the response we have received in terms of entries and participants this year," says Shashi Sinha, chairman of the Abby Awards Governing Council at the Goafest, who is also the chief executive officer of IPG Mediabrands India, the holding company for media agencies Lodestar and LMG in the country. "This will lead to what we call a democratisation of the awards, where there are more winners as opposed to a few winners," he says.
This "democratisation" as Sinha describes the participation of more agencies and companies could be seen last year too at the Creative Abbies. Though O&M was the winner with 50 metals (as gold, silver, bronze and Grand Prixs are described in industry parlance), the limelight was stolen by smaller agencies such as Taproot (34 metals) and Creativeland Asia (though it had seven metals, its 3D campaign for the Audi A8L won the Grand Prix) not to mention that there were other key winners too such as Leo Burnett (35 metals) and DDB Mudra (32 metals). The total number of metals given out last year at the Creative Abbies was also more - 332 versus 224 in 2011.
So, as Sinha says, with more participation, more people feel confident that they can actually win at the awards encouraging healthy competition. "It is no more about a few agencies winning year after year. More people now get a chance," he adds.
The scorecard this year
Ogilvy's absence has meant that the other participating agencies have a greater chance at walking away with the top honours this year. "I expect the competition to be stiff this year," says Arvind Sharma, chairman of the Indian sub-continent at Leo Burnett India, who is also the chairman of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the body that is jointly organising the Goafest alongwith the Advertising Club of Bombay.
This is partly because thanks to its size, Ogilvy would simply walk away with a significant number of trophies each year. If it was 50 last year, it was 31 and 43 in the previous two years. This year, ad experts, say the competition will be fierce as rival agencies stake their claim for gold, silver, bronze and Grand Prixs.
Barring Ogilvy (and of course Lowe which has been out of the Creative Abbies for over a decade now), all other agencies have decided to throw their hats in the ring from Publicis to McCann, Rediffusion and Contract not to mention usual suspects such as JWT, Grey, Leo Burnett, DDB Mudra, Taproot, Creativeland Asia and BBDO, who participate year after year.
Taproot, however, remains a clear favourite at the awards this year thanks to work it has for PepsiCo (Mountain Dew), Airtel and Bennett & Coleman. "We are hoping at least some of this work wins at Goafest this year," says Santosh Padhi, co-founder and chief creative officer of the agency. With Taproot leading the tally of awards at the ongoing Adfest in Pattaya with six metals and 20 finalists, punters are hedging their bets on the 33-member agency, which is now part of the Dentsu India Group.
