From underdogs to champs: JWT Delhi creativity on the rise

“It’s unbelievable. I wake up in the morning and I still think it’s a dream”, says a beaming Anupama Ramaswamy, Senior Creative Director, JWT Delhi. Ramaswamy and her team have left no stone unturned to leave long-lasting footprints at the most prestigious advertising festivals internationally – Cannes Lions 2010 and AdFest 2010, the ad festival for the Asia Pacific region.

JWT India had bagged the Asia Pacific Agency of the year at AdFest 2010 and had the most metals to its name in the country at the elite event – three Gold Lotuses, four Silvers, four Bronzes and six finalist merit awards. Overall, across Film Lotus, press, poster, direct and Film Craft Lotus categories saw JWT emerge as the best performing agency, and seven out those nominations were in Delhi office’s name.

“JWT Delhi does not have a history of winning umpteen awards, but this time around the picture was completely different,” said Priti Kapur, Executive Creative Director, JWT Delhi.

She added, “It was team work at many levels. I met Teesta, who is heading the Mumbai branch, and Senthil, who is heading Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. We sat down and decided on the pieces and sent it for the festivals.”

According to the advertising professionals, their agency is famous in the industry as an ‘ad churning factory’ and not as one that believes in winning awards. But the outlook amongst their peers has changed over the years.

“The perception about the agency in changing as we were once considered underdogs”, said Kapur while, citing an example of how one of her acquaintances in Mumbai recommended for a job change.

On a lighter note, this also reminds one of the Indian Premier League’s inaugural season, when Chennai Super Kings were considered favourites at the beginning of the tournament and how Rajasthan Royals, the underdogs, came from behind to sweep away the trophy.

exchange4media caught up with the bunch of achievers at JWT’s Gurgaon office.

Award-winning creatives

Here are some of the creatives by the company that were honoured at AdFest and Cannes Lions this year.

Fujifilm ‘Inner Smile’ Campaign (Won – Cannes Lions Press Gold, AdFest Press Gold, AdFest Poster Gold, AdFest Poster Silver, AdFest Press Silver, AdFest Press Bronze)

The campaign has a pack of three pictures – all having mysterious characters as subjects of the theme on which the creative is carved. The maximum number of awards came in from this piece.

“We were on an intense search for 2-3 months and finally picked three pictures specifically out of all so that they can form a campaign together. All the pictures in the campaign speak a language of their own,” explained Bhattacharjee, who narrated how she got the call at midnight from Cannes about the campaign winning Gold and thought it was one of her colleagues playing a prank on her.

The first picture has a funeral scene; the second one shows a couple being separated at the airport; and the third picture has three friends playing cards. All the pieces communicate the ‘face detection’ feature by the Fujifilm camera, highlighted in green on the most ambiguous face in the picture.

This campaign also won laurels in the form of Press Silver, Outdoor Silver and Outdoor Bronze at Abbys 2010.

Horlicks Pro-Height Campaign (Won – AdFest Outdoor Bronze and was AdFest Finalist Design)

It was an outdoor campaign to launch Horlicks Pro-Height in the Rs 3,000-crore market in India and was carried out in Chennai. Based on a 1943 concept of a scientist named Albert Ames, the thought process that went into creating an experience of this kind could only leave one awestruck.

A Horlicks Pro-Height Hut was made out of the optical illusion formula and placed in a mall in Chennai. The kids were asked to drink Horlicks Pro-Height and go inside the room from one door and exit from the other. They entered and their height seemed to have grown from first step till the last as they crossed. Parents and teachers outside watched the process on TV screens and were left to imagine how it was possible. Countless online audience and around 6,000 children and parents were engaged in the fun activity.

Iraj Fraz Batla, Copywriter, JWT Delhi, explained, “It was a complicated concept to explain to the client, so we made a model out of the idea to be presented. The model had a doll moving inside and growing in height. The client understood the concept and acknowledged it was not magic but science. The reaction of children and parents on the optical illusion created a different world all together. It was great of the client to support us.”

This piece also won a Bronze at Abbys 2010.

Apollo Donation Campaign (Won- AdFest Film Silver)

Having given a reality show feel, the film opens with a teenage girl putting forth her appeal as a thalassemia major patient and three judges listening to her. The girl goes on to explain that if blood is not given to her on time how she would die of several diseases, leaving behind her mother and her dog Coco. The judges start giving their verdict one by one. The first of the three says he’s not impressed much and gives a ‘No’, the second one is touched and gives a ‘Yes’, while the third judge says she has seen far worse than the young girl and gives another ‘No’. The film ends on a sarcastic note – ‘What will it take to get a yes from you?’ and the Apollo logo breaks in.

Commenting on the campaign, Kapur said, “This particular campaign is not pretending to be Indian. It is a clean ad that had to win for its merit and not because it was an expensive shoot.”

‘Head’ held high

Awards are undoubtedly the best form of encouragement for anyone, especially for the advertising professionals who put in day and night to bring out masterpieces that represent India internationally.

Commenting on the win, Rohit Ohri, Managing Partner, JWT Delhi, said, “For the last 2-3 years, we have been working towards getting recognised at Cannes Lions, AdFest and Spikes Asia. We are absolutely delighted on the success. Kudos to the leadership Priti has shown.”

When asked about the importance of awards for an agency, Ohri replied, “In recent times, awards have become a measure of an agency’s creative caliber. Building the agency’s reputation as well as acting as a talent magnet.”

Explaining the vitality of awards in the functioning and execution of the agency, Ohri added, “In my mind, an award show is a celebration of creativity. Winning an award boosts the agency’s creative confidence and goes a long way in improving the quality of the everyday creative work.”

“I really feel that the Grand Prix in integrated communication is the next thing we want to gun for,” he added.

The industry veteran also informed that all of this work from JWT India had also been sent for Spikes Asia 2010, which will be held from September 19-22.

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