Day 3 of Goafest 2023 on Saturday saw ABBY One Show Awards being announced in 15 categories. Leo Burnett India won big, bagging the Creative Agency of the Year title with five gold. Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi Pvt Ltd and FCB Group took the second and third spots, respectively. 

Leo Burnett India was also named Branded Content & Entertainment Specialist Agency of the year with two gold. Enormous and Tribes Communications ranked second and third respectively. 

Leo Burnett India also won Brand Activation & Promotions Specialist Agency of the Year title with two gold and one Grand Prix. 

Good Morning Films was named Video Craft Specialist of the year and won five gold, followed by Chrome Pictures Media LLP and Scarecrow M&C Saatchi with one gold each. 

The Audio-Visual TV, Cinema, Digital, OTT (Below 1 min duration) category saw three gold winners. Leo Burnett India won three gold,  Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi Pvt Ltd won two gold and Enormous won one gold. Under Audio– Visual Cinema, TV, Digital, OTT (1 minute and above) category FCB Group won two gold, Wunderman Thompson India and Grey India won one each. 

McCann Worldgroup India has won Young Maverick award for their campaign ‘Shagun Ka Lifafa’ for the brand Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. 

The 15 categories in which awards were announced were Video Craft, Audio, Branded Content & Entertainment, Green Award, Brand Activation & Promotions, Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, Out of Home (Ambient media), Still Print, Still Digital, Audio- Visual TV, Cinema, Digital, OTT (1 min and above), Young ABBY Awards, Young Maverick, Red Abby & Integrated ABBY. 

Commenting on their great show, Rajdeepak Das, CEO & CCO Leo Burnett South Asia said “It’s been a long journey to this point and each piece of work which has won today is uniquely Burnett – impactful, creative and new age. As we say at Burnett Epic Brands, Epic Work! And to see so many of our brands winning across categories is truly what makes this special.”

 Dheeraj Sinha, CEO Leo Burnett South Asia & Chairman BBH India said “The most gratifying part of this win is that it proves we’ve built a culture of creativity at Leo Burnett. The ambition always was to build success at scale and with global impact. Agency of the Year across two years in a row along with the Digital agency of the year and 3 Grand Prix, that too across multiple clients and campaigns is a testimony to everyday, relentless push for excellence at the agency. This moment belongs to all the Leo Burnetters, their loved ones who let us keep them away for long hours, to all our clients who put their unflinching trust in us and our partners in production and technology who leave no stones unturned to give shape to our ambitious ideas. This is also a moment of gratitude and humility, to stay hungry and work hard to be the best in the world, bar none.”

In a world driven by constant change, it is imperative to break free from the constraints of tradition and explore new possibilities. On Day 3 of Goafest 2023, a panel discussion on 'Media Agencies-Breaking the Old Mold' raised some important concerns related to media agencies.

The panel was moderated by Sam Balsara, Chairman - Madison World, and the panelists were Aditi Mishra, CEO - Lodestar UM; Amin Lakhani, CEO - South Asia - Mindshare; Mohit Joshi, CEO - Havas Media Group India; and Naveen Khemka - CEO South Asia -  Essence Mediacom. 

Answering Balsara's questions about structures in agencies, Mishra responded and dwelled on the need for fluidity within the teams, as it will ensure that learnings move across in different directions. Amin added, “There is a need to break structural automation; agencies need to bring back the attitude of problem-solving as they do for their clients.”

The discussion highlighted the importance of holding agencies accountable for outcomes, and not for saving client's money. Since agencies are not in control of all aspects of the marketing mix, especially distribution, clients need to view agencies in that light. 

Talking about the need for the industry to ensure high-quality talent, Lakhani said the commission and remuneration structures come down year on year and it only throws in challenge for the agencies to recruit people and talent accordingly. “It's an industry-wide problem, and I don't think we'd be able to solve it right now. Maybe, we can pick that up as we move along in our journey. Agencies really need to reflect back and bring in the aspect of technology, otherwise, I don't think that we will go very far,” he opined.

During the panel discussion, Balsara also announced that The Ad Club is planning to put out some guidelines for the remuneration of media agencies.

