It was a grand celebration on the seaside lawns of Hotel Taj Land’s End to mark the 22nd edition of The Advertising Club’s Emvie Awards last Friday. The industry turned out in large numbers - the crowd was more than 1,200 strong - at perhaps the advertising industry’s first large scale event post the pandemic. The Emvie awards, that celebrate strategic, ground-breaking and high impact media campaigns by media agencies, also donned a new ‘young’ avatar, complete with a new logo, colourful branding and smart elements.
Talking of statistics, The Advertising Club (TAC) received 1054 entries (covering a period of two years) with around 25 agencies participating in the competition. Among the big media agencies, Dentsu was conspicuous by its absence. Group M’s agency Wavemaker was recognized as ‘The Media Agency of the Year’, and it also bagged the coveted Grand EMVIE for Mondelez India’s ‘Cadbury Celebrations – Not Just a Cadbury Ad’ campaign. Mindshare and Lodestar were at second and third positions respectively in the pecking order of media agencies. Hindustan Unilever Limited was declared the ‘Media Client of the Year’.
Team Wavemaker after winning 'Media Agency of the Year' |
Google instituted a special recognition for work done in the area of inclusion, and ‘McDonald's Eatqual - One Bite Closer to Equality’ by DDB Mudra won in this category.
Meanwhile, The Times of India Group instituted the ‘Pradeep Guha Trophy’ for the category ‘Young Emvie of the Year’. The first Pradeep Guha Trophy was presented on stage to young Rupesh Shah of Wavemaker by Partha Sinha, President of TAC, actor Dia Mirza, and Papia Guha, wife of the late Pradeep Guha.
Papia Guha (L), actor Dia Mirza and Ad Club President Partha Sinha (R) present the Pradeep Guha Trophy for Young Emvie of the Year to Rupesh Shah of Wavemaker |
“It’s great to be back on the ground. The energy is infectious and the agency and clients had an excellent time celebrating the spirit of excellence. The winners were not only just best in class in India, but they were of global standard. No wonder the Emvies is called the Oscar of media awards,” said Partha Sinha.
Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker |
“Winning ‘Agency of the Year’ and the Grand Emvie at the most coveted awards in the country is truly fantastic. This is reflective of the wonderful work done by our teams across domains like media, data, technology and innovation. I would like to thank all our clients, partners and friends of Wavemaker for trusting us,” said Ajay Gupte, CEO - South Asia, Wavemaker after the award ceremony.
