Indian agencies win 8 DMA International ECHO Awards, second only to US
OgilvyOne Worldwide leads the Indian charge with five ECHOs, M&C Saatchi picks up two awards, and NetCORE Solutions got one award
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 17, 2013
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) presented its 2013 International ECHO Awards last night in Chicago, USA. The event saw Indian agencies winning eight International ECHO Awards. OgilvyOne Worldwide led the Indian charge with five awards and M&C Saatchi picked up two. The eighth award was picked up by NetCORE Solutions.
The DMA International ECHO Awards Competition honours the world's best response marketing campaigns — campaigns that have raised the bar in terms of strategy, creativity and results. No other awards competition looks at the response marketing discipline in such totality.
ECHO affiliated DMAi Awards in its second year has provided a perfect launch pad to the Indian response marketing campaigns to reach the zenith of global recognition. The 2013 edition was vibrant with more brands getting into the fray. Over 70 brands and their agencies from India competed for the ECHO awards.
Speaking at the awards gala night, Vatsal Asher, CEO, DMAi, said, “We at DMAi are proud to have provided an international recognition platform and extremely excited to host our winning teams from India. Industry experts from across the world are sharing their thoughts and acknowledging the skills and the expertise being brought forward by the Indian teams. Today's wins should motivate more Indian agencies to step forward.”
Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept & Chair of DMAi India - ECHO Awards, said, “ECHO is a fitting recognition to the cause of result-oriented creativity in direct marketing. With the world increasingly measuring ROI and effectiveness in every campaign, ECHO rewards those direct marketing campaigns that delivered maximum impact in one-to-one communication in creativity and results. DMAi Awards with ECHO are proud to have laid the platform for result-driven marketing campaigns to be celebrated at the domestic level. We are grateful to all those who participated and congratulations to the winning agencies. Creativity in direct marketing has truly come of age in India.”
Vikram Menon, President & Country Head (India) of OgilvyOne Worldwide, which won five awards, said, “Eight metals at one of the toughest effectiveness shows in the world is terrific for India and the entire direct marketing community should be immensely proud. What makes this tally so much more rewarding is that it puts us right on top with the very best in the world. Considering the parameters for judging, these wins belong as much to marketing teams as they do to the communication teams and my heartiest congratulations to everyone involved. This is just the sort of impetus we need to further the cause of creatively driven data inspired marketing and DMA India.”
Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia, said excitedly, "I am delighted with yet another stellar performance by OgilvyOne at the International ECHO Awards. This reinforces our digital leadership, not just in India but at an international level."
OgilvyOne is India's largest digital agency and this also makes it the most awarded. The agency had earlier dominated the DMA Echo India awards by bagging several awards including Agency of the Year and the Grand Prix.
Burzin Mehta, Senior Creative Director, OgilvyOne, Mumbai, said, "These awards mean a lot because they are awarded by an international jury comprising clients, planners and creative people. If anyone needed proof that great work works great, I suppose this is it. This award belongs to a lot of people, so congratulations to everyone!"
Rakhshin Patel, Partner, M&C Saatchi, whose agency won two International ECHOs, said, “Over the years I have judged some stunningly creative, yet effective, work in India and I have always believed that India has the talent to not just match up to the world's best direct marketing standards, but in certain cases actually set the benchmark. This year, with India winning eight metals at the DMA ECHOs, it validates my belief that our industry has the talent to produce world beating creative work in the data driven marketing field. This recognition is a huge step forward for Direct Marketing in India and I congratulate the winning creative teams and their marketing partners for helping to propel India forward on the global direct marketing stage.”
Each year, ECHO entries include multichannel campaigns from the US and over 50 countries, including Australia, Argentina, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
2013 International ECHO Awards Winners from India
SILVER
Communications/Utilities
Client: Vodafone, India
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai
Campaign: Bringing Alive the Blackberry Boys on Social Media
Communications/Utilities
Client: Vodafone, India
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai
Campaign: Leads worth $700 mln unlocked at $5 per lead
Publishing/Entertainment
Client: Reliance Industries Limited
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai
Campaign: The Mumbai Indians
Retail/Direct Sales
Client: Vodafone, India
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai
Campaign: 30% more Vodafone employees are “Happy to Help”
2013 International ECHO Awards Winners from India
BRONZE
Automotive
Client: Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai
Campaign: Once Upon a Vespa
Consumer Products
Client: Hindustan Unilever Limited
Agency: NetCORE Solutions
Campaign: HUL Active Wheel – Rural Missed Call Campaign
Financial Products and Services
Client: Aditya Birla Money
Agency: M&C Saatchi
Campaign: Hastakshar Mudra
Financial Products and Services
Client: Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund
Agency: M&C Saatchi
Campaign: Laxmi Papad