By A Corrrespondent

Lodestar UM was numerouno at the Media Abby Awards presented on Day 1 of Goafest 2018. The agency bagged four Golds, three each of Silver and Bronze metals. Dentsu Webchutney came second with four metals. Followed by Wavemaker and Mindshare India. A total of 38 metals were awarded in the Media Abby.

Earlier on Thursday, Goafest 2018 kicked off with a packed hall at the industry conclave. The thirteenth edition of Goafest also sees the conduct of the 50th edition of the Abby Awards.

Also presented were the Publisher Abby where Jagran Prakashan was numerouno with five metals, followed by Times Of India with two metals.

Speaking about Abby Awards, Vikram Sakhuja, President – The Advertising Club said: “It’s been 50 years since the first Abby Awards were handed out. That is 50 years of unfaltering dedication to identifying, shortlisting and felicitating creative excellence in the industry. Over the years the awards went through a lot of changes. So, we spoke to heads of agencies, to industry leaders and more importantly, to the young creative workforce out there are came up with two key changes to the awards this year. The changes include the rationalization of categories to stay relevant to today’s young and dynamic creative geniuses and the formation of a Master Jury made up of industry masters to guarantee effectiveness. And it gives me immense pleasure to see the industry not only embracing these changes with open arms but also supporting us in our endeavor to keep improving the quality of the awards being handed out.”

Added Ajay Kakar, Vice President of The Advertising Club and Chairman – Awards Governing Council said, “For Abby Awards 2018, it was our mission to co-create the awards with the help, inputs and participation of our industry; starting from the stalwarts but not forgetting the youngsters. And what we see today is an outcome of that courtesy the participation of stalwarts who inspire and set the standards of creativity for our industry.”

Goafest 2018 has attracted a registration of over 2000 delegates. At the Abby Awards, a total of 3033 entries came in. In the Media Abby, there were a total of 660 entries from 57 agencies. The number of entries was down from 1100 that came in last year.

Said Sam Balsara, who chaired the Media Abby: “The entries highlighted ability to co-create solution with clients and work in tandem with multi-media context and campaigns – jointly with Radio, Outdoors and Digital, even TV in certain instances.A lot of entries showcased the significant efforts of publishers towards CSR, Societal connect and social impact in the their work. As many as 57 agencies entered 660 pieces of work of which a total of 38 awards have been given across 32 distinct pieces of work.”

On what worked for the winners, Balsara said: “Most award winning work looks at Strategy, Idea, Execution and Results. I dare say that at the Abbys which celebrates creativity there is relatively more focus given on the Idea. The ideas that stood out included using the brand very cleverly in content (three cases), using the medium innovatively (Display, Cinema), Use of Technology in Traditional Mediums (OOH Ambient and Print), Clever integration of Content with Social, Actionable use of Big data, and just some simple cute ideas that work.”

And this is what Pradeep Dwivedi, who chaired the Publisher Abby said: “For the Publisher’s awards, the experience was very interesting as we had almost the same number of entries as last year, while the categories had reduced. This led to an engaging screening by an eminent jury balanced across geography, language and industry leadership. The merits of entries and the creative quotient of the campaign became supreme criterion almost naturally.The entries clearly showcased the vibrancy of print medium and its endeavour to evolve with time.For me, one of the things that stood out was the quality of work and clear recognition that many other publishers are also doing great work on the ground, but somehow don’t pitch it at Abbys. A few of the like-minded jurors have agreed to take up this cause and help build an even more widespread entrant base for next year via roadshows, and celebrate the print industry in India which is growing and thriving, clearly bucking the global trend.”