Bagging 24 metals, Leo Burnett India was recognized as the Creative Agency of The Year, taking home 5 Gold, 9 Silver, 4 Bronze and 6 Merits as the GoasFest 2023 concluded yesterday in a dazzling display of creativity, innovations and talents over three days.

Leo Burnett India was also recognized as the Branded Content & Entertainment Specialist Agency of The Year with a total of 7 metals, including 2 Gold, 3 Silver, and 2 Bronze.

Apart from the above felicitations, Leo Burnett India was handed the Brand Activation & Promotions Specialist Agency of The Year title with a total of 11 metals across 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze.  Leo Burnett India also won a Grand Prix for Oreo India’s Oreo #BringBack2011 campaign.

Good Morning Films was recognized as the Video Craft Specialist of The Year with a total of 20 metals that included 5 Gold, 6 Silver, 5 Bronze, and 4 Merits.

The Young Maverick Gold Metal was awarded to Vasudha Roy, Abhijith SS, and Amaljith P of McCann Worldgroup India for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank’s ‘Shagun Ka Lifafa’ campaign.

The diversity, equality and inclusion honour too was awarded to Leo Burnett India for P&G Whisper’s ‘The Missing Chapter’.

VMLY&R won a Green Award for Unilever’ Smart Fill along with White Rivers Media for Astral Foundation’s Ice Stupas in Ladakh.

Grey Group won the Red ABBY for Netmeds’ ‘Silence Cancer Not The Fight’.

Meanwhile, the 16th edition of Goafest concluded with flair after three days of knowledge seminars, conclaves by industry experts and leaders, masterclasses and parties with the industry joyously cheering for the Abby One Show Award winners.

Post lunch the spirits were high, signalling a consistency in mood and energy at the end of this phenomenal fest. To ensure this, an industry musical contest called Advertising Rocks was presented by Radio City with judges including playback singer Papon, Rajeev Raja, Founder & Soundsmith, Brandmusiq, Merlin D’Souza, Founding Partner & Principal Composer, Brandmusiq, and Curator, Subhash Kamath.

The winners in their respective categories — Moninder Agrohiya (solo),  Tushar Tharayil (western solos), and Scrapped (band) — took it all as the win was well deserved.

The session titled ‘Understanding Young India’ by MTV and conducted by Utsav Chaudhuri, Head Marketing, YME, Viacom18, examined the vibrant and dynamic minds of the youth, unravelling their aspirations, challenges, and unique perspectives, backed by data.

Utsav mentioned, “Passion, interest, and hobbies are on the rise amongst Young India as they are into monetisation. They do not want to cultivate hobbies that generate monies.”

Utsav also touched upon several significant aspects that Young India consumes content, online appearances, their outlook on relationships, career outlook, religion, family, and more. Again, all these facets and insights were supported by data.

Thereafter, Sports18 presented a Knowledge Seminar called ‘Media Agencies Panel – Breaking the Old Mould’, moderated by Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, with panellists including Aditi Mishra, CEO- Lodestar UM, Amin Lakhani, CEO, South Asia, Mindshare, Mohit Joshi, CEO-Havas Media Group India and Naveen Khemka-CEO South Asia – Essence Mediacom.

In a world driven by constant change, it is imperative to break free from the constraints of tradition and explore new possibilities.

Answering questions about structures posed by Sam, Aditi responded and dwelled on the need for fluidity within the teams, which ensures that learnings move across in different directions. Amin also added, “The need to break structural automation; agencies need to bring back the attitude of problem-solving as they do for their clients.”

News18 Network presented yet another Knowledge Seminar called ‘IAA — Voice Of Change on Gender Bias’, which was moderated by Megha Tata, CEO, Cosmos Maya India Pvt Ltd, with panellists comprising Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe, South Asia, Kailashnath Adhikari, Business Head, Sri Adhikari Brothers Network, Lata Venkatesh — Executive Editor, CNBC TV 18 and Tarun Katial, Founder & CEO, Coto.

