Digital Asia Festival Awards: Seven Indian shortlists

While ibs' two shortlisted entries are for Tata Docomo, Interactive Avenues, Starcom MediaVest Group, PHD, Publicis Communications and MEC India have one entry each.

Seven Indian entries have been shortlisted for The Digital Asia Festival Awards, this year. The awards, in their seventh year, recognise the best digital marketing communications in the Asia Pacific region. This year, the awards jury, comprising 40 people from client marketer, digital media practitioner and agency strategist profiles, is presided by Jason Kuperman, vice-president, Omnicom Digital Asia Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa.

The Digitial Asia Festival Awards received about 506 entries this year, based on strategy, creativity and innovation, execution and results. Of these, 80 entries were shortlisted. There are three jurists from India this time.

Interactive Avenue's work on eBay titled 'There's always a first time with eBay' has been nominated in the Search category.

ibs has two of its works nominated, both for Tata Docomo. The campaign titled 'Hyper Personalisation - The World's First CRM powered personalised web banner' has been shortlisted in the Display, Banner & Other Rich Media and Digital Media Innovation categories.

Samsung India Electronics' 'Who needs a remote control?', which was executed by Starcom MediaVest Group, also made it in the Display, Banner & Other Rich Media category shortlist.

PHD's campaign 'Goodlife Club' for Hindustan Unilever has been nominated under Loyalty Campaign category.

Under Viral Marketing, Email Marketing, including E-Cards category, Nestle India's 'Sunrise Challenging the convention' created by Publicis Communication has also made the cut.

Colgate Palmolive India's 'Are U Fresh Enuf: World's First Talent Reality Show on Social Media' has been shortlisted in the Pharmaceutical, Beauty Products, Cosmetics & Toiletries category. The campaign was conceptualised and executed by MEC India.

Meera Sharath Chandra, one of the jury members and founder CEO and CCO, Tigress Tigress, says that she found this year's entries seamlessly integrating technology into the creative leap, turning the communication into truly refreshing and engaging consumer experiences. "Several of the shortlists had started with a fabulous consumer insight and market/media opportunity that had never been explored before. We saw a lot of first-of-its-kind innovations and we could see technology playing along beautifully with the big idea. That's a very encouraging sign."

Echoing similar thoughts, Ashok Lalla, another jurist and global head, digital marketing, Infosys, says, "The work that stood out for me was based on a single sharp insight and a strong idea - simply presented and well executed. Several entries made me go, 'Aha...wish I had thought of it'!"

The winners will be announced on November 18.