In what can only be termed as unprecedented, MullenLowe Lintas Group, India picked up its 75th award for the year last night. Ironically for an agency that does not enter creative awards, it has emerged unambiguously as the “most awarded agency” in India in 2015. All 75 awards were won either for market/campaign effectiveness or on overall agency performance.
Beginning from the Effie India 2014, to the recently concluded Campaign South Asia Agency of the Year awards, MullenLowe Lintas Group has won a total of 75 honours this year. It began with the agency winning 7 Golds at Effie India announced in Jan 2015. It was the most by any agency for the year and beat the Gold tally of all other agencies put together. It went on to win another 6 Silver & 8 Bronze metals at the event. It followed this performance by winning the ‘Agency of the Year’ title and Carmencita Esteban Platinum Award at UA&P Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards. In all, the agency won 2 Grand Prix, 14 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 1 Bronze at the Tambuli awards this year.
The crowning moment for the group came when WARC 100, an annual report from World Advertising and Research Council ranked Lowe Lintas India as the No. 1 Creative Agency in the world while Kan Khajura Tesan (KKT) was adjudged the Best Marketing Campaign in the world. Further, at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards, the agency was declared Effectiveness Agency of the Year and went on to win 10 awards, including four Silver and six Bronze awards.
On the Effie Index front, MullenLowe Lintas Group went on to win the title of the Most Effective Agency in India and Asia Pacific. It was also adjudged the third most Effective agency globally. At the Cannes Lions 2015, KKT won a Bronze award for Creative Effectiveness while at Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, it won the Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness – the only such accolade for India.
At the Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, the group won a Grand Prix, a Gold, a Silver & a Bronze. The year culminated for the agency with a fine performance at the Campaign Asia Agency of the Year awards show where it was declared the ‘Best Creative Agency of the Year’ and also won the Best New Business Development Team of the Year, Best Strategic/Brand Planner of the Year and Best Account Person of the Year.
Awards Scorecard 2015 of MLLG:
Commenting on the agency’s strong performance on the awards front, Joseph George, Regional President|South & Southeast Asia & Group CEO|India said, “It’s been a milestone year for us in India. We are glad to have ended the year on the same high that we started it. All this recognition is a result of all our key people putting up their hands, wanting to be counted and bringing value to the table. And this happened only because everyone thought of themselves as key stakeholders of the company. ”
What made the honours this year even more special were a few special awards that were firsts for India. Noteworthy mentions include: The Local Hero Special Award for Havells at the Warc Prize for Asian Strategy; being declared Runners-up AdAge International Agency of the Year – again a first for an agency from India; and at the 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards – the award for strategic excellence where the best of Madison Avenue competes with the world – the agency did an unprecedented feat of consecutive double wins, two years in a row.
Adding his views on the agency’s achievement, Arun Iyer, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas India said, “I’m proud of the consistency with which each of our offices has churned out some great work across a large and diverse client set. Our work has excelled on a portfolio that’s a combination of classical and progressive brands, from young upstarts to large market leaders. 2015 serves as a reminder of how setting the bar high, is an everyday pursuit, and how successful teams are greater than the individuals.”
Amer Jaleel, Chairman & CCO, Mullen Lintas India said, “The best barometer of our work being appreciated is when it manages to bring about a shift in perception and thought among the people. That’s what we achieved with few of our brands that went on to redefine the way a campaign should be approached and which ended up winning awards that were unique in nature. Special accolades for Indian brands such as Havells, Tata Tea and the others were something that no agency had ever received before and we are proud to have set a trend by being the first.”