Goafest 2013 slated for April 5-6

The festival theme is 'Just what you unexpected'. This year there will be a Grand Prix for all nine verticals – Film, Print, Radio, Out-of-Home, Ambient, Design, Interactive Digital, Direct and Integrated

Shachi Tapiawala | Mumbai | January 11, 2013

The Goafest Committee yesterday announced that Goafest 2013 will be held on April 5 and 6 at the Zuri White Sands in Goa. The Media Abbys will be held on April 5 – together with Digital, Design and Direct. The Creative Abbys will be held on April 6. This year the festival theme is 'Just what you unexpected'.

Continuing with changes that were introduced in 2012, this year there will be a Grand Prix for all nine verticals – Film, Print, Radio, Out-of-Home, Ambient, Design, Interactive Digital, Direct and Integrated.

The Advertising Conclave will be held, as per tradition, a day before Goafest – on April 4. The Conclave will have speakers from client organisations sharing their perspective on the advertising industry.

(L-R) Nakul Chopra, Arvind Sharma and Shashi Sinha

“For Goafest 2013 our focus will be to strengthen the excellent new initiatives that were launched last year,” said Nakul Chopra, Chairman, Goafest Committee. “Last year we opened Goafest to all nations in South Asia and we also brought strong client participation through the Marketing Wizards initiative. Our endeavour this year is to further expand and grow these initiatives – apart from of course celebrating creativity and excellence.”

Arvind Sharma, President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), commented, “Goafest is a festival for all in South Asia who are involved in creating ideas. Be it other countries in the region, the marketing fraternity or other allied professionals who participate in creating ideas – we want them all to equally own and participate in Goafest. We are taking a virtual conference/road show to neighbouring South Asian countries to increase awareness for Goafest and invite active participation.”

With regard to international participation, the property plans to include Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to their fantastic work, informed Sharma.

Last year Goafest saw the introduction of Marketing Wizards, an initiative whereby young client delegates could not only avail of the special under-30-years delegate fees but were also provided free accommodation. Over 70 delegates from client organisations availed themselves of this offer. This year Goafest is targeting 150.

In addition, Goafest will continue to have strong participation from senior clients in the Knowledge seminars. “Clients are our equal partners in creating ideas – we naturally strive to have their equal participation in Goafest both as speakers and delegates. This year we aim to attract participation from over 75 client organisations and hopefully over 250 people will attend. We expect more than 3,500 delegates this year as we have experienced an increase in participation by 10-15 per cent every year,” said Chopra.

For the 6^th consecutive year, AAAI and The Advertising Club will come together to deliver India's premier advertising awards that celebrate creativity. “We have a well-oiled and extremely robust process now in place for the awards. We will bring on board improvements from our past learnings and continue to follow the stringent and now well accepted norms for the Abby's in 2013,” said Shashi Sinha, President, The Advertising Club, and Chairman of the Awards Governing Council, the joint body of AAAI and The Ad Club that runs the awards.

The Abby's will continue to be open to all who want to participate – and membership of AAAI or The Advertising Club is not required. “Last year we had over 225 organisations that sent entries; this year we hope to cross 250,” informed Sinha.

Shachi@BestMediaInfo.com

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