India’s 17 wins tied for second most in APAC

ONE Asia Rankings revealed.

Ogilvy Mumbai had an outstanding showing in the One Asia Creative Awards 2022, picking up Best of Show, two Best of Disciplines, and the Cultural Driver Award for “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” on behalf of Cadbury Celebrations, and ranking as 2022 ONE Asia Agency of the Year.

The work, created with Wavemaker Mumbai, Rephrase.ai Bengaluru and The Pack Mumbai, won Best of Discipline in Experiential & Immersive and Public Relations, three Golds (one each in Experiential & Immersive, Public Relations, and Social Media), a Silver in Social Media, and three Merits.

Ogilvy Mumbai, working with Vanilla Films Mumbai and Ronin Labs Pune, also won the ONE Asia Sustainable Development Goals Award for “Memory Karaoke” on behalf of MTV and ARDSI.

Based on cumulative points for awards won, Ogilvy Mumbai was ranked as ONE Asia Agency of the Year, “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” was the Highest Ranked Work of the Year, Cadbury was Client of the Year, and Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar were tied for CCO of the Year.

Other wins for India were as follows.

Bronze:

Ek Type Mumbai “Anek Multi-script” for Google Font in TDC Typography Discipline
Ogilvy with Wavemaker, both in Mumbai, “Perk Disclaimers” for Cadbury Perk in Integrated
Ogilvy with Vanilla Films, both Mumbai, and Ronin Labs Pune, “Memory Karaoke” for MTV and ARDSI.

Merit:

Byju's Bangalore with Dora Digs Mumbai for its own “Master Ji” in Brand-Side
Byju's Bangalore with Dora Digs Mumbai for its own “Master Ji” in Film & Video Craft
Ogilvy India Gurugram with Vikas Maurya Films New Delhi and Gameplan West Bengal, “The Legacy Project - Indian Handcrafted Textiles” for Pernod Ricard India in Print & OOH Craft
Other Best of Discipline winners were Ogilvy Singapore with Ogilvy Kuala Lumpur for “Flags of Generosity” on behalf of Cadbury in Design, Ogilvy Group Thailand with Illusion CGI Studio, both Bangkok, for Live Long Life Company/Googo Green “No Pests Allowed” in Print & Out of Home, and Dentsu with (Tsuzuku) and Dentsu Craft, all in Tokyo, for Suntory “Tennensui Endless Dawn” in Film & Video Craft.

The Green Award was won by Innocean Worldwide with Planit Production, both in Seoul, for “Hydrogen Garbage Truck” on behalf of Hyundai Motor Group.

The complete list of 2022 winners in ONE Asia, produced by The One Club Asia, can be viewed HERE.

This year’s top ONE Asia APAC Rankings honors, based upon cumulative scores for awards won across all disciplines, are as follows.

Top 10 ONE Asia 2022 Agency Ranking:

1. Ogilvy Mumbai

2. Special New Zealand Auckland

3. Ogilvy Group Thailand Bangkok

4. Innocean Worldwide Seoul

5. Ogilvy Singapore

6. (Tsuzuku) Tokyo (tie)

6. Dentsu Tokyo (tie)

8. Ogilvy Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

9. BBDO Bangkok

10. TBWA\Media Arts Lab Singapore

Other top rankings for ONE Asia 2022 include the following.

Independent Agency of the Year: Special New Zealand Auckland
Brand-Side/In-House Agency of the Year: LIFULL Tokyo
Client of the Year: Cadbury
Production Company of the Year: The Post Office Auckland
Music & Sound Company of the Year: Resonance Sonic Branding Sydney
Agency Network of the Year: Ogilvy Group
Agency Holding Company of the Year: WPP
Highest Ranked Work of the Year: “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” by Ogilvy Mumbai with Wavemaker Mumbai, Rephrase.ai Bengaluru and The Pack Mumbai for Cadbury Celebrations
CCO of the Year (tie): Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, both Ogilvy Mumbai
ECD of the Year (tie): Jonathan McMahon and Lisa Fedyszyn, both Special New Zealand Auckland
Creative Director of the Year: Arnya Karaitiana, Special New Zealand Auckland
Art Director of the Year: Kimberley Scott, Special New Zealand Auckland
Copywriter of the Year: Anh Nguyen, TBWA\Media Arts Lab Singapore
Overall, there were 18 Gold, 19 Silver, 28 Bronze and 56 Merit ONE Asia winners for entries from Australia, Mainland China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan-China, Thailand and Vietnam. The top five countries were Thailand with 31 winners, India and New Zealand with 17 each, Japan with 16, and Singapore with 12.

A jury of more than 70 top creatives from 19 APAC countries and regions — as well as a handful of international creative leaders — judged this year’s entries.

