Emvies 2011: Mindshare crowned Best Media Agency of the Year, yet again

This is the fourth consecutive year that Mindshare has won the Best Media Agency of the Year Award. Lodestar UM finished second and Maxus secured the third place. Mediacom Communications won the Grand Emvie.

The Emvies 2011 award ceremony was, like last year's award ceremony, held at the Taj Land's End at Bandra, Mumbai. And, like last year, the agency that galloped away with the Best Media Agency of the Year award is none other than Mindshare. This the fourth consecutive time that Mindshare has won this coveted award.

Mindshare won with a whopping 160 points. The agency bagged three gold, eight silver and seven bronze awards. Mindshare won gold awards for its 'Your Trusted Beauty Companion' campaign for Be Beautiful (in the category of Best Media Innovation -- Digital; sub-category -- Mobile), its 'India Bleeds Blue!' campaign for Nike (in the category of Best Media Innovation -- Digital; sub-category -- Web), and the 'Changing the Game...for Youth, Cricket and Pepsi' campaign for Pepsi (in the category of Best Integrated campaign).

Mindshare's silver awards were pulled in by its campaigns for Surf Excel (one silver for 'The ROI on infusing UGC with Scale', and two silvers for the Little Big Film Maker campaign), Fritolay (India's first ever property tracker for Sponsorship Evaluation), Lay's (Lay's Ka Anna Hazare Kaun?), Pepsi (Top Indian cricketers quit before the ICC World Cup 2011!), and Cervarix (The Three Hour Commercial and Sculpting A Script for Humanity).

Mindshare's bronzes were pulled in by its campaigns for Kwality Walls (two awards for Cornetto 'Luv Reels'), HSBC Premier (Around the World:The HSBC Premier Way), Idea Cellular (pocket translator and First Language Blackout on 6th October 2010), Quaker Oats (Super Cops), and Pepsi.

Lodestar UM finished second with 110 points; the agency bagged two gold, two silver and 12 bronze awards. Lodestar UM's golds were fetched by its efforts for Amul -- one gold was for its 'Amul takes the road less travelled' campaign, in the Best Media Strategy-Consumer Products category, while the other gold was for its 'Tasty Dish Verna Game Finish' campaign for Amul MasterChef India in the Best Media Innovation-Branded/Scripted Content category. Lodestar UM's silvers were fetched by its work on Mastermind 360 (A Guide to Contact Point Planning) and Durex (World AIDS Day Song).

In third place is Maxus, with 70 points. Though Maxus didn't bag any golds this time, the agency managed to win four silver and six bronze awards. All of Maxus' silvers were for its media efforts for the same client -- Tata Sky. The agency's 'We Mixed India! A content swapping story' campaign for Tata Sky won silvers in the categories of Best Media Strategy -- Services, Best Media Innovation -- TV, and Best Integrated Campaign. Maxus' Angrez Ki Pathshala campaign for Tata Sky won a silver in the category of Best Media Innovation-Radio.

Mediacom Communications secured fourth place with 65 points. Mediacom Communications also won the prestigious Grand Emvie for its talking newspaper innovation for Volkswagen Vento.

Madison Media Infinity and Mudra Max secured the fifth and sixth positions with 60 and 45 points, respectively.

GroupM-Dialogue Factory (seventh place) and Madison Media Plus (eight place) got 15 points each, while Interface Business Solutions (ninth position) got 10 points. With five points each were JWT (10th place), MEC (11th place), and ZenithOptimedia India (12th place).

Organised by the Ad Club of Bombay, the Emvies judge the strategies and innovations carried out by media agencies.

This year, 118 entries, across 19 categories, were shortlisted for case study presentations, that were held in Mumbai over three days -- August 16, 17, 18.