The recently concluded ‘Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity’ held at Singapore marks a paradigm shift in the Asian creative industry with the region showcasing some truly outstanding work.
Indian agencies made a spectacular splash, winning a total of 64 metals, including six Grand Prix Spikes, 8 Gold Spikes, 25 Silver Spikes, and 25 Bronze Spikes. In addition, agencies also won 3 awards in the ‘Creative Effectiveness’ category although this does not have a specific medallion.
Dentsu Webchutney, the digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), became the most awarded Indian agency at the festival, winning 20 metals, comprising seven Bronze, seven Silver, five Gold, and one Grand Prix.
In the ‘Brand Experience and Activation’ category, Dentsu Webchutney’s work for Flipkart on Hagglebot took both a Gold Spike and a Silver Spike. In the same category, the agency won a Bronze for their work on Swiggy’s “Voice of Hunger” while bagging a Grand Prix in the ‘Creative eCommerce’ category for their work on Hagglebot.
In the ‘Direct’ category, Webchutney won 3 Silver Spikes for Flipkart’s Hagglebot while Wunderman Thompson Mumbai picked up a Bronze Spike for Jimmy Nelson Foundation’s ‘Blink Test’.
In the ‘Entertainment’ category, Webchutney struck again, winning 2 Gold Spikes and 1 Silver Spike for their work for Trigger Happy Entertainment on ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’.
The “Voice of Hunger” also won a Gold Spike in the Entertainment category besides a Silver Spike in the ‘Mobile’ category and a Silver Spike in the ‘PR’ category. Interestingly, “Code Name: Uri” also won a Gold and a Bronze Spike in the PR category.
MEDIA
Hagglebot and Uri also fetched Dentsu Webchutney a Bronze Spike each in the ‘Media’ category. In the same category, “Code Name: Uri” won a Silver Spike with Webchutney’s ‘Chai-Fi’ for Keo Food Products winning two Bronze Spikes. Mullen Lowe Lintas also won two Silver Spikes in the Media category for their work on Unilever’s “Lifebuoy – Germ Nashini”.
Ashish Bhasin, CEO APAC and Chairman India – Dentsu Aegis Network, was thrilled: “Goafest, Cannes, Kyoorius and now Spikes! Dentsu Webchutney has surfaced as leaders across all… a culmination of our focus on creative.”
Bhasin declared this marked a transformational shift: “This is a new benchmark and also signals the beginning of the end of legacy creative agencies that are struggling to adapt to the changing environment.”
DIGITAL
In the ‘Digital’ category, Dentsu Webchutney took home a Gold Spike for Swiggy’s ‘Voice of Hunger’. Grey India won a Bronze for their work on ‘Breast Buffer’ for their client Alt Balaji. Publicis Singapore also bagged a Bronze Spike for their ‘One in a Million’ work they executed for Vicks India. The Digital category also saw Leo Burnett bagging a Bronze Spike for their work on “#StopMithani” for HDFC Bank.
In the ‘Film’ category, Publicis Singapore’s work on Vicks India’s ‘One in a Million’ campaign also fetched them a Gold Spike and three Silver Spikes.
HEALTHCARE & PR
In the ‘Healthcare’ and ‘PR’ categories, Leo Burnett India won a Grand Prix for the HDFC Bank’s “#StopMithani” campaign in Healthcare and a Silver for the same campaign in PR. Leo Burnett won 6 awards with 4 bronzes, 1 Silver, and a Grand Prix. The agency won a Bronze each for the Spotify “Beat of a Billion” in Design; the HDFC Bank “#Stop Mithani” in Digital; the HDFC Bank “#StopMithani” in Direct; and for P&G’s “Shiksha Bittu: The 75 year old Student” campaign.
DESIGN
In the Design category, Wunderman Thompson, Mumbai/J. Walter Thompson India, Mumbai/J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam won one Gold Spike and one Silver Spike for their entry “Blink Test” for the Jimmy Nelson Foundation. TBWA\India won a Bronze Spike in Design for “One Mindful Mind”.
Beaming about the win, Rajdeepak Das, MD India and Chief Creative Officer Leo Burnett South Asia, said: “This is a great win for our team and we can’t thank the HDFC Bank team enough for believing in our ideas. This is the story of Mr. Mithani who has donated blood 151 times and has just turned 65 – an age after which donating blood can be fatal. We got the entire nation to save him by donating blood in his place — 3,500,000 people pledged to donate blood to stop him. Congratulations to both the HDFC Bank and Leo Burnett teams on winning the Grand Prix.”
In the Healthcare category, Current Global Mumbai won a Silver Spike for their entry “Can Yoga Sell Lubricants?”. The entry also got them a Bronze Spike in the PR category. TBWA\India won a Bronze in the same category for their entry ‘One Mindful Mind’ for Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute. For the same entry, TBWA\India also won a Grand Prix in the Print and Publishing category.
DDB Mudra Group’s entry titled “Project Free Period”, for Stayfree India, won a Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness category. Along with the Grand Prix, the entry also won the Creative Effectiveness Spike in the ‘Creative Effectiveness for Good’ category. The agency’s work with Hotstar — the ‘Superheroes’ film bagged a Silver in the Film category while ‘#MakeYourChoice’ for McDonald’s was awarded a Bronze in the media category.
Grey India’s work on Gillette’s much-talked about “Barbershop Girls” campaign got them a Silver Spike in the Film category and a Gold Spike in the Music category. In the Film category, Leo Burnett India bagged a Bronze for their work on “Bittu – the 75 Year Old Student” for P&G Shiksha.
In the Film category, again, J. Walter Thompson India won a Silver Spike for “Blink Test” for Jimmy Nelson Foundation. Wunderman Thompson Mumbai won three Silver Spikes and a Bronze for “Blink Test” in the ‘Film Craft’ category. BBDO India won a Grand Prix for Sons #ShareTheLoad in the ‘Glass: The Award for Change’ category.
EFFECTIVENESS SPIKE
At Spikes Asia 2019, FCB India won the Grand Prix and the Effectiveness Spike. The “Open Door Project” for the Millennium Schools bagged the Grand Prix for Brand Experience and Activation in the ‘Sponsorship and Brand Partnership’ category while the “Sindoor Khela” campaign for the Times of India took the Effectiveness Spike in the Creative Effectiveness for Good category.
McCann India won honours in the ‘Outdoor’ category, bagging a Bronze Spike for work for the Parinaam Foundation titled ‘Touch Me Not’. McCann’s work titled ‘Cure 1’ and ‘Cure 2’ also fetched them two Bronze Spike Campaign metals.
Akzonobel India took home two Bronze Spike campaign metals for their work on Dulux Paint called ‘Painted by Paint 2’ and ‘Painted by Paint 4’.
PRINT AND PUBLISHING
In the Print and Publishing category, TBWA\India won a Grand Prix for their work ‘One Mindful Mind’ for the Neurogen Institute.
Famous Innovations also bagged two Silver Spike Campaigns in this category for their entries titled ‘Deceit’ and ‘Rage’ for the Tadoba Wildlife Sanctuary and Irai Safari.
In the Radio and Audio category, McCann India got home a Silver Spike for their work for Reckitt Benckiser’s Moov Pain Relief titled ‘Mother.’
