The year 2010 was a year of scams and even the Indian advertising industry was not spared. The industry this year was rocked by two major debates. First concerned the Creative Abbys at Goafest following which as many as 15 awards were withdrawn. And second was the allegedly dubious elections at industry body Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). We bring you a snapshot of all the advertising industry news that hit the headlines this year.

Scandal at Goafest

India?s largest advertising festival, Goafest, hosted by the Advertising Club of Bombay and AAAI continues to tread rough waters. For one, the event has failed to unite the Indian advertising industry and big agencies including Lowe Lintas, McCann Erickson and others continue to stay away from the festival. This year the Creative Abbys got entangled in a bigger scam as many as four agencies including Mudra, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather and Taproot India came under the scanner.

While the names of the ad agencies involved could still not be confirmed, as many as 15 trophies were called back. In an official communiqu? the Advertising Club of Bombay admitted ? the club has discovered that this process breach has occurred in 29 instances involving multiple agencies, out of 4117 entries for the awards?.

High drama at AAAI polls

The AAAI elections turned out to be another minefield this year. JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris who was the incumbent president of AAAI did not want a second term. Nagesh Alai, executive director, Interface Communications and incumbent vice-president, AAAI, during Harris?s tenure was hoping to take over. But Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Dentsu India, challenged this and contested for the post. Finally, Alai won by two votes. The appointment of the vice-president was equally dramatic. The name of Neville Gomes of Multimedia Aquarius was suggested for the post, which was again challenged, and Sandeep Goyal suggested Lynn de Souza for the position, which was then unanimously accepted. However, the debate continues. Rajesh Aggarwal of Dentsu Marcom, who lost the election for an executive commitee position by one vote has challenged the conduct of the AAAI elections in Bombay City Civil Court. A separate suit has filed by Goyal. The matter is currently sub-judice.

Course correction

While some industry bodies are washing their dirty linen in public, there are others who are in the course correction mode. Advertising industry watchdog The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which completed 25 years in 2010, added a fresh impetus to the guidelines and services of the association. Industry stalwarts feel that this new focus was required as big advertisers knock the doors of the Indian judicial system when competitors take potshots at them instead of going to ASCI for redressal. For instance, when Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble locked horns over Rin versus Tide television commercials, neither parties approached ASCI, and P&G took HUL to court.

New kids on the block

The coming together of Sal Balsara?s Madison World and international advertising veteran Trevor Beattie?s Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) can be tagged as one of the smartest joint ventures of recent times. Madison World, which hasn?t been able to make much headway in the creative business, needed a much stronger strategy to compete with bigger players, and this it has got through its joint venture with BMB. Another international boutique agency, UK-based Naked Communications, set up shop in India this March. The agency was launched in UK in 2000 by Jon Wilkins, John Harlow and Will Collin. While international agencies are making a beeline into India, this year also saw the birth of homegrown agencies. Renowned creative heads Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat launched their own agency, Scarecrow Communications.

Agency report card

After working with Airtel for 15 long years, Rediffusion Y&R this year lost the account to JWT. The agency also lost another key and long term client Colgate. Meanwhile, WPP announced a dedicated integrated marketing communications unit ?Team Colgate? for Colgate-Palmolive in India to be housed in Bates 141, to whom the account moved.

Meanwhile, BBDO India led by advertising veteran Josy Paul picked India?s first PR Lions at Cannes Lions for its campaign Gillette Women Against Lazy Stubble. At the same time, GroupM?s largest media agency MindShare India won the Global Office of the Year in the MindShare Worldwide Network.

The Mudra Group under Madhukar Kamath has also undergone a major transformation this year. With a new brand identity, the group today is in the running to become one of India?s top communications hotshops, boasting of global clients, and ready to venture into areas such as shopper marketing, sports marketing and public affair communications. Saatchi & Saatchi launched two significant business units this year –Saatchi & Saatchi X which is the global shopper marketing agency, and Saatchi & Saatchi Health which is under Publicis Healthcare Communications Group.

Dream catchers

One event that truly embraced the entire ad fraternity and brought some cheer was Portfolio Night hosted by Ogilvy & Mather, one of India?s top-notch agencies. An initiative by ihaveanidea, which is one of the largest communities of the international advertising industry, where the country?s top creative minds review portfolios of students, juniors and creative aspirants in an exciting and engaging environment, the first India edition attracted 23 top Indian creative heads from various advertising agencies under one roof after a really long hiatus.

Movers and shakers

The leading light of the ad industry and the country?s most celebrated ad man, executive chairman and creative director of Ogilvy & Mather South Asia, Piyush Pandey, received the lifetime achievement award from AAAI this year. His one-time protegee, Prasoon Joshi, the executive chairman of McCann Erickson India, was this year promoted as the chairman of its worldwide creative leadership council.

After a long stint of 11 years, Ravi Kiran, CEO-South Asia of Starcom MediaVest Group exited the media buying agency. The year also saw the exit of Rediffusion Y&R?s chief creative creative officer Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, who joined Bates 141 as its national creative director (NCD). Meanwhile, Cheil Worldwide southwest Asia NCD, Prathap Suthan, put in his papers.

At Lowe Lintas, Charles Cadell, its erstwhile CEO, quit this year. Joseph George, deputy chief executive officer, Lowe Lintas India, has been promoted as the new CEO. And just this month, Mahesh Chauhan, group chief executive officer of Rediffusion Y&R, put in his papers. Again, Priti Nair, managing partner at BBH India quit the agency and is now planning to start her own agency. Aniruddha Banerjee, chairman of Publicis Ambience also put in his papers this year.

The growth momentum

The Ficci-KPMG report suggests that with the market recovering in the second half of 2009, the Indian advertising industry is expected to grow at least 12% this year to reach Rs 24,690 crore. Online advertising continues to be one of the fastest growing segments within the entire advertising gamut. Given its small base it is expected to grow at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 29.6% over the next 5 years. By 2014, the size of the entire Indian advertising industry is expected to reach Rs 42,690 crore.

Correction

The cover story titled ?A Fresh Approach? in the

Nov 30 issue of BrandWagon carried the wrong name for the marketing director, laundry care (India & ASEAN), Procter & Gamble on Page 2. Soumitra Sen is the marketing director, laundry care (India & ASEAN), Procter & Gamble. Deepak Deshpande is vice-president-retail of Tata International, another client of Leo Burnett. The error is regretted.