Another advertising award ceremony went through with a lot of fizz in Glamour Goa. Here are some of our own awards:
I’m sure you’re now tired of all the nice things being said about Goafest. That it was a superhit (yes, it was). That the industry rocks despite the recession (yes, it does). That beer is the official drink of India’s creative boys and girls (yes, it is). That people come to Goafest for fun and not for lectures and the like (unfortunately, there’s some truth in it).
That it took some goras to be the star attractions at Goafest and no desi biggies (am sure some heavy duty Indian advertiser/CEO would’ve been super too). That no one cared a fig about the disgust over the leaks of the Creative Abby (no mention at the awards, no statement whatsoever of any one save at the press conference when asked… hurray!).
Since we all love accolades, I humbly present The Goafies, a tongue-in-cheek honours list of the 10 things I noted at Goafest 2009.
The ‘Yes, We Can’ Goafie for Achieving the Impossible: To the Goafest managing committee. Many thought it would be a flop show. But it was the united effort of some of the bosses that made it happen.
Three cheers!
The Concise Oxford Dictionary Goafie for the most spoken word at Goafest: Recession! The theme had it, everyone’s was talking about it… in fact the first thing you asked a friend who you’re meeting after a long time was: “So how’s the recession treating you?”
The Biggest Scare of Goafest 2009 Goafie: To Piyush Pandey for going on record with the statement that Ogilvy would not participate in the Abby. I don’t have the final count, but I’m told it was somewhere between 650 and 800.
The Aamir Khan Goafie for the Best Resolve to stay away from Awards: To R Balakrishnan of course. Balki’s resolve to have Lowe Lintas not participate in the Abby gets him this coveted honour.
The Bharatiya Janata Party Goafie for sporting saffron: To the team at Redifffusion. Obviously (and hopefully), not intentional, and one is aware that saffron or orange aren’t the prerogative of only the BJP or Shiv Sena, but in the election season, that’s the last of the colours one would’ve liked to see at Goafest.
The M-Seal Goafie for not plugging obvious holes in the system: To the Advertising Club Bombay. It eventually appeared that no one really cared about the awards leak. The jury wasn’t, there was no statement of regret made at the awards presentation.
The Cabernet Shiraz ‘Grapes are Sour’ Goafie: To all those journos who damn The Economic Times for leaking the Abby report for the second consecutive year. I may misjudge the nobility of my tribe, but there’s no way a journalist who gets an authenticated leak of the country’s highest creative honour will not carry it. I’m not sure if I would give it the premium status that ET gave, but that’s the editor’s call. I would’ve anchored it.
The Goafie for the Last-Minute Switch: To the Goafest Committee for dumping Vaishnavi PR and awarding the PR account to JWT’s group PR company IPAN.
The Freedom Fighter Goafie award for collecting freebies: To the unknown delegate. Can I have the Discovery bag? No, I want the T-shirt? The number of people clamouring for the goodies being handed out by sponsors was unbelievable. I even saw a duo jumping with joy on finding a drinks booklet on the pathway.
The Kingfisher Goafie for the Best Consumer: To the Indian advertising professional. A counter attendant told me he had uncorked 300 bottles of beer on a single day! The weather of course ensures you are on a liquid diet, but the following question surely set me thinking: “”Tell me Sir, why do advertising people drink so much?” Hehehe!
IPL2
The countdown has begun for the second edition of the Indian Premier League. And although the tournament managers faced some rough bowling from the government and finally moved base to South Africa, there’s enough excitement about the event that starts on Saturday.
What remains to be seen is if the team managements make enough monies from gate collections and the promotional frills that add colour to an event of this nature. Meanwhile, it’s an interesting wait-and-watch game for media players. For instance, all channels – GECs and news channels especially – will hope that the IPL fever eases and doesn’t impact their ratings very much this time around.
With on and off-field encounters shifting to the Rainbow Nation, the electronic and print media covering the event will need to balance costs with the attraction of pulling in more consumers. Remember, many of them are already spending a fortune on newsgathering for the elections. But that’s how the business is. Spend more and hope to earn more.
Pradyuman Maheshwari is group chief editor, exchange4media.com and impact. The views expressed are his own. This column is published by arrangement with exchange4media.com. Email pradyumanm@exchange4media.com