IndIAA Regional Awards Off To A Flying Start

The IndIAA Regional Awards event was held last evening, graced by several luminaries from the world of advertising, including Sam Balsara, Ramesh Narayan and Sundar Srinivasan Swamy, among others. The event was attended by a host of advertising and media professionals.

Sam Balsara, who addressed the audience spoke about ways of improving a brand image and emerging ahead of the competition in an increasingly complex advertising world. He pointed out that while the budgets which companies allocated to advertising were much higher now compared to the overall scenario about two decades ago, unless the money was spent on worthwhile pathways of advertising they did not generate the required traction. The advertising legend said that media planning and creativity had to go alongside and that one could ill-afford to ideate and then bring the media planners into the picture today. He listed out 17 points which would help a brand grow in this increasingly competitive world, hold its own and get ahead.

Ramesh Narayan, President, IAA India Chapter said that it was heartening to bring the regional awards to Hyderabad for the first time. He pointed out that languages had nuances which held a magic of their own and it made sense to ideate in one's own language and use it for communication. He was pleased with the response which the regional awards had generated and hoped that the next event to be held in Pune would be bigger and would draw similar response.

Sundar Srinivasan Swamy, senior VP IAA Global and Chairman IndIAA Regional Awards congratulated the winners and added that he was pleased with the response as well as the process of selection. He congratulated the jury for doing an excellent job and living up to the standards that National IndIAA Awards had set as a benchmark.

Commissioner of Hyderabad Police Anjani Kumar spoke about the image of the police, the reduction in crime and brief history of policing in Hyderabad.

Siva Kumar, Group Head - Agri & IT Business, ITC Limited, Chairman of the Jury, elaborated on the process of selection and thanked all his fellow jury members.

Jayesh Ranjan, IT Secretary, Government of Telangana, said that Hyderabad held rich potential for advertising as an industry. He pointed that some of biggest players in Visual Effects and other supportive industries were located in Hyderabad. Extending a warm welcome to the delegates at the awards event, he promised all support to the advertising industry on behalf of Telangana government.

The event was sponsored by Sakshi Media Group, Bharati Cements and Prakash Arts. It was supported by the Government of Telangana.