"The aim was also to recognize work done by media marketers who used innovative marketing strategies to stand out in the highly competitive scenario. "

When EMVIES was given its own entity, separate from that of Abbys, Kalpana Rao was one of the names at the helm of affairs. She has played an important role in nurturing and shaping these awards. She was the Chairperson of the EMVIES committee last year. However, this year Rao's involvement will be more in the judging processes of the awards.

Rao has seen the awards grow since the time of its inception and those are the details she shares with Noor Fathima Warsia in this interview.

What is the objective of an award like EMVIES?

Traditionally it was only creative work that got noticed and rewarded. With media getting complex, the media strategy has become a very important part of the overall marketing mix. Therefore, the aim was to recognize great and outstanding work done by the media specialists. The aim was also to recognize work done by media marketers who used innovative marketing strategies to stand out in the highly competitive scenario.

Do you think from the time of its inception in 2001, the award is on the direction of achieving this objective?

Yes. The number of entries are steadily increasing. The enries have increased from just 75 in 2001 to 128 last year.

What role does the EMVIES play in the growth of the media industry?

I think that is not the objective of the EMVIES! It is to encourage healthy competition and encourage better quality work within the media industry

In the past four years, the award has become more comprehensive. Nonetheless, are there other areas of media that still can be included in it?

Yes. The other forms of media like out-of-home, events and direct media are becoming increasingly important. We are trying to create a separate category to recognize and encourage work in this area.

We have also had a very poor response from media marketers. So, in order to encourage more marketers to participate, we will introduce another category, the Most Innovative Media Marketer of the year,

What is the difference in the quality of entries that have come forth since 2002? How would you say it reflects the growth of the media industry itself?

The quality has been good. However, I think the entries are not at all well written. And this area needs improvement. I think our industry needs to concentrate a lot on improving the quality of presentation as sometimes a great idea gets missed if it is badly written.