India, with 23 shortlists, leads the APAC Effies 2020

The Leo Group leads the way with six shortlists, the awards show will be held virtually this year in September.

Effie Asia Pacific has announced the list of finalists for its 2020 awards. There are 122 of them in total, hailing from 12 countries, and India leads the list with a total of 23 shortlists.

Leading the list is The Leo Group with a total of six shortlists. It received two shortlists each for Spotify India's 'There's a Playlist for that', Procter & Gamble's 'Bittu', and HDFC Bank's 'Stop Mithani'.

Following it is McCann Worldgroup India with five shortlists. Two of them belong to work done for Nestle India, 'Selling Coffee In A Tea Nation' and 'Ok, Nestle: Tell Me More About Food'. The remaining three shortlists went to Reckitt Benckiser India's 'Overcoming India's Toilet Divide', Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's 'The Controversial Contraceptives', and Healthcare at Home India's 'The Living Will'.

Next, with three shortlists, is Hindustan Unilever. Two are for 'Eesar Ek Ibadat' and one for 'Embracing Dirt As An Act Of Faith'.

Ogilvy and MullenLowe Lintas Group follow with two shortlist each. Ogilvy has two shortlists for Castrol India, 'Protecting the Real Engine of India' and 'Making An Expert Feel Like Expert'.

MullenLowe's two shortlists are for Unilever, 'Mobile Doctarni' and 'Germ Nashini'.

The remaining went to Infectious Advertising for UltraTech Cement's 'BaatGharKi (Let's Talk Home)', Havas Worldwide India for Reckitt Benckiser India's 'Right To Orgasm', GREY for Gillette India's 'Barbershop Girls', WATConsult for SBI Life Insurance's 'Thanks A Dot', and 82.5 Communications for Bisleri International's 'Intelligent Know The Difference'.

These finalists were shortlisted after four days of judging by some 90 jury members. The final round of judging was moved online and was done via video conferencing due to the COVID – pandemic. The Awards Gala, which was scheduled to take place in May 2020, will now happen in September 2020 in the form of a virtual awards ceremony.