Emvies 2012: Mindshare grabs fifth consecutive 'Best Media Agency of the Year' award

Madison Media - Pinnacle secured the second place while Maxus came third. Madison Media Infinity won the Grand Emvie.

Only one thing in this world can make Ravi Rao, leader, Mindshare South Asia don an oversized, shiny purple hat and blow into a bright red whistle while swaying his hips to the deafening beat of a gigantic drum: Winning the Best Media Agency of the Year Award for the fifth consecutive time!

Just like last year, Mindshare topped the list in the Emvies 2012 with a staggering 160 points. The agency's metals include four gold, seven silver and six bronze awards.

Mindshare won gold awards for its 'Fallen Angels' campaign for Axe Deodorant (in the Best Media Innovation - Out of Home category), 'VJ Jose Kidnapped' campaign for Axe Shower Gel (in the Best Media Innovation - Digital Video category), 'If Mornings Had An Aroma, It Would Be Coffee' campaign for Bru Gold (in the Best Media Innovation - Print category) and 'The Day You Were Born' campaign for HSBC (in the Best Media Innovation - Direct Marketing category).

For 'The Day You Were Born', Mindshare devised a plan where it could take specific corporate leaders back in time, to the day they were born. The agency tied up with The Times of India to come up with the exact replica of the front page of the national daily on the day each of the chosen business leaders were born. The front page was framed in a wooden frame with unbreakable glass and articles and pictures were recaptured as they were, giving a snapshot of how the world was on the day they were born.

A subtle message and branding was incorporated at the bottom with the message 'Remembering this special day'. The frames were packed in customised decorated boxes. The idea was to give them a glimpse into the state of the world on the most important day of their lives.

The innovation for Hindustan Unilever's Bru Gold was such that readers of The Sunday Times in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru, quite literally, 'woke up and smelled the coffee' while reading their morning paper, as each copy of the newspaper was sprayed with the smell of coffee.

Mindshare's silver awards were pulled in by its campaigns for Boost (in the Digital - Social Media and Digital - Video categories), Axe Shower Gel (in the TV and Branded Content categories), Kissan (in the Print and Events categories) and Pond's (for its 'Life is Beautiful - 66 Human Lives' Print innovation).

For its Kissanpur campaign, the agency executed an idea that targeted children by offering them an experience of growing tomatoes. This way, consumers were made to experience the process first hand and see how Kissan's ketchup is made from 100 per cent real tomatoes. The campaign was driven through print and digital media and supported by BTL activities. Tomato seeds were distributed along with newspapers and through school contact programmes people were encouraged to grow tomatoes.

And finally, Mindshare's bronze awards were pulled in by its campaigns for Kissan ('It's Jamlicious' innovation in the Best Media Innovation - Events category and 'Kissanpur' campaign in the Best Media Strategy - Consumer Products category), Slice (for the 'Seduction in a Bottle' campaign in the Digital - Display category), Knorr Soupy Noodles (for the 'Bheem ki Team' campaign in the TV category), Surf Excel (for its 'Movie in a movie' innovation for the movie Chillar Party, in the Cinema category) and Axe deodorant (for the 'Fallen Angels'campaign in the Ambient Media category).

Madison Media - Pinnacle finished second with 135 points. The agency's awards include six gold, four silver and one bronze. The gold awards were fetched by the agency's efforts for brand Cadbury; in the Best Media Strategy - Consumer Products category, the agency won golds for its 'Disconnect to Connect' campaign for Cadbury Celebrations and its 'The Sweet Art of Mishti War' campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk. It's 'Lonely Maa' and 'Democracy of Chocogulla' innovations won golds in the Digital - Video and Ambient Media categories, respectively. And the 'When Roshogulla turned Choco-golla' and 'Shubharambh' campaigns won golds in the Events and Best Ongoing Media Campaign categories, respectively.

Like last year, in the third place was Maxus, with 85 points. The agency won three gold, two silver and four bronze awards. The golds were for the brands Tanishq (Best Use of a Bollywood Celebrity in Media category), Tata Sky HD (Services category) and Titan Watches (Digital - Social Media category).

Madison Media Infinity secured the fourth place with 65 points (two gold, one silver and one bronze) and Lodestar UM finished fifth with 60 points (two gold and six bronze).

MEC and GroupM - Dialogue Factory occupied the sixth and seventh spots, with 55 and 45 points, respectively. Mediacom Communications came eighth (35 points), and in the ninth and tenth positions were Starcom Mediavest Group (35 points) and DDB Mudra Max (30 points), respectively.

The awards ceremony was held on September 3 in Mumbai, at the Taj Land's End.

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