Speaking about another important area- training of the media agencies people-, Khemka said that the media has come a long way and there was an era where the scale was important, which was the first era of advertising. “Then came the digital era of advertising in the early 2000s, where digital platforms became very important. We are now moving into the third era of advertising in the next 10 years. The third era of advertising, we can call it neither scaled nor digitized or specialized. The age-old way of working for advertising agencies will not work anymore. We will have to offer a full funnel of services.”

Overall, the session served as a platform to inspire and ignite a spirit of transformation across various domains of the advertising agencies through the process of unlearning and relearning in accordance with the advertising era we are in.

Speaking on boosting the value chain in the client’s mind, Joshi said, “In spite of the fact that the agencies are working on every aspect of the client delivery, we are seeing that consultants get a much better revenue or value out of the client’s pocket. The only way to move up the value chain is to train ourselves to start thinking as problem solvers rather than media plan providers. The people at the top are media planners who evolved and become CXOs, we have to understand the problem that the brand is facing, and create a solution for. We have to move out in our own thinking, the way we see a media plan, it has to be a communication plan.” 

All Smiles: The winners on Day 3

Earlier in the day

Day 3 of Goafest2023 begn on a musical note with a performance by playback singer Papon

jjjjj

Seven Principles For The Future Of Creativity by Nick Law- Global Creative Chairperson - Accenture Song

Bharat Avalani, AFAA

Masterclass by Publicis Groupe

Knowledge Seminar – Breaking the Old Mould- moderated by Sam Balsara, Chairman - Madison World with panellists including Aditi Mishra, CEO - Lodestar UM, Amin Lakhani, CEO - South Asia - Mindshare, Mohit Joshi, CEO - Havas Media Group India, and Naveen Khemka - CEO South Asia - Essence Mediacom.

We caught up with the CEO of Swiggy at the ongoing Goafest. He spoke to e4m Editor Naziya Alvi Rahman on the business, its growth prospects, marketing mix and much more.

On the future of food delivery services in the country, Kapoor spoke about the huge scope for the sector's growth.

"Marketing is absolutely critical to this business," he said.

Kapoor explained the need to connect emotionally with the consumers and how it was crucial to utilise the various "legs of marketing today".

He also shared the idea behind the constant changes in the brand's media mix.

On increasing the marketing investments, he said the efforts are to constantly utilise the spends done.

"Every decision we take is based on data," Kapoor stated while sharing instances on how data is leveraged on a daily basis.

Watch the video to know more on Kapoor's take on the complex delivery system and how delivery partners need to stay excited about their big role.

This is the best time in India to invest and to build a new company, said Rajan Anandan at Goafest 2023 on Thursday. The topic of the discussion was ‘The Evolving Economy And The Future Of Startups’.

Speaking during a knowledge seminar presented by Disney, Anandan, Managing Director - Sequoia Capital & Surge, said the deal making when it comes to startups has slowed down as many companies have already raised a lot of capital in the last two years. 

“It is right. It has slowed down. What has happened is that the late-stage funding has slowed down. It is because the best companies raised a lot of capital in 2021 and the first half of 2022. So, they don’t need to raise more capital. All big companies have one priority which is to be profitable,” he told independent journalist Anuradha Dasgupta during the seminar.

The dialogue touched upon several aspects of the economy, which included the evolution that continues to foster a fertile ground for startups, with an emphasis on capital, innovation, agility and disruption driving the creation of ground-breaking business models.

They discussed how the future of startups lies in leveraging emerging technologies to solve complex challenges, create new markets and drive economic growth.

Rajan shared that companies that Sequoia Capital & Surge has backed previously are in the consumer space and that they will see exponential profitability in the coming years.

“I truly believe in the profits these companies will incur in the next six quarters,” he said.

Day 2 of Goafest 2023 saw Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) bag the Broadcaster of The Year Award title. Leo Burnett India was named the Digital Specialist Agency of The Year and Mindshare was adjudged Mobile Specialist Agency of The Year. Mindshare also won the Technology Specialist Agency of The Year title. 

Further, FCB Group India won the Direct Specialist Agency of The Year and Public Relations Specialist Agency of The Year titles. Design Specialist Agency of The Year honour was won by COG Culture.

