15 creative agencies bag top honour across 19 categories at the IndIAA Awards

HUL brands win in F&B and Personal Care.

The India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) presented the eighth edition of its prestigious IndIAA Awards on 1st September at a ceremony hosted at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai. 

ABP Network and Sony Pictures Network were the co-partner while Network18 and JIO Cinema were the associate partners for the event.

The awards to honour real advertising that creatively cut through to the market before it could impress the all-client jury saw work by 15 creative agencies take the top honours across 18 product and service categories and one special category.

The awards saw 102 campaigns being shortlisted of which, by design, only one in each category is awarded. In case of close contests the jury awarded joint winners after much deliberation.   

Among creative agencies, Leo Burnett, MullenLowe Lintas Group and Ogilvy won three IndIAA Awards each, representing the very best work in that category. BBDO, DDB Mudra and TBWA won two awards each.

Other creative agencies and creators to win an IndIAA Award were Grey Group, Kehat Kabira Pictures, McCann Worldgroup, Publicis Worldwide, Rediffusion, SG Media, Talented, The Script Room, The Womb and Tilt Brand Solutions. 

Two HUL brands were among winners, in the Food & Beverage and Personal Care categories. HDFC Life won in Insurance while HDFC Mutual Fund won in Banking & Finance.  

Suresh Narayanan, jury chairman and chairman & managing director, Nestle India, said "In my fifth year as the jury chair, I feel intimately acquainted with this room and honoured to be among some of the greatest creative minds in the country- – advertising gurus, communication experts, and marketing wizards. 

Narayana presented a short poem titled 'Jury Chair ka Sambodhan,' “a reflection of his five years in this esteemed role." He then went on to recite a few lines of the same in hindi which received a hearty applause from the audience.

Avinash Pandey, president IAA, sheds light on how the IndIAA Awards exemplify creative excellence and have set the gold standard for creative awards in India. He states, “It's been an intriguing year for arguably the most active industry association of its kind. We've demonstrated that our industry can be a catalyst for change, particularly in breaking gender bias. We celebrate the winners reflecting the growing synergy between associations and showcasing the remarkable impact of the communication industry. The positive feedback from young leaders has been heartening, and our industry's enthusiasm for AdAsia remains strong. We're organising a delegation led by Sam Balsara for AdAsia 23 in Seoul, the largest event of its kind in Asia." 

IAA IndIAA Awards Chairman, Abhishek Karnani said, “IAA Awards are unique because you can't “enter” them.” A group of seasoned journalists shortlisted 102 campaigns across 19 categories from over a thousand ads. This accomplishes two important goals- first, it ensures that only genuine work is presented to the jury, keeping scam ads at bay, second, it truly democratises the creative process by not charging an entry fee, making fundraising for this grand event a challenging task. 

He further said, what sets the IAA awards apart is that they are judged by senior marketers who own and invest in the brands. We showcase the transformative power of communication for our beloved country and society, embodying IAA's unwavering belief in the ability of communication to drive change.

IAA honoured Ayushmann Khurrana as “Most Disruptive Brand in Entertainment Industry” on questioning his criteria while choosing a Brand, he replied, “I believe before taking on a brand it resonates with the credibility of my films. Credibility is everything. I think only going with commercials will be very myopic. My father once told me, ‘Goddess Saraswati comes before Goddess Lakshmi. I always go like that. If you earn respect, nothing like that.” 

Speaking about being an outsider in Bollywood, he said that the first choice had to be truly different and clatter-breaking. “I'll never get a second chance being an outsider. So it's all about the choices you make eventually. Everybody is hard-working and talented. It's the kind of opportunities you get and firmly success is nothing but when preparation meets opportunity,” he avers.