In a world where gender equality remains an ongoing battle, this gathering of diverse minds held the key to fostering lasting change. Through engaging discussions and thought-provoking insights, the panel delved deep into the pervasive issue of gender bias and its multifaceted impact on our societies.

The last Knowledge Seminar of Goafest 2023 was presented by Rajasthan Patrika. ‘Future of Indian Cinema: Exploring Artistic Freedom and Challenging Conventions’ saw actors Tabu and Rana Daggubati in conversation with film critic Rajeev Masand speak about the path charted for Indian cinema.

This session served as a platform to explore the ever-evolving landscape of Indian cinema where the boundaries of creativity are pushed because of technology today, and conventional norms are challenged.

Tabu stated, “The challenge for any creative field is to create something they haven’t seen and/or experienced before. Likewise for me, I tap into that part of my belief.”

Tabu and Rana also discussed components of cinema, including technology, distribution, infrastructure, language, global representation, future and more. The two panellists shared their learnings and experiences with the crowd, which also gave us an insider’s view.

Masterclasses for the latter half of the day had interesting takeaways, too. In ‘Unleashing the Power of Flipkart’s Shopper Intelligence’, Sudarshan Sharma, Senior Director, Monetization & Product Marketing, Flipkart, covered how advertisers can use Flipkart Ads to drive marketing objectives on social media and the open internet based on shoppers’ behaviour.

He shared insights on helping brands to drive the marketing funnel beside the shopping experiences that Flipkart users go through. He held forth on partners and ways to use Flipkart’s audience intelligence to benefit the brand with conversions.

The masterclasses finale was ‘Data, Creative, Production & Technology’. In the session, production platform Prodigious India EVP & Head Varun Shah and Vikram Pandey spoke about how combining data, creativity, and production can give creators the multiplier effect to manifest incredible results.

In the exhilarating masterclass, they took the audience through creating Airtel 5G’s ad, which recreated the momentous 1983 Cricket World Cup and Kapil Dev’s score of 175 runs from scratch, using 1,000+ data points, VFX and human data.

Varun Shah said, “It’s not human vs AI but human X AI. If we use Artificial Intelligence the way it’s meant to be used, brands will see the multiplier effect. Look at AI as a tool to enable you to do cool stuff.”

Prasanth Kumar, President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India and CEO of GroupM South Asia, in his address at the end of Goafest 2023, said, “I am very grateful to the array of speakers, moderators, and panellists who have made this year nothing less than an extravagant exchange of experiences, information and insights. We return with our hearts full of gratitude and spirit full of creativity. Each session brought a unique perspective and added immense value to the table. Each session was a treasure trove of wisdom, creativity, innovation, and inspiration.

“The expertise and passion of each speaker shone through as they shared their experiences, expertise, and industry trends. I was captivated by the depth of knowledge and the thought-provoking discussions that unfolded during the festival. The sheer ability to convey complex ideas in a relatable and engaging manner was truly remarkable! I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the sponsors, who have been generously supportive and helpful.”

Speaking about the Abby One Show Awards 2023, Partha Sinha, President of the Times of India Group and President of The Advertising Club, said, Goafest has yet again proven to be an extravaganza that brings together the entire media and creative fraternity together.

“From the staggering number of entries to the jury, to the wins, and more, every aspect of this fest has been nothing short of astounding. We’re setting international standards and pushing boundaries with ABBY One Show; you all have witnessed it. We take immense pride in calling ourselves the voice of the industry, the representatives of this industry and this year’s fest is a testimonial in itself.

“The atmosphere was buzzing with creativity and excellence, and it was truly inspiring to see so many talented individuals coming together and manifesting all that we have witnessed this year.”

Jaideep Gandhi, Chairman, Goafest 2023 Organising Committee, thanked all the sponsors, speakers and delegates, committee members of The Ad Club and AAAI and their respective teams  for giving their time to make the conference a tremendous success.

Rana Barua, Chairman of ABBY Awards Governing Council 2023 and Vice President of The Ad Club, remarked, “The numbers of entries we received for ABBY One Show Awards, the quantum of participation and the incredible award evenings only testify the industry’s undying zeal to celebrate creativity and innovation. “