Talking about ZEEL's victory, Rajiv Bakshi, COO- Revenue, said, “We are all delighted that ZEE has won the Broadcaster of the Year award. It’s a strong endorsement of the amazing creative talent  of all the teams. Originality in creativity will continue to be the trigger for growth in Indian media."

In other honours, Leo Burnett India walked away with the only Grand Prix of the day for its ‘Airtel 175 Replayed’ campaign. The award was given in the Digital category under the subhead, Digital Craft - Creative Use of Video. Leo Burnett India also topped the gold winner tally, bagging seven yellow metals. It shared the top slot with FCB Group India, which also won seven gold metals.

Leo Burnett India bagged three gold for its the ‘Missing chapter’ campaign for P&G Whisper, two gold for ‘Airtel 175 Replayed’ campaign, one gold for ‘Oreo #BringBack2011’ campaign and one gold for Josh’s ‘Safe Swipe’ campaign. FCB Group India won four gold for its ‘Chatpat’ campaign for SOS Children’s Villages India, and one gold each for Gomantak Private Limited, Mudra Pratishthan’s ‘SHUBH DAHAN’ campaign, Unaids’ ‘Unbox me’ campaign, and Navneet Education Limited’s ‘Tr. for Teacher’ campaign. 

Following the two agencies was Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited, which won four gold in the Broadcaster Abbys category. It won two gold for ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 14 (Launch-Sanju), and one each for ‘India’s Laughter Champion’ and ‘Dil Diya Galla’. 

Next big gold winner was Mindshare, which walked away with three yellow metals for its campaign ‘Thumbstopping Beauty Biases’ for Dove. 

Other gold winners were:

1. Enormous: One gold for ‘Robbery’ TVC for Asahi India Glass Limited 
2. White Rivers Media: One gold for Sony LIV’s ‘Shark Tank India Season 2’  
3. Wunderman Thompson: One gold for Exide’s ‘The Moving Canvas’
4. IBS Fulcro: One gold for Kotak General Insurance’s ‘The Text And Drive Challenge’
5. Madison World: One gold for Nicotex’s ‘Quit smoking with your friend Nico!’
6. VMLY&R: one gold for Unipads’ Adeli
7. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited: One gold for Dance Karnataka Dance - S6 
8. Viacom 18 Media Private Limited: One gold for ‘The Office Chill Kind of Guy’

And the fun begins: Day 2 of Goafest 2023 starts

Keep smiling: Sonia Huriya, Head of Communications, Prime Video India and Ad club Manclub Member, with e4m Editor Naziya Alvi Rahman

The energy is infectious: Rajdeepak Das of Leo Burnett

When its Team e4m, work is surely fun

Future of Connected Devices and Cross Channel Measurement L-R: Rajdeep Sardesai - Consulting Editor - India Today Television, Salil Kumar - Chief Executive Officer, Digital Business, India Today Group, Pankaj Krishna - Founder and CEO - Chrome DM, Geet Lulla - VP Sales & Head Asia Pacific - Comscore

 Supercharging Creative Effectiveness: Unleash The Potential Of Your Campaigns by Ed Pank - Managing Director - WARC APAC

Sam Balsara, Madison World

 Live performance by Divya Kumar - Indian Playback Singer and Asees Kaur - Indian Playback Singer

The Evolving Economy And The Future Of Startups. Rajan Anandan - Managing Director - Sequoia Capital & Surge in conversation with Anuradha SenGupta - Independent Journalist 

Data-Driven Marketing - Are We Walking The Talk?’ powered by Inmobi in association With Dainik Jagran showcased Moderator, Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO Madison Media & OOH with Panellists Chandan Mukherji, Director & Executive VP - Nestle India, Priyanka Gill, Group Co-Founder, Good Glamm Group & CEO, Good Media Co, Ravi Santanam. CMO - HDFC, and Vipul Prakash, COO, MakeMyTrip.

Unearthing Future Talent: The Rise of Indian Cricketers from the Grassroots.Harbhajan Singh - Indian Cricket Legend & Member of Parliament in conversation with Manish Batavia - Sports Presenter & Commentator