‘It’s been a very hostile judging panel’
‘It’s been a very hostile judging panel’
Mumbai: Advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather has failed to get any Grand Prix at the Goafest Abby 2008 ad awards. In a telephonic interview from Jaipur, Piyush Pandey, executive chairman, Ogilvy and Mather India Pvt. Ltd, tells Mint that he is disappointed at not getting the Grand Prix, as he believes his team’s works were the best in the country. Edited excerpts:
Your comments on Ogilvy and Mather not winning any Grand Prix at the Goafest 2008 Abby awards this year after sweeping the Abby held separately by Ad Club for so many years?
I am disappointed we did not, we should have won (the Grand Prix). We should
But, overall, who says we didn’t win? Why say you have to get a Grand Prix to win as a team? In my belief, we’ve (O&M) won as a team — put a tally against all the medals we’ve won.
Wouldn’t winning not even a single Grand Prix mean that there has been a decline in O&M’s creative performance this past year?
Not at all. Beyond this, if one looks at the clients and the work we’ve done, you have to be blind not to know that the best creative work and team in the country is by far from O&M India. My team will not be demoralized. They were aware of the hostile judging they would be up against. And they are smart enough to know the kind of work they’ve done is much ahead of the rest — our ads for brands such as Hutch-Vodafone, Perfetti and Bingo are witness to this, yet were not good enough to win (top honours at Goafest Abby).
Some say that the judges at Goafest Abby were the same as those at the Abby organized by Ad Club Mumbai.
It may be the same judges, but the results reflect the pentup frustration (of some of the other agencies) of losing against O&M for the last 10 years. O&M, however, doesn’t regret taking part in Goafest 2008 and will take part again.
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