In 2022, the organisers of ABBY, one of the oldest advertising awards shows in India, inked a partnership with The One Show. The One Show is one of the world’s most prestigious awards events in advertising, design and digital marketing. The ABBYs, held annually during the Goafest, had been facing a few credibility issues. This came to a head in 2013 when a bunch of scam work from a few agencies was exposed. This led to many top agencies pulling out of ABBY. Since then, the Advertising Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), which hosts the show, has been working on fool-proof mechanisms to restore standing to the event.
This year, top agencies from network companies like Mullen LoweLintas, Wunderman Thompson and McCann Worldwide Group India are making a comeback at the festival. ABBY One Show Awards 2023 attracted a total of 2,282 entries this year compared to 2,007 last year. Out of these, 736 entries have made it to the final round of metal and merit voting. The number of entries making it to the final round is around 32 percent, indicating tough One Show global norms for earning metals. This year, 181 companies entered the Creative ABBY 2023, of which 110 were shortlisted after the first two rounds.
Storyboard18 spoke to a few jury chairs to understand the quality of the work that was entered for ABBY this year and if those met their expectations.
ABBY = India’s premier advertising fest
Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, global CEO and co-founder of GOZOOP Group, was the jury chair for the Mobile category at the ABBY this year. Naqvi, who has been a jury member of various editions of ABBY, said, “The submissions truly showcased the highest level of creativity, innovation and strategic thinking in the Indian advertising industry. I must say that while the quantity in some of the categories has increased, the quality has remained of the same high standard that we expect at India’s premier advertising fest.”
He added, “The high quality of entries made the task of selecting the winners extremely challenging for the jury. It is a testament to the remarkable talent and competitiveness within the advertising community. Overall, the quality of entries and their competitiveness at this year’s ABBY awards was a reflection of the excellent work being done in the field of advertising in India, and a true celebration of creativity, strategy, and innovation.”
Cheering for small and local brands
Ashwini Deshpande, co-founder and director, Elephant Design, who was the jury chair of the Design category, said, “I have seen work done by smaller agencies for smaller and local brands winning in the design category at ABBY. This is rare in some of the other award shows. Maybe that is also an edge that ABBY has.”
Smaller, independent agencies feel the confidence to share their work in these awards along with the bigger, national or international agencies and brands. “Typically, the design jury consists of people with a lot of international experience of work and award juries. So the idea as well as craft are seen with a keen eye. We also make sure we discuss the impact,” she shared.
Keeping tokenism at bay
Pallavi Chakravarti, founder and chief creative officer of independent creative shop Fundamental, was the jury chair of the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion category. According to her, there were a few standout pieces that inspired envy, sparked debate and evoked strong emotions.
She told Storyboard18 that in the category Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, the jury panel set a few guardrails for themselves. “While it’s a creative show first and foremost, tokenism should not be tolerated, we were clear about this as a collective. The work needs to pass the sniff test of authenticity and not be exploitative or piggybacking on a good cause to further its own agenda. We looked for relevant subject matter, good brand fits, fresh ideas, sharp insights and arresting execution. The intent was to recognise work that can hopefully compete at the highest level and stand up to the scrutiny of juries around the world,” she explained.
Regional focus
PG Aditiya, co-founder and chief creative officer of independent creative agency Talented, was the jury chair of the Film category. He said the jury members were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of regional work. “When we see work from different parts of India where we don’t speak the language or don’t understand the culture fully, it helps everyone to open up their minds. It’s an interesting process to judge work that is not in English or Hindi.”
He further observed, “At ABBY you get to see work from every corner of the industry. From the biggest agencies and brands to local agencies and brands, everyone makes a sincere attempt to see what the ABBY stable looks like. That way you get to see the breadth of the industry. Personally, I find that fascinating.”
In a category like Film, Aditiya and his jury didn’t really see a lot of celebrity-driven work. He said there is a potential for agencies to make celebrity-led films sharper that can even make the cut at award shows like the ABBY.
Encouraging work
Sabyasachi Mitter, founder and managing director, ibs + Fulcro, was the jury chair of the Technology category. According to him, “The ABBYs is the pinnacle of advertising and creative recognition and is the best way to encourage talent at agencies to strive to put out great work.” Mitter had some mixed feelings about the entries in Technology category. “Overall, I believe the quality of work could be much better though the trend of the quality of work is encouraging. I would like agencies to push the boundaries of technology beyond using available platforms more in the coming years,” he opined.
He added that in a category like Technology which falls within the Creative ABBY, the jury members were looking for some clever and creative use of tech. “Some pieces of work scored very well on both these parameters and impressed the jury, while most others were either creative-led without a clear demonstration of technology usage or vice versa,” he concluded.