MX Takatak, Mindshare, Kinnect, Aditya Birla Capital, Ultratech and Affle get top honours at MMA's Smarties India 2021 Awards

MMA India concluded the 10th edition of Smarties 2021. MMA also unveiled the state of the mobile ecosystem in India report and martech maturity e-guide, equipping marketers with the right tools to move in the post-pandemic era.

The event featured a line-up of 77 award recipients across 23 categories along with industry-focused categories, celebrating achievements and effectiveness in the mobile marketing ecosystem.

MX TakaTak was recognised as the ‘Publisher of the Year’. Mindshare India was awarded as ‘Media Agency of the Year’; Kinnect was awarded ‘Creative Agency of the Year’, while Aditya Birla Capital grabbed the ‘Marketer of the Year’ award. The ‘Brand of the year’ went to Ultratech Cement and ‘Enabling technology company of the year’ was bagged by Affle. The award for the new category on ‘Contextual/Native Advertising’, introduced this year, was won by Hindustan Unilever Limited/Boost.

A new report titled ‘The Use of Mobile in Digital Marketing Mix’ was unveiled by MMA in collaboration with WARC during the event. The report analyses mobile marketing capabilities, growth in m-commerce and social marketing, and the impact of technologies such as AI, IoT, ML and voice on improving marketing efficiency.

Click here for the full report

Key highlights of the report:

*        Two-thirds (69%) marketers have adopted a mobile-first approach – a 10% increase since 2020, demonstrating mobile marketing’s growing position in the greater modern marketing picture.

*         55% marketers use engagement metrics followed by business metrics (51%) to measure mobile effectiveness in 2021.

*       75% marketers are expecting an increase in mobile budgets in 2021 – a 20% increase since 2020, led by social media and m-commerce technologies.

*        Social media leads in marketers’ (86%) strategies, followed by mobile web display (50%) and in-app display (47%). 56% of Indian consumers engage with social media ads – highest among any country.

*         89% respondents agree that mobile plays a significant role in the purchase journey. With the e-commerce boom, 82% marketers have accelerated their m-commerce capabilities and 81% are embarking on shoppable media, which is becoming a business avenue.

*        62% marketers believe that the 'death of cookies' will significantly impact marketing strategies. Furthermore, ad fraud continues to hinder mobile growth for 33% marketers followed by consumer privacy concerns and metrics (25%).

*        Nearly 37% marketers are spending more than a quarter of their budget on martech, while 35% are spending less than 10%.

*       With 37% marketers using AI and ML capabilities in 2021 – 42% expect these to be the top technologies over the next two years, followed by IoT (25%) and voice (24%).

Moneka Khurana, MMA India Board Member; Country Head, India, MMA, said, “The 2021 Smarties India Awards is our 10th edition and a milestone in several ways. We saw a 40% increase in submissions this year and a remarkable shift in the use of mobile capabilities, interactivity, and personalised communication. At Smarties, we are not only celebrating the powerhouse of talent in the industry but also creating benchmark work that inspires the industry as well as showcasing new and path breaking opportunities that are shaping the future of marketing.”

“As more businesses recognise the value of mobile and modern marketing, creating outstanding campaigns becomes crucial. The Smarties Awards encourage marketers and agencies to think outside the box. Year after year, the standards and creativity displayed continue to astound us. I also believe that the Smarties serve as an excellent springboard for new ideas, which we will see evolving in the coming years,” added Amit Jain, Managing Director, L’Oréal India and Chairperson of MMA India Board.

Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive, Foods, ITC and Jury Chair at Smarties 2021, stated, “In this year’s edition I have seen some incredible work done. I was impressed by how each of the winners leveraged mobile as a platform to drive business objectives. This year we witnessed never-done-before approaches inspired by new behavioural consumer journeys. I applaud the winners who truly deserve the Smarties recognition — an appreciation of pioneering work done to shape the future.”

MMA with Hansa Cequity launched a ‘Modern Marketer’s e-guide to Martech Maturity’ outlining martech maturity levels across sectors, understanding the current tools, the gaps with insights on governance of martech stacks and skilling best practices.

Access the full report here

The winners were selected by a panel of judges comprising senior level brand marketers who deliberated over the submissions across four categories— marketing objective, media channel, technology, and creative awards wherein business impact was given the highest weightage.

126 entries were shortlisted from across 23 categories under the above-mentioned key themes. Submissions were received from various sectors, including FMCG, OTT, retail, BFSI, technology among several others. Smarties this year in India witnessed a 40% increase in entries as compared to last year.

The full list of the winners:

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