After years of running The One Show Greater China, The One Club Asia, part of The One Club for Creativity, expanded the scope of the awards last year to include all of Asia Pacific as ONE Asia.

Eligible countries and regions for ONE Asia are Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Greater China (Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Starting this year, ONE Asia is now part of The One Club’s renowned Global Creative Rankings for 2022. ONE Asia award wins now gain international recognition for agencies and brands, and contribute as appropriate to network and holding company global rankings totals. The final One Club Global Creative Awards recap for 2022, incorporating points from ONE Asia, will be announced on January 17, 2023.

The One Club Greater China office was founded in 2000, hosting a series of youth events in China, and added The One Show Greater China Awards and related Creative Week programming eight years ago. In the past 20 years, the team has focused on promoting creativity in the APAC region, and greater communications between Greater China and the global industry. This expanded focus prompted the office to rebrand as The One Club Asia.

Editors’ Synopsis:

• ZEE Entertainment signs Paytm, Kurkure Playz, Kent RO, Gulf Oil for the first season of ILT20
• ZEEL has signed a long-term partnership with Emirates Cricket Board for global media rights of DP World ILT20
• DP World ILT20 to be broadcast globally on ZEE’s 10 linear channels & OTT platform ZEE5
• From launching the league anthem ‘Halla Halla’ with superstar rapper Badshah to promoting the league globally through #HarBallBawaal campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan, ZEE is taking major strides to mark its comeback in the sports broadcasting business
• DP World ILT20 is scheduled to start on January 13

ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), India’s largest content and entertainment powerhouse’s journey as official broadcast partner of DP World International League T20 (DP World ILT20) has got off to a robust start with top advertisers already onboarded across key consumer categories. This is a significant milestone for the global cricketing league and testifies its inherent differentiation in terms of quality of league’s players, 6 franchise brand power and the Zee platform’s massive strength. The first set of sponsors for the 2023 edition of DP World ILT20 include Paytm, Kurkure Playz, Kent RO, Gulf Oil

With the inaugural edition of DP World ILT20 set to take off on January 13, the much-awaited cricketing event has been witnessing significant interest from global conglomerates as well as marquee Indian brands to associate as advertising partners of the league. ZEE Entertainment and DP World ILT20 are working in close co-ordination to garner a strong fan base and engage with the global cricketing community.

ZEE’S expansive and global network offers phenomenal opportunity for brands to engage with a wide and diverse range of demographics, cutting through languages and geographies. Marking its re-entry in the sports broadcast business, ZEE is taking major strides in giving its partners an extended engagement with their consumers.

Commenting on the announcement, Rahul Johri, President – Business, South Asia, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, said, “As we embark on this exciting journey, we would like to extend a warm welcome to all our partners. We are delighted with the overwhelming response for the DP World ILT20’s inaugural edition. At ZEE, we are committed to take this unique cricketing extravaganza to our global audiences and firmly believe that the league will emerge as one of the biggest and most-popular global cricketing events.”

“Paytm is excited to be present on ILT20 since the series encourages the passion of cricket in the country. It’s association with Zee5 will always be cherished.”

Neha Agarwalla, GM Marketing, Paytm

“We are excited to be part of the ILT20 for our brand Kuhl fans. We are quite hopeful that Zee Network will put in their best and their experience of sports to make this league a huge success. Given the composition of league and kind of teams that are part of it, our brand messaging of being Smart and Stylish fits well. We wish the Zee team and ILT20 the very best”.

Mahesh Gupta, CMD, Kent RO Systems

“It is a delight to partner with this cricket extravaganza which takes the excitement of short format cricket up a notch, beyond Indian borders. Gulf Oil India resonates with this league as both entities display a passion for the sport. Gulf has been a constant supporter of performance sports – be it motorsports or cricket, where we have signed up eminent cricket personalities as our brand ambassadors. Going forward, we will continue to find new ways to excite & engage the consumers/fans in the best possible manner.”

Amit Gheji, Head of Marketing, Gulf Oil India

Earlier this month, ZEE Entertainment unveiled its #HarBallBawaal campaign film, featuring global superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The film beautifully captures the passion and ambition of cricket players along with the fan frenzy that surrounds T20 cricket. Furthermore, the company had roped in superstar Rapper Badshah to produce the league’s anthem ‘Halla Halla’. Since its launch, the campaign film and the league’s anthem has been garnering widespread popularity across social and digital media platforms.

DP World ILT20 will broadcast LIVE on the ZEE Entertainment’s 10 linear TV channels and stream on ZEE5 starting January 13th, 2023 from 6:45 PM onwards, with a mega Opening Ceremony, in English, Hindi and Tamil. The event will be broadcast on Zee Cinema (SD & HD), Zee Anmol Cinema, Zee Therai, Zee Bangla Cinema, Zee Zest (SD & HD), & Pictures HD, &Flix (SD & HD), and ZEE5 in India and globally.

