MUMBAI: The number of fresh creatives is higher this year, but the Mirchi Kaan Awards jury appears to bemoan the fact that the edge is missing from radio advertising this past year.
The jury for the 6th Mirchi Kaan awards met for shortlisting the winners for best creatives in radio advertising in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Instituted in 2004, the Kaan Awards are an acknowledgement of creative excellence on the airwaves. ENIL CEO Prashant Panday is happy that the total number of entries, 750, is the same as last year, but there is an increase in the number of fresh creatives, which is about 250. "Also, there is better clarity on the categories this year as agencies are nominating their entries in specific categories rather than as multiple entries,... he says.
Musician Shantanu Moitra who was a part of the Kaan jury last year as well, is not content with the creatives this year. He elaborates, Radio creatives haven't moved forward since last year, radio seems to be on the back burner and television is the main focus for advertising agencies....
Creativity in radio advertising hasn't evolved from last year and has plunged, adds Ogilvy Creative Director Suguna Swami. Although there are some great creatives by and large, the nominations are shoddy with over dependence on accents. Many revolve around the same Punjabi, Tamil accent concepts and the content is missing. Although the programming and revenues of radio are increasing, it is way behind when it comes to creatives....
BBDO India Chairman and National Creative Director Josy Paul agrees, The quality of work this year is certainly not as impressive as that last year; maybe that's because the entries don't fully reflect the width and depth of work that has actually played on radio last year – specially in the regional markets....
Publicis Ambience National Creative Director Ashish Khazanchi says, There is an extreme disparity as some works are outstanding and some are way below the standard. Many concepts revolved around mimicry and the medium has to undergo innovations to pick up....
Moitra appreciates the fact that regional radio nominations have fared better than the urban nominations. Many radio creatives lack the knack of connecting with the urban audiences and they should experiment with different languages, dialects, people, beliefs outside the urban metropolis to evangelise the medium....
Khazanchi however says he is pleased that fresh creatives on radio have reached a stage where it doesn't recall any television commercial but laments the fact that there is lack of fresh ideas and new trends
One drawback at the Kaan awards is that language constraints do not allow regional ads to be translated by the jury. The jury is unanimous in its verdict that the Kaan awards must go beyond Delhi and Mumbai and go to different cities to get recognised.
In this sixth edition, the creativity has evolved with significant improvement, believes Panday. Agrees TAPROOT India founder and Former JWT COO Agnello Dias, The creatives are better than what I expected in this recession hit year. The quality of production of radio spots is to be appreciated as it seems the effort put in to make a radio commercial is equal to the effort for producing a sound track in a movie. Advertisers are open for allocating more budgets for creating radio advertising and that explains the detailing in production. Also three to four years ago, radio creatives were mainly created by interns or trainees in the advertising agency but today the best creative heads are working on it....
Echoes Panday, Being in the radio business, we rarely see straight lifts from television commercials any more and clients give specific briefs about radio advertising to the creative agencies. Also the creative heads are kicked with radio advertising and media planners include radio as a part of all their multimedia campaigns....
Says BBH managing partner Priti Nair, "Radio as a medium is not treated with equal importance. It always comes towards the end and Kaan awards are an effort to establish the medium. This year the radio spots are genuinely mature in terms of crafting and production. Last year we had a bunch of wholesome and witty ads compared to this year."
With corrections happening in the print space, radio is becoming an integrated part of multimedia campaigns and special people are assigned to make radio creatives.
This year, the Kaan awards would be given across 15 categories competing for the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards The other awards include Client of the Year for the most outstanding advertiser of 2008, Radio writer of the year, Agency of the year, Production House of the year and the Voice of the Year awards. And to top the list, the Single Crystal Award will be awarded to the most outstanding Radio commercial of the year. The winners of the 6th Mirchi Kaan Awards will be felicitated on 8 May in Mumbai.