Five Indians to be on WARC 2013 jury

In 2012, three out of 14 jurors were Indian marketing professionals.

The third edition of the Warc Prize for Best Asian Strategy has announced its final list of jurors. Of the 18 members of the jury, five are Indian marketing professionals, while Partha Sinha, managing partner, BBH India, is the only one from an advertising agency.

The four other Indian jurors who represent brands in the judging panel are Ajay Kakar, chief marketing officer, financial services, Aditya Birla Group; Siddhartha Loiwal, head, marketing development and strategy, Marico; Rohini Miglani, director, brand building, integrated communication, P&G Asia; and B V Pradeep, VP, consumer and market insight for D&E markets, Unilever.

Leanne Cutts, vice-president, marketing, Mondelez International Asia Pacific, will chair a judging panel of senior marketers and strategy experts from around the world.

The jury of Warc Prize 2012 had 14 members, of which three were Indians. They were Amitava Chattopadhyay of L'Oreal Chaired Professor in marketing innovation and creativity, INSEAD Singapore; Freddy Bharucha, head, marketing, P&G Asia, Procter & Gamble; and Viral Oza, director, marketing, Nokia India.

The award recognises great strategic thinking - the ability to turn insight into breakthrough marketing ideas that transform brands. This year, the marketing intelligence service has increased the prize fund to a total of US$10,000, about $3,000 more than last year's amount. In 2011, the amount was $5,000.

This time, in addition to the $5,000 Grand Prix for Asia's best strategy case study, Warc has introduced five $1,000 special awards for brands and agencies responding to Asia's biggest strategic challenges.

In addition to the regular prizes, 2013 entrants will also compete for five special awards, and the winners will each receive $1,000 cash prize. These awards will be for strategic challenges.

Warc will adopt a gold/silver/bronze award structure to recognise entries that score highly with the judges.

Interestingly, five out of 16 winners of Warc 2012 were Indian entrants. Also, 27 per cent of the total entries were from India. In Warc 2011, three out of the total 10 finalists were Indian entries.