The tournament will see 84 international cricketing stars from across the world, such as Joe Root, Alex Hales, Imran Tahir, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Kieron Pollard and Wanindu Hasaranga, alongside UAE’s current and rising talents. The inaugural edition includes 6 teams Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Desert Vipers, Dubai Capitals, Gulf Giants, MI Emirates, and Sharjah Warriors. The league’s schedule can be found by visiting www.ilt20.ae.

Gytree.com announced its first round of fundraising, led by Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Rainmatter Investments, Ajay Srinivasan former CEO of Aditya Birla Capital, Anubhuti Sharma of San Francisco-based Millie Clinic amongst others.

Gytree.com uses technology to provide women with an intelligent dashboard, world class experts and personalised journeys for better health outcomes.

“We need to build female first products in health and for way too long India has ignored that,” says Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson of Biocon, India’s largest biopharmaceutical company. “Gytree.com fills an important gap in using technology to solve for personalised health needs of women through products and services. I am delighted to lend support to Shaili and her team on this purposeful journey.”

Shaili Chopra is an award-winning entrepreneur who earlier set up Asia’s largest platform for women, SheThePeople (backed by Anand Mahindra). The demand for women’s health solutions and gytree.com emerged from within that 20 million strong community. “What Indian women need is a 360-degree approach to care, due to inter-related symptoms and outcomes. India’s current health systems do not provide that. Gytree.com offers a patient-centric team to bridge this gap across all life stages, from menstruation to menopause,” says Chopra.

The data on women’s health shows, a platform like Gytree is the need of our times. Almost 60% of working women in India quit the workforce due to health related issues. According to the National Health Portal of India, more than 32 million women in India suffer from incurable conditions ranging from PCOS to endometriosis, and infertility, and they lack the necessary handholding to manage this effectively. Gytree.com would be the first platform of its kind to provide assistance at every step: symptom identification, timely diagnosis and long-term management.

The Rainmatter Investments team said of their investment in Gytree, “Helping people make healthy choices has been a priority for us at Rainmatter. Of all the health issues in India, the lack of focus on women's healthcare has to be the biggest. This is why we're excited to join Shaili and the team as they tackle this pressing issue by building a comprehensive and exclusive healthcare ecosystem for women.”

A new generation of women are demanding better healthcare, and Gytree is answering that call. The platform is built by a core team of women who understand the needs of those who identify as female. Chopra (a Stanford and Aspen Global fellow) possesses more than 20 years of experience in media, content and community having successfully established women-focussed startups and through this journey deeply understood what gaps women want fulfilled and personalised. Chief Product Officer Swarnima Bhattacharya has worked with women’s health and gender-based policy for over a decade with the UN, WHO and others. Dr Sudeshna Ray, with over 30 years of Ob-Gyn experience from India’s top hospitals is the platform’s medical director.

Investor in Gytree and former CEO of Aditya Birla Capital, Ajay Srinivasan said, "I am excited by femtech as a sector and believe solutions targeted at getting women to lead better lives will scale up and drive growth. Usage of tech can help make solutions more affordable and universal, something India's 600 mn plus women need immediately."

As part of its go to market strategy, Gytree will be directly available to consumers through the easy to use web-app, but also to corporations who prioritise female workforce and their health.

The virtual platform gives consumers services wrapped around the core offering of gynaecology that includes mental health support, nutrition counselling, and regular digital health checks linked to their primary needs. Patients get access to at-home lab tests curated for women and round the clock patient care and virtual check-in options. “At Gytree we have several benefits for women seeking such support. They not only get access from anywhere, anytime, but are also able to discuss personal and intimate health details in a safe and discreet environment,” adds Chopra.

TikTok, which was initially a dance video-sharing app, has evolved over the years to include short and long videos spanning various genres and topics. Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, TikTok birthed yet another trend called BookTok. BookTok, which revolved around the reading and reviews of many hidden gems and forgotten treasures in the literary world, among current releases, boomed in a short span of 2 years and is here to stick around. Readers and TikTok subscribers simply cannot get enough of BookTok and are always on the lookout for new releases in the romance, fantasy, and thriller genres, among others. So much so that BookTok has surpassed conventional publishing tactics and boosted the sales of several authors and publishing houses like Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and others. BookTok has even revived the love for print amidst the sweep of digitisation and digital books. Let’s traverse through the journey of BookTok, the consequent increase in readership enabled through TikTok, and what it means for book enthusiasts.

