BestMediaInfo has announced the winners of its much-awaited first edition of India TV Presents Rising Star Awards 2021.
The one-and-a-half-hour virtual awards gala was held in the evening of August 10, 2021, amid the presence of over 200 live audiences at any given point in time.
Generally, it is the senior management of media agencies who are presented with top honours at any awards function. But for the first time in the history of advertising and marketing, BestMediaInfo curated an award IP that specifically honours young and budding achievers working in the field of media strategy across brand marketing teams and agencies (media, digital, consulting firms).
The esteemed jury consisting of 11 industry heads and media strategy veterans picked up winners across 12 business categories and 7 special categories. The jury selected one Winner and 'Finalists' in each category. While the Winners went home with a ‘High Chair’ each, the Finalists were given away certificates as a token of appreciation. The Finalists were close enough but couldn’t win the coveted title by a tiny margin.
Below is the list of the Winners and Finalists in each category:
Entrant |
Company |
Work Title |
Award |
Category: Automobile |
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Rahul Dattaram Shinde |
Havas Media |
#ThankYouIndianTruckers – A Tata Motors Initiative |
Finalist |
Rahul Bharadwaj |
Skoda India |
Škoda Single Wicket |
Finalist |
Abhay Sawhney |
Initiative |
MG Motor ZS EV Launch - #ChangeWhatYouCan |
High Chair |
Category: Banking, Finance, Insurance & Fintech |
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Pradnya Adhikari |
Interactive Avenues |
Citibank Credit Card - Using ‘Bolder & Smarter Approach’ |
Finalist |
Vishesh Sharma |
Angel Broking |
Campaign on Muhurat Trading - ‘Shagun Ke Shares’ |
Finalist |
Devyani Bhaskar |
Wavemaker India |
How I Used ‘Output to Outcome’ Planning to Re-launch a Brand |
High Chair |
Category: Consumer Durables (White Goods, Appliances and Mobiles) |
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Jankana Kaul |
Natter |
Havells Led Ramlila |
Finalist |
Vikram Simhan |
Wavemaker India |
Addressing Challenges of a Cookie-less World by Building APAC’s First Data Clean Room for Nokia Mobiles, an Industry First Project |
Finalist |
Prachi Kelkar |
Wavemaker India |
How Change in Strategic Approach Changed the Game for Eureka Forbes Aquaguard (EFL) |
High Chair |
Category: eCommerce |
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Srinivas Seshadri |
Interactive Avenues |
Tanishq Festive Campaign |
Finalist |
Asha Surendran |
Wavemaker India |
#SoundtrackYourFitness with Myntra and its Athleisure Paltan |
Finalist |
Abhishek Goyal |
OrComm APL |
Gramophone Uday |
High Chair |
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle |
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Ranjana Pawar |
Wavemaker India |
Expediting the Digital Transformation Journey of Natural Diamond Council |
Finalist |
Vikas Kumar |
Wavemaker India |
UCB Takes Charge for the World’s Biggest Democratic Elections in 2019 |
High Chair |
Category: FMCG & Retail |
|||
Nupur Jain |
Initiative |
Unlocking Harpic's Mission |
Finalist |
Adhir Anand |
Wavemaker India |
Not Just a Cadbury Ad |
Finalist |
Faheem Merchant |
Wavemaker India |
Making India Generous Again - One Thank You at a Time |
High Chair |
Category: Media & Entertainment |
|||
Karishma Kakar |
Mid-day |
Launch of the Mid-day Digital Tabloid - India's First Interactive Digital Tabloid |
Finalist |
Veeraraghavan Sundararajan |
Wavemaker India |
Netflix Quarantine Weekend - Free Access Only for 2 Days |
Finalist |
Nitasha Seth |
Netflix India |
Netflix Matchmaker |
High Chair |
Category: Travel & Hospitality |
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Twinkle Bhatia |
Hyper Connect Communications |
SodaBottleOpenerWala: Creating a Social Media Icon 'Rustom' |
Finalist |
Category: Real Estate |
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Rahul Raheja |
Columbia Pacific Communities |
LoveBeyondAge |
Finalist |
Category: Education |
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Gaurav Tyagi |
Interactive Avenues |
Unacademy Lets Crack It – Launch Campaign and Unacademy Prodigy Campaign |
High Chair |
Category: Telecommunications & IT |
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Umesh Khandelwal |
Wavemaker India |
Vodafone-Idea Phone-line with Google Assistant – How May I Help You? |
Finalist |
Kanika Masand |
Dentsu Storylab |
PC Paathshala – Pioneering an Online Learning Ecosystem |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Print |
