I have been asked by Jagdip Bakshi, Chairman, GoaFest, 2008 to deliver a Keynote speech this year in April in Goa, India.
GoaFest is billed as the 'Cannes Advertising Festival' of Asia-Pac. Campaign India, the event's official newsletter and one of the leading marketing publications in India says all the big guys from India and beyond will be there. Many agency people and many clients will be there. This year's show is going to be extra special because it will bring together the fractious Indian industry together for the first time in one event.
Participants will hear from the following keynote speakers this year:
Craig Davis of JWT
Alex Bogusky of Crispin, Porter and Bugusky
Scott Goodson of StrawberryFrog
Tony Granger Of Saatchi & Saatchi
Stephen Gatfield of Lowe
Garrick Hamm of Williams Murray Hamm
Donald Gunn of The Gunn Report
John Harlow of Naked
Kevin Swanepoel of The One Club
Herman Vaske of Emotional Network
It's an exciting time to be in India. It is part of the BRIC countries, which are growing and growing despite the economic woes of the West. India remains a unique market in that many clients are still experimenting with the web. TV and other traditional media still are the staple, though this is changing. India is probably the only place in the world where newspapers, magazines and TV are still growing. In fact some 100 new TV channels will be launched this year, all funded by some really big companies. Beneath this however is the growth of social networks and the digi-literi who are establishing the future, much like it is being established in every other country on earth. Indian cars are typically outfitted with more advanced technology as standard compared to cars here in the US and Europe. Most come with MP3 connection because of the lack of radio programs. In addition, many Indians are more likely to have a cell phone as their main line vs a land-based home line and texting is standard. This means the society is able to make gigantic technological leaps fast. So stay tuned. While newspapers and TV are growing, so too are many other channels.
Now back to GoaFest...here is more information:
The Hindu Business Line magazine described the event as follows:
The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has announced Goafest 2008, an advertising awards festival. This year Goafest will take place on Cavelossim Beach, Goa from April 3 to April 5, 2008.
The festival will be kicked off on April 3 by the Advertising Conclave, organised by the AAAI in conjunction with media industry bodies such as the IBF and the INS.
This will be followed by seminars covering the spectrum of creative, media, interactive, retail, global trends by international personalities, on April 4 and 5.
The two award shows held in association with the Ad Club of Mumbai will be the Abby evenings.
The Media Abbys will be given out on April 4 and the Creative Abbys on April 5.
“The AAAI Goafest has been embraced wholeheartedly by the advertising fraternity, and will undoubtedly achieve new milestones with every year.
The coming together of the AAAI and the Ad Club Mumbai is definitely a landmark event.
This has been made possible only by the desire of the entire industry to have one award and one glorious festival.” said Mr Madhukar Kamath, President, AAAI.
“The industry is witnessing challenging times in our operating environment for which we need to focus our priorities in doing things in a collaborative manner and not dissipate energy through frictional losses. Members of both the AAAI and AdClub have a progressive mindset to come together on issues pertaining to the Indian advertising industry to make it globally competitive. Said Mr Bhaskar Das, President, AbClub Mumbai.
The objective of the AAAI Goafest is to present young professionals the opportunity to interact not just with the Indian gurus of advertising but also meet some international personalities extremely well known in their respective fields.
“This year the line up promises to be even more impressive than 2007,” said Mr Jagdip Bakshi, Chairman, Goafest, 2008.
“Our key effort is to improve the package offered to the under ’30’s. Last year we had over 2,300 attendees, of which over 800 were below 30.
“We are sure this number will increase substantially in 2008,” Mr Bakshi added.
TelevisionPoint, another publication describes it this way:
After a fair tussle for recognition on their ad awards, with a good amount of petty bickering comments thrown in, from the advertising industry, the Advertising Club of Bombay and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) have decided to come together for Goafest 2008, which will take place at Cavelossim Beach, Goa from April 3 to April 5, 2008.
The festival will be kicked on by the Advertising Conclave, organised by the AAAI in conjunction with media industry bodies such as the IBF and the INS. This will be followed by seminars covering the spectrum of creative, media, interactive, retail, global trends by international personalities, on April 4 and 5.
The two award shows held in association with the Ad Club of Mumbai will be the Abby evenings. The Media Abbys will be given out on April 4 and the Creative Abbys on April 5.
"The AAAI Goafest has been embraced wholeheartedly by the advertising fraternity, and will undoubtedly achieve new milestones with every year. The coming together of the AAAI and the Ad Club Mumbai is definitely a landmark event. This has been made possible only by the desire of the entire industry to have one award and one glorious festival." said Madhukar Kamath, President, AAAI.
"The industry is witnessing challenging times in our operating environment for which we need to focus our priorities in doing things in a collaborative manner and not dissipate energy through frictional losses. Members of both the AAAI and AdClub have a progressive mindset to come together on issues pertaining to the Indian advertising industry to make it globally competitive." said Bhaskar Das, President, AbClub Mumbai.
"This year the line up promises to be even more impressive than 2007. Our key effort is to improve the package offered to the under '30's. Last year we had over 2,300 attendees, of which over 800 were below 30. We are sure this number will increase substantially in 2008." said Jagdip Bakshi, Chairman, Goafest, 2008.
Hopefully, the coming together of the two entities will wipe out all the bitterness, even animosity, which people in the industry had begun to vocalise in higher decibels more recently. And hopefully too, the industry will move forward to submitting creative works that are genuinely created for the market, for the awards.
While it is true that new advertisers whose business are just beginning to chart growth trajectories, look at award records since they don't really understand advertising delivery, to select their agencies, the industry needs to move to bigger-benefit agreements to tackle major problems it is facing today.
Perhaps it is also right that the ad industry's association, AAAI, concentrates on industry development and growth issues, while leaving awards to an established representative club that has been presenting them for years. Collaboration, not friction - sounds good.
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