Tiktok made me buy it

Those days when authors only had to rely on publishing houses or newspaper publications to make their books get noticed are behind us, if not completely obsolete. With TikTok in the game, publishing houses have reported book sales going over the roof. Official stats from the company NPD Bookscan indicate that TikTok was responsible for the sale of around 825.7 million books in 2021, a big leap from the numbers before 2020. For many authors, this meant being recognised and getting massive sales. Take the example of US writer Colleen Hoover who made young adult fiction fans gaga with her novel “It Ends With Us” and her recent sequel (Volume II) “It Starts with Us”. Hoover was at first a self-published author who started acquiring a dedicated fanbase on TikTok for her extremely compelling books that tugged on readers’ heartstrings. Now, Hoover has been signed with a reputed publishing house, and her books have sold over 20 million copies, thanks to TikTok.

LGBTQIA+ and minority representation

One of the best things that TikTok and the hashtag BookTok did was shed light on the brilliant stories of underrepresented communities in the world of literature. Through BookTok, readers were able to source books from authors of different genders, races and sexuality. The LGBTQ+ community felt heard and seen, especially thanks to the heart-warming books Song of Achilles and Heartstopper. Song of Achilles, written by Madeline Miller in 2011, caught the attention of the BookTok community of readers because of its riveting plot. The novel showcased a fusion of Greek history with elements of romance between Achilles and Patroclus. The book is written and narrated from the perspective of Patroclus, which is a fresh change from literature revolving around Achilles. Heartstopper too portrays a coming-of-age love story between two young male protagonists. It became an instant hit with audiences, so much so that it got picked up by Netflix for a Netflix series.

The influence of BookTok on cinema and future readership

BookTok has not only influenced numerous readers from GenZ but also caught the eye of online OTT platform giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime, among others. These include coming-of-age plot lines like ‘The Summer I turned Pretty’, which was greenlit by Amazon Prime and Heartstopper, which was selected by Netflix as a Netflix series and is in the running for season 2. The cinematic portrayal of these TikTok fan favourites only steered the spotlight towards the changing trend of BookTok finds. Readers got to see their favourite characters come to life. Other TikTok hits that are being adapted into movies or web series include ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid, ‘It Ends with Us’ by Colleen Hoover, and ‘They both die at the end’ by Adam Silvera.

Wrapping it up:

You might think that TikTok has played a huge role in influencing GenZ to become readers; however, it was the other way around. GenZ, in fact, influenced their fellow GenZ and millennials to grab onto books by expressing their love and reviewing their current reads through compelling video content. When it comes to India, we know that TikTok is banned here. But through Instagram reels, Indian readers are still able to find TikTok bestsellers and purchase them easily. This goes to show how powerful TikTok has been in increasing global readership.

Written By Tanya Jain, Writer and Design Strategist 

The Effie Awards is just 4 days away and this year has seen an unprecedented number of entries across all categories. Professionals from marketing and advertising have spent hours selecting the winners. And these six industry stalwarts chose the Grand Effie.

Here's what each of them had to say.

Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lodha Developers

Really enjoyed the open-minded discussion with some of the best marketing brains in India. We came to our decision on the GE basis the larger impact on society and how to inspire India's amazing creative houses to do cutting edge and impactful work.

Suparna Mitra, Chief Executive Officer, Watches and Wearables Division, Titan Company Limited

The Effies are among the most prestigious events in the world in the field of marketing and I'm honoured to have served on the Grand Effie Jury this year. All the entries were rare gems- case studies that have become the stuff of lore in the marketing world in India. Each case was crisply presented with real insights leading to outstanding creatives and landmark results. My best wishes to the winners and the shortlisted entries!

Suresh Narayanan, Chairman & Managing Director, Nestle India Limited

“The Effie’s Grand Jury was inspiring, questioning, provocative, respectful and wise! We brought out the best possible arguments and arrived at the winner unanimously. Privileged to be part of this distinguished group”

Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive- Foods Division, ITC Foods Ltd.

‘The Effies have always been about celebrating truly effective work, be it through their categories, the rigor of entry forms, or the judging & scoring criteria, keeping brands honest to the agenda of submitting their most ‘effective work’.

This year however has been particularly delightful, the quality of the winning entries have demonstrated the evolution of marketing communications, keeping up with the evolving consumer motivations. True consumer centricity enabled by a prolific combination of human insights based creative ideas, media strategies, data and technology have been the essence, of almost all of the winning work.

May the best one win!

Neil George, Managing Director, NIVEA India Pvt. Ltd

“As a member of the Jury at this year’s Grand Effie, I was truly astounded by the quality of the entries. We found it difficult to pick the winners. But the ones that made the cut all stood out for the same key basics that help deliver great communication campaigns - powerful and compelling consumer insights, extra ordinary creative campaign ideas that have stood the test of time, ideas that are built around the brand promise & innovative use of Multi media and technology - all of this culminating in great results for the brand. My congratulations to the winners as well as all the brand and agency teams that participated in this year’s Effies.”

Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India Pvt. Ltd.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of judging- both solo and group discussion. The debate was very enriching with varied views. I learnt in the process too!!