Pepper Creative Awards 2013: DDB Mudra named Agency of the Year

The Advertiser of the Year award was bagged by TTK Prestige with Shelton Pinheiro, national creative director, Stark Communications, receiving a Special Jury Award for Excellence in Writing.

In the seventh edition of Pepper Creative Awards 2013, DDB Mudra was crowned the Agency of the Year, winning maximum points in all categories (a total of 104 categories) in the competition. The annual creative competition, organised by The Advertising Club Cochin and Pepper Creative Awards Trust, received over 1,070 entries from 80 agencies this year.

Nirvana was declared the runner up, with TTK Prestige taking away the Advertiser of the Year award. The Special Jury Award for Excellence in Writing was bagged by Stark Communications' national creative director, Shelton Pinheiro, for the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival campaign.

Mudra South bagged the highest number (seven) of gold metals, for clients such as Asha Jeevan, Peter England and Prestige, followed by Nirvana, which won four gold metals for Mahindra, BlackBerry and Incredible India; Dentsu took away two golds for its works on Orange Owl, and Stark Communications (GKSF), Banana Brand Works (Antahpura spa) and R K Swamy (Whiskas) took home one gold each.

This year, the competition was adjudged by Prathap Suthan, managing partner, Bang in the Middle (jury chairman), along with Rajeev Raja, CEO and Soundsmith, Brandmusiq; and Raj Nair, chief creative officer, BMB India. The entries were judged in Mumbai on March 23 and 24. Some of the agencies that took part included Saatchi & Saatchi Focus, Contract Advertising, M&M Connect, R K Swamy BBDO, Nirvana Films, JWT, Stark Communications, DDB Mudra, Maxus, Dentsu, Disha Communications and Maitri.

"From being a state level competition, Pepper today has become the largest and most sought after creative awards in South India. We are proud to say that Pepper has become a platform for most creative agencies across South India to send in their entries, which will be judged by a neutral jury," says P K Natesh, chairman, Pepper Awards 2013. From next year, the awards will have a separate award category - 'Kerala Agency of the Year', he added.

Sandeep Nayar, president, The Advertising Club Cochin, says the club's endeavour was to make the creative award competition a globally benchmarked premium event.

For the first time this year, the awards accepted entries under TVC, Radio and Digital categories in a fully automated online platform. The entries under Press Campaign, DM, Outdoor, Collateral and others were accepted in physical formats as of now. Other categories in the competition included Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, Art Director of the Year, Copywriter of the Year, Special Jury Award, Campaign of the Year, Corporate AV, Viral Campaign, Film Craft, Radio Craft, POP, Photography, Packaging, Logo Design, Unpublished Works, PR and Promos. The awards also have an exclusive section for Kerala participants under categories such as Jewellery, Real Estate, Textile, Hospitality, Ayurveda and Others.