MMA India hosted SMARTIES 2022 to celebrate the future of marketing

Acclaimed as the crème de la crème of marketing awards, MMA India’s SMARTIES 2022 honoured the most innovative and effective modern marketing campaigns at ITC Grand Maratha in Mumbai. MMA India, part of MMA Global, the only not-for-profit marketing trade body, concluded the 11th edition of SMARTIES. This year, SMARTIES got smarter to recognize the smartest from the goldmine of marketing and advertising talent that exists in the country. 

The refreshed SMARTIES this year received a record number of entries and was 50% higher than all previous years put together. A total of 88 metals were handed over at SMARTIES whilst 20% of the total entries received made it to the shortlist across 28 categories. The refreshed SMARTIES this year has introduced the Diversity & Inclusion category and unveiled SMARTIES NFT for the first time.

Cadbury took home a total of 19 Awards across AR/VR, Voice & Audio, Programmatic, Gaming, and Social Media categories. Metaverse, which is the next big thing, was also a separate category at SMARTIES wherein Bharti Airtel and Alpenliebe bagged Gold and Bronze Awards respectively. Sunlight Unilever won ‘Most Resilient Brand of the year’. Mondelez India Food Pvt Ltd. and Cadbury Celebrations were felicitated with the title ‘Marketer of the Year’ and ‘Brand of the Year’ respectively. 

‘Media Agency of the Year’ was won by Wavemaker India and Ogilvy was awarded the creative agency of the year. Other industry awards featured Amazon Ads as publisher of the year and there was a tie in the ‘Enabling tech company of the year’ category in which Affle & Rephrase ai sweeped the metals. All SMARTIES winners will be listed and ranked in the MMA Business Impact Index, which uses a proprietary methodology developed in collaboration with WARC to recognize the best-of-the-best in the Advertising and Marketing industry. It is  the first and only global modern marketing index that identifies, ranks and awards top agencies, advertisers, brands and solution providers driving significant business impact.

MMA SMARTIES brought together the most notable marketing thought leaders of the industry to judge and present the same to winners. 

Moneka Khurana, Country Head & Board Member, MMA India said “Year after year, I am astounded by the innovative campaigns that the ecosystem collaboratively is putting keeping in mind that today’s consumer wants personalisation but with privacy, purpose but with competitive value, options with a deep connection with the brand and at the heart of everything a complete experience, not just the product. Web 3.0 / AR & VR are being touted as a game-changer in modern marketing. It is heartening how some marketers have aced these trends through their innovative and exemplary work at SMARTIES, bringing together agencies, marketers, publishers and tech-enabler under one roof, showcasing the future of marketing excellence. We hope these winning campaigns will inspire many more in the industry to champion such work and get featured in the most coveted business impact index released based on SMARTIES results.”

Amit Jain, Jury Chair, SMARTIES 2022 and Managing Director, L'Oréal India said, "Modern marketing recognizes that transactions are different from interactions. To build loyalty, it’s critical for brands to be closer, personal, and pervasive with the consumers. I am delighted that the new tribe of marketers is thinking of ways to improve brand affinity rather than just market share. SMARTIES 2022 provides a forum to recognize such marketing mastery. My heartfelt appreciation to all the participants at SMARTIES this year."

Rohit Dadwal, MMA Board Member and Managing Director, APAC, MMA APAC further added ‘’This year SMARTIES witnessed the most phenomenal works by major brands and agencies across the marketing spectrum. As anticipated, SMARTIES 2022 (MMA India) was Bigger, Better and Smarter with flaming talent within the halls of the gala. We hope this will only inspire marketers and help recognize geniuses in the space.’’

The esteemed jury panel that selected the winners comprised Amit Jain, Managing Director, L'Oréal India and Jury Chair, Rohit Dadwal, MMA Board Member and Managing Director APAC, MMA APAC, Moneka Khurana, Country Head & Board Member, MMA India, Deepa Krishnan, Director Marketing, Tata Starbucks Pvt Ltd., Om Jha, Associate Director, Media, Pepsico, Swati Rathi, Marketing Head, Godrej Appliances, Ajay Dang, President, Head- Marketing, Ultratech Cement- An Aditya Birla Group Company, Vipul Mathur, Vice President, Ecom and Modern Trade, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Deepali Naair, Chief Marketing Officer, IBM India & South Asia, Arvind RP, Director of Marketing and Communications, McDonald’s India, Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Britannia Industries Ltd and so on.