MUMBAI: Amidst a high attendance of advertising and marketing celebrities, the AAAI ( Advertising Agencies Association of India ) gave away 124 awards across 16 categories.

Leo Burnett stole the show with 23 awards, followed by Lowe Lintas which bagged a total of 17 awards.

The 10th edition of the AAAI awards, held on 3 December, in Mumbai, had Publicis Group chairman and CEO Maurice Levy as the chief guest for the evening.
 

McCann Erickson and Rediffusion DY&R jointly won the prestigious ‘Campaign of the year’ Silver Awards for Coca-Cola and Airtel respectively; while J Walter Thompson bagged the bronze for UB Exports.

In the Press category, the ‘Best of the Best’ award went to Leo Burnett for Santuary. The ‘Best of the Best’ award for television went to Lowe Lintas for Saint Gobain. McCann Erickson won the ‘Best of the Best’ award in the radio category for Coke and also for outdoor (Sweetex).

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The ‘Star Advertiser of the Year’ award was given to Saint Gobain for consistently promoting excellence in advertising. The `Copywriter of the Year’ award was bagged by Agnello Dias of Leo Burnett.

A new award instituted by one of the sponsors Star was the ‘Star News Peoples choice award’ which was awarded on the base of an extensive contest conducted by Star News. This was done by inviting viewers to send in their nominations and the winner emerged by a large margin; it being the Saint Gobain commercial created by Lowe Lintas.

Speaking on the occasion, Madison Communications CMD Sam Balsara said, ” The AAAI awards have completed a good ten years and in its tenth year, we have decided to pause and review. Its time to relaunch the AAAI awards in a new avatar.”
 

The key changes that the association affected are as follows:

    Radio and outdoor given their due as the awards included both these mediums entries too.

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    The reference period for the awards has been changed from January – December to July – June. This change has been incorporated to allow the first half of the year also being judged and awarded at the awards, allowing fresher pieces of work.

    Jury member for the first time were taken to an off-site location and judging was completed in two days.

    Panel also incorporated a new award titled ‘Best of Best’ for each category. (Print, Radio, TV, Outdoor)

The chairman of the awards, Mudra Communications CEO and MD Madhukar Kamat closed the evening by calling 2003-2004, ” A record year.”

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All said and done, it was an enjoyable fare.

MUMBAI: A recent global study – “Playing House” – done by Leo Burnett has revealed how North American women feel about the home and their role within it. The study, which was conducted by LeoShe (a Leo Burnett consulting unit dedicated to unlocking new thinking about female consumers) identified several key insights shaping women’s attitudes toward the home today.
 
 

One of the significant findings of this study was that, despite their increasing role in the workplace, the home remains a defining factor for women. Women are becoming more dominant inside the home, not less, despite the fact they are taking on more roles outside the home. The agency uncovered several insights that reflect this paradox:

    Many women today describe their role in the home in business terms — chief operating officer, managing director, etc.,
    Almost 60 per cent of women strongly agree that what it takes to properly care for a home is undervalued in today’s society,
    Sixty-five percent strongly agree that it is possible for women to balance a successful career with a successful home,
    When asked what they most want to change about their homes, 60 per cent of women surveyed said “their husbands.”

 
 
Leo Burnett USA’s LeoShe unit co-founder and senior vice president and senior planner for the agency Denise Fedewa attributed this trend to a reluctance by women to relinquish control over the home realm.

“In one way or another, all women feel strongly about their role in the home, even if they remain steadfastly dedicated to their career roles,” said Fedewa. “Women relish the control they have over their home and the freedom they have within it to be creative. Despite the added demands this may put on her, she is in control and she takes pride in this.”
 
 
Another significant finding was that women fit into four specific home “mindsets” or types, based on their “homemaking” standards (whether or not they are idealistic or more realistic) and how they feel they live up to them (whether or not they see themselves as achieving their standards or not).

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These four prevailing home mindsets include:

    The “House Proud” woman (37 per cent): This is the largest segment, comprised those women who consider their home a source of personal pride and joy. (Example: Martha Stewart),
    The “Treading Water” woman (29 per cent): These women are at the opposite end of the spectrum. They consider their home another burden in their already overburdened lives. (Example: Roseanne Barr in the sitcom Roseanne),
    The “Keeping Up With the Jones’” woman (12 per cent): This small but growing segment strives for perfection, viewing her home as a status symbol and a sign of success. (Example: Annette Bening’s character, Carolyn Burnham, in American Beauty)
    The “Keep it Simple” woman (22 per cent): This segment has a whole different sense of perfection, choosing to live by realistic, practical home standards. (Example: Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond)

“Many women are overwhelmed with the amount of work needed to maintain their homes, particularly those who have idealistic standards and strive for a picture-perfect home,” said Fedewa. “By recognising and accepting their home mindset, these women — and their loved ones — can start taking steps to make their lives a bit easier.”

A website – http://www.leoburnett.ca/leoshe – has also been created where women can log on and find out their “home” mindset and view tips for each profile. This has been developed by Toronto-based behavioral consultant Patricia Katz. The website also contains more background on the “Playing House” study and additional findings.

The “Playing House” study findings are the result of research conducted by a joint team from Leo Burnett offices in Toronto, Chicago, Miami and Puerto Rico. Over the last 10 months, the team culled existing research, literature, advertising and film, consulted various experts, hosted online husband panels and interviewed more than 1,000 women from cities across North America.

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MUMBAI: Godfrey Philips Inida’s (GPI) Four Square was awarded to Leo Burnett after a one month assignment that was given to both Leo Burnett and Rediffusion DY&R, both in the running for the account.
 
 
Considering the advertising of the tobacco industry is quite a hard market, Leo Burnett’s Delhi head Jayshree Sunder said, ” We won the pitch, as in this new paradigm, we were quite innovative in our presentation in terms of how to handle the brand in a dark market and delivering brand value to our consumer base,”
 

As per industry estimates, the tobacco industry is a Rs 3 billion industry in terms of media spends ( Print, Outdoor) and in volume accounts for 7000 million sticks every month. Four Square, which is GPI’s flagship brand contributes seven per cent of the total volume in the north and west regions.

The process of awarding the Four Square account was very different. Both agencies were given a specific brief, and were given specific projects, the outcome of which led the company to change hands and award the account to Leo Burnett. The incumbent being Rediffusion DY&R.

Although, Rediffusion DY&R continues to handle the other three GPI brands, they being Tipper, Jaisalmer, and Red & White.

Leo Burnetts plan for Four Sqaure is delivering brand value and visibility through their hotels, restaurants and cafe’s.

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The account will follow a fee-based system, and work on the same is expected to be out in the next two month.