The fifth edition of Goafest, which begins today, will have some prominent absentees, but celebration is in the air
It’s time for the best and the brightest in the advertising and media agencies to converge on the beaches in Goa and hit the stage to collect gongs. And if they have time, they have the option to hear some of the best minds in the industry – both from here and abroad.
Admen have been braving the blistering heat in Goa for four years now to participate in the annual three-day advertising festival called Goafest. The scene incidentally will be no different this year as the fifth edition of Goafest gets underway on Thursday. Hotels in and around the venue at Cavelossim Beach have been booked, and dates from April 8 to 10 are blocked as most in the industry head there.
Despite the last-minute change in venue from Utorda to Cavelossim, not many seem unhappy as the chance to relax, have fun, meet up with peers and exchange notes is hard to miss. “It doesn’t matter,” says a young client services executive in a top 10 agency, “as long as the festival gets underway. That is what counts,” he says.
The mood of this young executive pretty much sums up the feeling of the industry - Goafest is a must-attend. “You cannot miss it,” he says, “If you want to know what is happening, what is not, who is winning, who is not, you have to be there.”
Some familiar names of course won’t be there this time. While McCann Erickson was the first agency to beg off the creative awards citing an insufficient quantum of creative work. Contract, Euro RSCG and Saatchi & Saatchi followed suit.
That’s a jarring note, but most in the industry are in a mood to celebrate with the economic slowdown behind them. What is worth noting is that the agencies which are not participating in the awards are still sending in their delegates for the event.
Predictably, the edition this year promises to be better than last year when a sense of gloom prevailed. The figures were telling. Only 1,900 delegates - mostly on the last day of the festival - made it to Goafest last year.
“This year,” says Sudesh Kapoor, executive secretary, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), “delegate participation has already touched 2,000 and the number could go up substantially as the clamour for spot registrations has increased”.
The AAAI jointly organises Goafest with the Advertising Club of Bombay. This is the third year the two have been working together. The first two editions incidentally were supervised by the AAAI only, which kicked-off Goafest in 2006.
The entries shortlisted for the creative awards are 571 out of 4,200, informs Ajay Chandwani, chairman of the creative awards, and director, Percept. These entries are across 73 ad agencies, direct, design, digital and film companies, he says. Some of the agencies which have made it to the shortlist include Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Mudra, Publicis, Bates, Leo Burnett and Rediffusion DY& R.
The buzz is that O&M’s Zoozoo campaign will win hands-down in the television commercial category.
On the media front, most frontline agencies have registered their presence by sending in their entries for the awards, which will be held on Friday. This includes Mindshare, Maxus, Madison Media, Lodestar Universal, Starcom Mediavest, OMD etc. Of the 484 entries received this year, 87 have been shortlisted, says Shashi Sinha, chairman of the awards, and chief executive officer, Lodestar Universal. The agencies in the shortlist include Mudra Max, Mindshare, Maxus, Mediacom and Lodestar Universal.
A key highlight of this year’s Goafest is the strong international speaker line-up. There are 10 this year in comparison to the eight last year, says Kapoor of the AAAI. The key ones include Richard Pinder, chief operating officer, Publicis Groupe, George Michaelides, global leader, invention, Mindshare, Andy Greenaway, regional creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi and Tim Mellors, vice-chairman and global creative director, Grey Group.
International delegates though improving year-on-year remain a small number at the event. “The local crowd is obviously stronger,” says Kapoor. The theme of the festival this year is ‘Survival of the Freshest’.
