Rakhshin Patel to be the Jury Chairperson for the local ECHO

The premier DMA International ECHO Awards Competition will be brought to India by DMAi paving way for the 3rd time in a row for Indian agencies to shine in the global arena. The international competition honors the world's best response marketing campaigns that have raised the bar in terms of strategy, creativity and results.  Over 70 agencies and 140 brands have participated earlier and the local ECHO in India continues to grow with each passing year. For the last two years the award was held in conjunction with the DMAi’s annual convention but from this year onwards as a growing project it has been made into an independent property.

Vatsal Asher - Director & CEO, DMAi announced “Rakhshin Patel has been elected as the Jury Chair, and Ajay Chandwani will be the program chair for the third term. OgilvyOne has been entrusted with the creative duties & Urja Interactive appointed as the digital agency. With 8 medals at the 2013 International ECHO - the highest by any country outside of the US and the very special arrangement with the International ECHO; the already credible local ECHO awards program this year is going to be irresistible for marketers & agencies in India. Indian work has come to age and can compete with the worlds best. I look forward to agencies and marketers stepping up to this invitation.”

At DMAi’s recently held advisory board meet at Mumbai, Ms. Rakhshin Patel (Partner - M&C Saatchi) was elected as the Jury Chairperson. Ajay Chandwani (Director, Percept & Strategic Brand Consultant) will continue to serve as the Chairperson for the third straight term for the DMAi local ECHO Awards program. As an outcome of a multi-agency pitch that was underway for months, the DMAi has assigned creative duties to OgilvyOne and digital duties to Urja Interactive for its awards program.

Speaking at her appointment Rakhshin Patel - Partner - M&C Saatchi said,  “I am delighted to be a part of the DMAi local ECHO program. ECHO is the oldest and most prestigious response based marketing award. The ECHO awards the best of the best work in direct and digital. Work that demonstrates creative solutions to marketing problems, changes behavior and generates measurable and extraordinary results. I urge the creative and marketing fraternities, who have been doing some amazing work in the direct and digital space, to reward their hard work and smart thinking and send in their entries this year. To win an ECHO is the ultimate honor in today’s engagement and response driven world. If you don’t have an ECHO, your awards shelf is incomplete.”

OgilvyOne is capturing the essence of the program in a refreshing new way under the umbrella branding of “CREATEFFECT” derived from using the words Creativity and Effectiveness together. Urja Interactive will bring it to life on the DMAi & external digital properties. There will be 15 Business Categories for the Effectiveness awards. Simultaneously, like last year, there will be the added category of creative effectiveness at the DMAi Awards program. The program changes in 2014 have necessitated media innovation category to be dropped and will be spanned off as independent programs. In addition, networks and holding companies will start accruing points across from now & other to be announced DMAi award programs and will be recognized separately.

Ajay Chandwani - Director, Percept & Strategic Brand Consultant on his appointment for the 3rd straight term as the local ECHO program chairperson commented, “ECHO is the Global Oscar of Effective Smart Marketing which was earlier called Direct Marketing. A lot of Direct Marketing is today digital and pervades all media. While one to one communication is the hallmark of Direct Marketing, ECHO captures this evolution of Direct Marketing to Smart, Effective result-oriented Marketing. Many global creative greats value the ECHO more than any other Award because of its association with marketing results. Clients and agency networks flaunt the ECHO with equal pride. My task is to raise the bar on ECHO in India and get the creative and the marketing industry to embrace it with the same affinity as their global counterparts”

The dates of the local ECHO have been planned in conjunction with the International ECHO so Indian agencies can maximize on the benefits from the arrangement. Entry submissions will be accepted from Mar 19,2014 and an early bird price till Mar 31 is available. Last date for submissions is April 14, 2014. All submissions are to be made online. The final round jury meet is on April 23 at Mumbai.

The defending champions of the title “Agency of the Year” are OgilvyOne. The Agency of the Year program commenced last year will enter its second year and the winner is derived by way of aggregate points basis the number of awards won. Gold winners at the local ECHO bypass and go straight to round 2 of the international ECHO thereby increasing their chances to win internationally. The glittering DMAi awards gala is scheduled for April 29 at Mumbai.