Five Indian entries have made it to the final shortlist of the 2009 Festival of Media Awards, also known as the Valencia Awards. Starcom MediaVest Group has topped the list with two entries in the five, the only network from India to do so.
The “MAD in Singapore” entry for client Singapore Tourism conceptualised and activated by Starcom and the network’s Entertainment Marketing specialist The Bridge is in the race for a win in the category of Best Use of Content, while "Kamyaab Jodi-How rural India grew to love Tide and Head & Shoulders" for Procter & Gamble India by Starcom and Small Town and Rural Marketing company Xpanse Asia, is amongst the shortlisted entries in the category Best Event/Activation.
Starcom MediaVest Group’s VivaKi sibling network ZenithOptimedia has got a shortlist in terms of Serena Williams entry for client Hewlett Packard, giving VivaKi three of the five shortlists from India.
SMG South Asia CEO, Ravi Kiran, commented, “The FMAs are special in that they focus on Media, and emphasize effectiveness as much as creative use of media, unlike some of the other industry awards.
I am proud of this achievement by our team for several reasons. It validates our conviction that great strategy and activational excellence have to work together in delivering effective, real world solutions to clients. It also reinforces our belief in integrated marketing and the supremacy of INTENT as the most relevant metric of marketing effectiveness. By getting two of the five shortlists, our team has proved that it is producing a truly world class product.
At this stage, I would like to place on record my thankfulness to clients Procter & Gamble and Singapore Tourism for having given us their confidence in bringing to life one of their most ambitious initiatives of 2008 and to Turner Networks India, whose channel POGO partnered with us on the Singapore Tourism project.”
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Starcom MediaVest Group’s India team is particularly pleased that the nominations are in branded content and experiential marketing, two disciplines which are important from the viewpoint of connecting with consumers in a world of falling allegiances towards brands and shorter attention to commercial messages.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Starcom MediaVest Group tops global shortlist table with 18 entries
- Two of the 18 entries come from India, making SMG India one of the top offices within the network
- With two entries, SMG India is the most shortlisted network from India
- Combined with ZenithOptimedia’s nomination for Serena Williams for Hewlett Packard, VivaKi India gets the majority of the Indian shortlists.
ADDITIONAL EDITORIAL NOTES:
- One of the two entries from SMG India, the Xpanse Asia entry for Procter & Gamble [Kamyaab Jodi – how rural India got to love Tide & Head & Shoulders, recently won the 2008 SMG Captivation Awards Grand Prix, the highest honor for product in the Starcom MediaVest Group global network of 110 offices across 75 countries.
- Besides Starcom and ZenithOptimedia, MediaCom and Madison are the other two agencies from India who have a nomination. Both have one shortlisted entry each.
- The Festival of Media Awards (FMAs) will be held in Valencia; Spain from 19th to 21st April, 09. The FMAs intends to reward excellence in media thinking wherever it resides, be it media agency networks, full service agencies, media owners, digital specialists and out of home experts as well as the content experts and technology companies that are increasingly coming into a converged communications space. [Source: www.festivalofmediaawards.com]
- The 2009 shortlist includes entries from 29 countries. Starcom MediaVest Group tops the contenders list globally with 18 nominations followed by Mindshare with 13, MediaCom with 11 and Havas taking seven.
- The Festival of Media Awards used to be called the Venice Awards before 2008.
About the festival [www.festivalofmediaawards.com]
The Festival of Media was launched in 2007 in Venice, as the world’s first global festival of media creativity. In its first year, it attracted over 450 of the international media advertising community’s most senior directors and was welcomed as an important new addition to the media business calendar. The second Festival in 2008 doubled in size – with over 850 delegates attending – and established the event as a must attend occasion, offering unrivalled networking opportunities at a conference and exhibition designed to showcase the best creative media thinking and explore emerging media opportunities.
About Starcom MediaVest Group [www.smvgroup.com]
Ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world, Chicago headquartered Starcom MediaVest Group encompasses an integrated network of highly specialized consumer contact companies. SMG's global organization includes strategic marketing communication architects who are highly specialized in media management, response media, internet and digital communications, as well as multicultural, entertainment, gaming, sports, sponsorship, event marketing and media. With over 6,000 employees in 110 offices worldwide, SMG delivers brand-building results for many of the world's leading companies. It is now part of VivaKi, the newly formed global communications entity within Paris-based Publicis Groupe.
Starcom MediaVest Group in India
Ranked consistently as one of India’s most admired media networks by Brand Equity, Starcom is one of the youngest, largest and most diversified media networks in the country. It has over 240 contact architects and activators across its four full service offices and twenty other offices where its specialist units have an operation. It prides itself on its ‘people first’ approach at workplace and is known in the industry and in campuses as one of the best places to work in. It has one of the best retention rates amongst media agencies in India.
Using proprietary planning frameworks such as Passion Group Marketing, internationally proven tools such as TARDIIS, local research and superior analytical skills, the agency attempts to build lasting connections between its clients’ brands and their customers.
Since 2007, the network has been represented to the media owners by India Media Exchange, formed after a strategic merger of its buying scale with that of sister VivaKi unit ZenithOptimedia, making it the second largest buyer of media in the market now.
In addition to communication strategy development and mainstream media negotiation, the network offers solutions in the area of out-of-home and ambient media [Navia], entertainment and embedded marketing [The Bridge], digital and wireless marketing [Starcom IP], sports and cause enabled marketing [Relay Worldwide], activation and media supported amplification [ACE] and small town and rural marketing [Xpanse], ambient assets, navigational signage, and retail branding [Enhance] and lifestyle marketing and communication [C].