Partha Sinha, Rana Barua, Ajay Kakar reveal the best aspects of ABBYs 2023

Stage is set for the 2023 edition of Goafest, the largest advertising festival in South Asia, to be held from May 24 to 26. Co-hosted by AAAI and The Advertising Club, Goafest 2023 will be held at the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa. The event includes the 54th edition of the ABBY's, an esteemed awards ceremony recognising creative excellence in advertising for over 50 years. With over 2,000 industry professionals attending, Goafest offers a unique blend of knowledge sharing, networking, and celebration.

In its 16th edition, Goafest is taking creativity to new heights with the theme ‘The Future of Creativity is Here!’ This year’s festival explores the exciting possibilities brought by technological advancements such as machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing. These innovations are expanding the boundaries of creativity, and tools like virtual and augmented reality (VR & AR) are enabling immersive and interactive experiences that bridge the gap between physical and digital realms.

The prestigious ABBY Awards, recognised as the premier accolades for Creativity, Media, and Communication, have once again partnered with The One Show, the world’s most esteemed award program. This collaboration aims to elevate global standards in judging, jury selection, and transparency, further enhancing the already revered ABBY Awards.

On extending the partnership with The One Show, Partha Sinha, President Times of India Group and President of The Advertising Club, said, “On the one hand, we have an industry-owned award that represents the voice of the industry, and on the other, we have a global partner who understands this game and has been a part of the high stakes for several years. Therefore, as a result, we have a platform, ABBY One Show, which is neither owned by a select few, nor does it contain any bias, nor does it provide privilege to anyone. At the same time, quality and standards are truly international. The association with The One Show has already started yielding huge dividends this year and going forward, this will only continue to multiply.”

This year, there will be 10 knowledge-sharing masterclasses, the highest number till date. Increased participation from advertisers is also expected in this edition. “The Awards’ stature has changed dramatically,” pointed out Sinha. He further added, “Whatever wins at ABBYs, wins at Cannes; we saw an example last year. The same trend will follow this year too. If we are celebrating excellence, then excellence must be of a global standard today.”

Sinha noted, “India is globally competitive in every field. If you hear our Prime Minister speaking, every second of his speeches compares India, globally. Therefore, we are not less competitive than anyone else in the world. We take honour in calling ourselves the voice of the industry, the representatives of this industry. We also represent excellence in this market at a global standard.”

This year, The Advertising Club is witnessing several agencies returning to ABBY Awards after years. Commenting on this, Ajay Kakar, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club & Co-chair, The ABBYs Award Governing Council, said, “McCann, MullenLowe Lintas Group, Wunderman Thompson, Creativeland Asia, etc., have returned. They choose to enter the ABBY One Show because, as the president rightly noted, winning here will be a great stepping stone to winning at Cannes or One Show or other international forums.”

When asked about the entries received from agencies for ABBYs 2023, Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India & Chairman, The ABBYs Award Governing Council, said, “I have been working closely with Partha for two years and started this journey last year by restaging the ABBYs. As compared to 54, last year, this year 63 media agencies have participated. Additionally, 181 creative agencies have participated this year against 142 last year. Looking at both creative and media output, both have had higher entries this year: on the one hand, creative agencies have had 2,282 entries this year compared to 2,007 last year. On the other hand, media agencies accounted for 1,019 entries this year against 1,014 last year. This year, the number of entries was 3,301 versus last year’s, which was a cumulative count of three years, which was 3,021.”

ABBY Awards has introduced new sub-categories in Digital Technology, Mobile, Design, and Audio Technology. The Radio category has transformed into the Audio category, and new sub-categories have been added, including Use of Music, Sound Design, Script, Casting, Performance, Audio Technology, Voice Activation, Branded Content, Podcasts, and Content placement. These additions reflect the evolving landscape and creative trends in the industry.

About the new award categories at ABBY 2023, Ajay Kakar pointed out, “In the creative category, there are seven broad categories. However, this year we have made some changes, to remain relevant and contemporary, representing a fast-evolving industry. What was earlier called Print, we have changed to Still, further sub divided as Still Print and Still Digital. What used to be called Films, we have now recognised as Audio-visual; this now includes TV, Cinema, Digital, OTT, etc. But we have further divided it into two subcategories. Above 1 minute and below 1 minute. This is because we know that films are made with different perspectives, for the Tv medium, versus the online medium. Additionally, the Radio category is now rechristened as Audio. It is not just a name change but is meant to accommodate new categories like podcasts. So this year we have widened the Category and sub categories to represent the new world and emerging media. Then of course we have the Out Of Home and Integrated categories.”

Barua added here, “We have rejigged the categories too with the addition of sharper categories based on the current times and a category dedicated to youngsters, called the ‘Young Maverick’. This award is to recognise and reward the work of people under 30 years of age.”

The ‘Young Maverick ABBY Award’ is aimed at inspiring and motivating young creative professionals. This category aims to recognise and promote the work of the new generation of talent in the advertising industry. Starting this year, the Young Maverick ABBY Award will celebrate emerging talent and disruptive ideas that young mavericks are pushing beyond conventional boundaries in advertising.

To judge these entries, ABBYs has a diverse set of Jury Chairs. About onboarding the Jury Chairs, Barua said, “When you look at the Jury Chairs, you must feel proud because some of them are the biggest names in international advertising. If somebody is knowledgeable in a particular domain, we have contacted and invited them to be Jury Chairs.”

The current list of Jury Chairs includes, Nick Law, Wesley ter Haar, Prajato Guha Thakurta, Avinash Pandey, Valerie Pinto, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Ashwini Deshpande, Emmanuel Upputuru, Sabyasachi Mitter, Bobby Pawar, P G Aditiya, Guneet Monga, Mangesh Rane, Russell Barrett, Mandie van der Merwe, Pallavi Chakravarti and Rajdeepak Das, among others.

Commenting on the diverse Jury Chairs, Ajay Kakar said, “Last year, with the onboarding of One Show, many agencies and stalwarts associated with the Abbys as Jury chairs and Jury members. You will appreciate that lending your name as a jury is a very substantial statement because individuals don't lend their names easily unless they are convinced about the award platform. This year we have got a very inclusive set of Jury chair, that represent world-class, today, be they from global networks or Indian agencies, be they from large agencies, or newer agencies, and specialists. On one hand, we have Mandie van der Merwe and on the other, we have Nick Law and Wesley ter Haar; internationally renowned and toasted names. They have been chosen to serve as Jury Chairs for ABBY One Show 2023 and have happily invested their time and expertise. Additionally, we have a mix of seasoned and young celebrated professionals as Jury Chair; Prajato Guha Thakurta and P G Aditya are young, but their work has received the same level of recognition as that of the masters. We also have veterans like Bobby Pawar, Russell Barrett as well as Rajdeepak Das. Furthermore, coincidentally, we also have two Jury Chairs who have also been invited by Cannes this year, as Jury. And we have Guneet Monga who has won recognition for her craft and the country, at the Oscars. Among 23 Jury Chair, 7 are women, approx. 33%. We believe that an award is as good as the jury who judge it. With that definition, we have the most coveted Jury Chairs and Jury members, representing a diverse range of international, Indian, young, and experienced veterans.”

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