Mirage 2006

AWARDS: The AAAIs Fest's grand finale was a wholesome round of backslapping.

No, really, it happened. It was a date with creativity, even if the awards still didn't have a name (to match, say, its rival Abbies of the Bombay Ad Club). Leo Burnett, McCann and J Walter Thompson (JWT) were in the spotlight, bagging award after award for advertising.

The big winners? Leo Burnett's Times of India commercial, JWT's Levi's Slim Jeans ad and McCann's WonderBra ad. The Star Advertiser of the Year award was handed to Levi Strauss & Co.

Other winners included Orchard's Air Deccan commercial, Leo Burnett's McDonald's and Heinz tomato ketchup ads, and Euro RSCG's Red FM campaign.

People's Choice Award, a new award instituted by Star India, a sponsor, went to JWT's Pepsi. This was done on the basis of a contest conducted by the broadcaster inviting viewers to send in nominations.

"In the quest to create something really unique," said Srinivasan Swamy of R K Swamy, "the Goa Fest was born."

With a total of 1,200 delegates, the Goa Fest is expected to be an annual feature ""what with an entire village crafted to catch the creative fervour.

Still, it's not clear if this set of awards has got wide enough recognition within the Indian ad industry.

The conspicuous absentees in Goa were Ogilvy & Mather and Lowe, both of which have good creative reputations.