Goafest turns into a media-fest

While creative agency professionals were virtually absent throughout the event, personnel from media, digital, PR and the broadcaster community found the awards festival more rewarding

It was too obvious to miss. Creative agency professionals, who have been the heart and soul of Goafest through the years, were virtually absent at this year's edition. And, the absence was not restricted to the few big names who officially opted to give the festival a miss. It was felt across agencies and echelons, from senior to junior. Instead, the people who marked their presence firmly at this year's fest were from media, digital and public relations agencies and the broadcaster fraternity. Even on the second and third days of the festival, when the creative crowd was expected to troop in, there were hardly any to be seen.
 
Is Goafest, then, slowly becoming a media-only show? "It will take some time for Goafest to win the faith and trust of creative people" says K V Sridhar, former creative boss at Leo Burnett India, one of the agencies that abstained from Goafest this year, and who is now chief creative officer at digital agency SapientNitro. "While the organising committee may claim that they have modeled the show on the Cannes ad fest, there can be no awards without the buy-in of creative people. Cannes has a simple rule: No matter the category, creativity has to be at the centre of it. I guess this was lacking at Goafest this year, which is why the lukewarm response from creative people. "

JWT bagged the highest tally of 40 Creative Abbies. CEO Colvyn Harris explains why:

From the Ford Figo scam of last year to the high point this year. What led to the transformation?
We brought in new people, worked on improving our creative product. Today, we have 11 executive creative directors and three national creative directors. We also review our work every three months to course-correct if needed.

What are your expectations from Cannes?
We are counting on work that we did for Nike, Godrej Security Solutions, Unicef, Rotary International and are hopeful of doing well at Cannes.

Bobby Pawar, director and chief creative officer, Publicis Worldwide, says, "I felt the entire process was very haphazard this year. I didn't know when the judging began or when it ended. We did send entries, but they were not many. I agree that the presence of creative people was muted. This has to do with the judging. I think, the organising committee should consider reducing the categories and restricting the jury to the best of the best." Around 2,600 entries, including media and creative, across 182 organisations, were received this year as against nearly 5,000 entries, across 166 organisations last year.

Ajay Chandwani, chairman, Creative Abbys Awards 2014, says, "The spread of organisations this year was far better than last year, owing to the addition of new categories such as brand activation, PR, broadcaster and publisher. New categories bring in fresh perspective, and allows us to respond to the changes around us, necessary for growth of the awards."

Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India, says, "This was a good show that was organised well. It doesn't matter if a few agencies were missing. We have institutionalised Goafest and it should continue." Interestingly, most creative people admit that an awards show judged by Indians should continue. Foreign judges don't understand Indian sensibilities and this can be unfair to the people who enter work, feels Manish Bhatt, founder-director, Scarecrow Communications. Santosh Padhi, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot, says, "There are checks and balances that one can introduce in the judging process like say, inviting Indian creative people who have been successful abroad. You are not losing out on the Indian point of view, yet ensure that the awards are fair."

Taproot walked away with the second-highest tally of 29 Creative Abbies. Co-founder-CCO Santosh Padhi explains:

Were you expecting nearly 30 metals in your kitty?
Frankly, no. At best, we thought we would go home with about 15-18 metals. We bagged over two dozen. That was good .

Would you have liked more metals in TV and integrated where you bagged two each?
We would have liked to have more in these. But I guess the judging standards were tough. In integrated there were all of just three silvers given. In film, there were four silvers and seven bronze metals.

Which were the campaigns that helped you?

The work for Times for India and Mumbai Mirror, Airtel and Dulux.
Sridhar believes outsourcing the awards to a third party could help. "Organisers of Cannes Ad Fest, for instance, manage the Dubai Lynx Awards and the Spikes Asia. You are effectively leaving the management of the awards to the pros and focusing on other aspects such as the content of the festival and its marketing. That would go a long way to bring creative people back to the fold."