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Abhishek Goyal |
OrComm APL |
Gramophone Uday |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Television |
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Jit Sengupta |
Zee Biskope |
Zee Biskope Viewer Engagement Drives |
Finalist |
Dhiraj Luthra |
Discovery Communications |
Integrated Marketing Campaign for 'Into the Wild with Rajinikanth' |
Finalist |
Nupur Jain |
Initiative |
Unlocking Harpic's Mission |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Digital (Search) |
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Srinivas Seshadri |
Interactive Avenues |
Tanishq Festive Campaign |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Digital (Programmatic) |
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Nitasha Seth |
Netflix India |
Netflix Matchmaker |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Digital (Social) |
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Vikram Simhan |
Wavemaker India |
Addressing Challenges of a Cookie-less World by Building APAC’s First Data Clean Room for Nokia Mobiles, an Industry First Project |
Finalist |
Aniket Ghanwatkar |
Wavemaker India |
The Case of Missing Cadbury! |
Finalist |
Nitasha Seth |
Netflix India |
Netflix Matchmaker |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Outdoor |
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Aniket Ghanwatkar |
Wavemaker India |
The Case of Missing Cadbury! |
High Chair |
Category: Rising Star for Best Strategy – Integrated |
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Faheem Merchant |
Wavemaker India |
Making India Generous Again - One Thank You at a Time |
High Chair |
Rising Star of the Year |
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Abhishek Goyal |
OrComm APL |
Gramophone Uday |
High Chair |
Young professionals from Wavemaker India bagged the maximum (6) number of High Chairs. While Wavemaker’s Faheem Merchant scored highest across categories for his “Making India Generous Again - One Thank You at a Time”, Nitasha Seth of Netflix was the winner of three High Chairs. On the other hand, Abhishek Goyal scored better than Nitasha but won two High Chairs in two categories.
After the intense debate during the judging session on selecting the winner of the Rising Star of the Year, the jury zeroed in to award the coveted title of The Rising Star of the Year to Abhishek Goyal for Gramophone Uday for owning a media within limited resources.
On winning the Rising Star Awards, Goyal said, “It is hard to express this feeling in words. I am deeply honoured by this recognition. I would like to thank my bosses for believing in me and giving me a platform and opportunity to do some great work. Our sole purpose here is to find a solution to a marketing problem that not just benefits the brand but also impacts society at large. I thank the judges and BestMediaInfo for being the stage where work like this can be recognised, showcased and celebrated.”
In the inaugural year itself, given the long-standing credibility of BestMediaInfo, the contest received more than 250 entries from media strategy professionals (under 35 years). The jury shortlisted 68 of these entries to be considered for the awards.
Niraj Sharma, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at BestMediaInfo.com, said, “Congratulations to the young achievers on winning this highly competitive award in the media strategy field. The awards hold immense value for so many reasons. Firstly, it is India’s first award, especially curated for young professionals in media strategy. Secondly, the esteemed jury and the advisory board associated add depth to the awards. Thirdly, the awards logo and trophy are designed by India’s best creative agencies, Taproot Dentsu and Scarecrow M&C Saatchi. Lastly, the quality of entries received is amazing. All this together makes every High Chair win aspirational.”
The jury for the award committee consisted of prominent industry names such as Ajit Varghese, CCO, Sharechat; Anjali Krishnan Head of Media, Mondelez India; Archana Aggarwal, Head of Media, Airtel; Atit Mehta, Marketing Head, Byju’s; Bhavana Mittal, Vice-President, Media and Digital, RPSG Group; Jaikishin Chhaproo, Head Media and PR at ITC; Krishnarao S Buddha, Senior Category Head, Parle Products; Maithreyi Jagannathan, Vice-President, Brand and Brand Function Leader, Personal Health Care AMA, P&G Raj Nayak, Founder & Managing Director, House of Cheer Networks; Rajiv Dubey, Head of Media, Dabur India and Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki.