By ARCOPOL CHAUDHURI
(Indiantelevision.com Team)

(30 June 2007 8:20 am)

MUMBAI: Amidst cheering and the roll of drums, there was jubilation amongst the Lodestar Universal contingent, which bagged the Media Agency of the Year at the The Advertising Club Bombay Emvies 2007 awards last night.

The agency notched a total of 61 points as the last year's winners Mindshare followed a close second with 55 points. Other agencies in the competition included Madison Media and Oglivy and Mather which notched 31 and 52 points respectively.

Lodestar won the Best Integrated campaigns for 'Nerolac - Impressions Jama De'. But what really romped them was their dominance in the 'Best Media Research' category.

Their 'Matchmaker - Print Love Story', 'Brand Engagement analyser' and 'Toogle - the smartest search engine on television' case studies were instrumental in their victory.

Lodestar Universal COO Nandini Dias was jubilant: "We're really happy with the work we've done over the past one year. Some of the campaigns that were presented this year were extremely well-researched and have created a benchmark for Indian media agencies."

Cannes jury member and Madison Communication chairman and MD Sam Balsara acknowledged a shift in the battle between agencies. He said, "Due to the boom in the media, there has definitely been a shift of priorities for agencies. The challenge, now is, to decide, which media to use, how to use it and how much to spend on it."

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Advertising Club Bombay president Kalpana Rao said, "We see a lot of young talent working on all these campaigns, which is fantastic. The case studies especially, were very tightly written. It's an indication that the senior guys at the agencies have really worked hard on the minutae of the details presented."

EMVIE committee chairperson Apurva Purohit credited the creative brains for mapping the campaigns effectively. "We might be losing out abroad for shortcomings in presentation, but this year at EMVIES, it's different. The entries are much better and I especially liked some of the Mindshare campaigns for Surf."

This year the EMVIES received 384 entries out of which 54 were shortlisted. Two members of the Best Media Agency get a chance to be a part of the Brazilian Grand Prix 2007, to be held in October