Creative Abby battleground: Bobby Pawar Vs Pops
There seems to be no end to the controversy surrounding the Creative Abbys held during GoaFest 2010. While there have been reports of the GoaFest Committee mulling action against the agencies whose judges voted for their own work, there is no concrete plan in place yet. Now, a verbal duel is on between two ad honchos – Pops and Bobby Pawar.

There seems to be no end to the controversy surrounding the Creative Abbys held during GoaFest 2010. While there have been reports of the GoaFest Committee mulling action against the agencies whose judges voted for their own work, there is no concrete plan in place yet. In an official communiqué, Colvyn Harris, Chairman, GoaFest 2010, said, “While it is true that the committee, in conjunction with E&Y, is investigating cases of judges voting for their own agencies’ work, no decision has yet been taken on the action related to the issue.”
Amid this entire controversy, two agency heads have locked horns with each other – KV Sridhar (Pops), National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, and Bobby Pawar, Chief Creative Officer, Mudra Group.
Sridhar on his Facebook and Twitter pages has gone ahead and brought the issue to the public domain. Here’s what he says on Facebook, “Fact 1- Mudra is the sole offender with 110 pieces of work with many judges’ involvement from the agency, one of the member was chairing the jury of outdoor.” He goes on to state other facts, the bottom line being that while Santosh Padhi of Taproot, Rajiv Rao of Ogilvy and Sridhar himself made the ‘human error’ of voting for their work only once and didn’t do so further in the second and third rounds, Mudra did this again and again. The person in midst of this controversy is Bobby Pawar, who has allegedly voted again and again for his agency.
On his part, Pawar maintains that the news being floated is only half baked truth and that once the official version is out, truth will prevail. He said, “All the agencies named are guilty of the same offence, but our mistake is blown out of proportion. The figure of voting 110 times is an inflated figure.”
He further said, “The voting happens in front of Auditors, and anyone doing this kind of blatant offence is bound to be caught there itself. This definitely defies logic, I mean, one would be insane to keep on voting for one’s own work thinking it will pass unnoticed. Some mistake did happen, but that’s mainly because there are loads of entries and at times one is not aware that a particular piece is your own agency’s work. This obviously is the failure of the system, which needs to be looked into.”
He went on to add, “There seems to be only one person (Sridhar of Leo Burnett), who has been voicing his opinion on this and it seems there is some kind of an agenda against me and the agency that’s taking place. The facts have been grossly misrepresented and the truth will come out eventually. I have been on countless juries and this has never happened. We are not desperate to win, and the only thing that matters to us is doing good work, and if awards come because of the work, its fine, but awards are not the be all and end all for us.”
If this happens to be Pawar’s side of the story, Pops has his own version of the truth too. He stressed, “I am not pointing fingers at anyone. I am stating facts, which anyway are in the public domain. If one visits the Ad Club website, one will get details of all the entries and winners. The entire voting is on tape and one can see who voted for which work. I don’t have any agenda, my only concern is that the truth should come out, else youngsters in the industry would lose trust in advertising and their seniors.”
In fact, Sridhar points out that the entire fiasco was brought to his notice much before the awards by some jury members, which was then presented to Ajay Chandwani, Chairman, Creative Abbys at GoaFest 2010 and Director, PerceptH. Since the awards were on the anvil, everyone decided to look into the matter once they were back from Goa, as the aim was not to spoil the show. It seems like earlier too the judges had voted for their own agencies, so what happened now that led has to such mud slinging? Sridhar said, “I am not saying that self voting has not happened before, but it has never been at such a scale and so blatantly. We can commit error like I did, but that can happen once not 110 times!”
His retort to Pawar’s comment that many times one was not aware that the entry belonged to one’s own agency because of the sheer number of entries, was, “If you are the creative head of your agency and not aware of the work coming out of your own agency, then you should not be representing your agency.”
Pops concluded, “I am pressing for bringing transparency in the system, as I feel the credibility of the awards is at stake. I don’t have any personal agenda, but as a jury Chairman of one of the verticals (print category) for GoaFest, this misconduct was brought to my notice and my plea is just to restore faith in the awards.”
Both Pawar and Sridhar have their own versions of the truth, it remains to be seen what happens next when the GoaFest Committee meet.
Also read:
And now, it is clean-up time for Creative Abby
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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Swapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy
Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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