Goafest ’24: Wavemaker and the ABP Group nab top honours at Media and Publisher Abbys

GroupM’s EssenceMediacom wins a Grand Prix.

Wavemaker, the media agency from WPP-owned GroupM, is the Media Agency of the Year at the 2024 Abby One Show Awards.

The agency beat 72 media agencies that participated in this year’s awards held during Goafest. This year saw 1,258 entries in the media category.

Wavemaker won a total of 16 metals including four gold, nine silver, and three bronze trophies. The four gold metals were for the agency’s work on Cadbury 5 Star and Cadbury Celebrations (two for each brand).

Initiative India, an IPG-owned media agency, stood second with two gold, four silver, and two bronze. The agency won the gold metals for its work on Amazon Prime Video and Sunfeast Yippee!.

In third place was 2023’s Media Agency of the Year – EssenceMediaCom. It was the only agency to win a Grand Prix for its work on Airtel 5G Plus alongside two gold, a silver, and two bronze metals.

Coming fourth was Mindshare – the Media Agency of the Year in 2022 – with a gold, two silver, and three bronze.

Day one of Goafest and the Abby One Show awards also saw ABP Pvt Ltd emerge as the Publisher of the Year – its second successive victory – with five metals that included gold, two silver, and two bronze.

The Hindu Group stood second with a gold, a silver, and three merits. Jagran Prakashan Ltd – the runner-up to the Publisher of the Year 2022 – came third with two bronze metals and two merits to its name.