MAM
Lowe Lintas India, Lifebuoy get India’s first Global Effie
MUMBAI: Lowe Lintas and Partners India‘s campaign for ‘Lifebuoy Super-Fast Handwash‘ was declared the 2012 Global Effies Bronze winner at New York.
The Global Effies had called for entries of globally effective campaigns across the world, and the Lifebuoy entry was shortlisted earlier in the month along with brands like Nike, Google and X- box.
The 2012 North American Effie Effectiveness Index rankings were revealed at the 44th annual Effie Awards Gala in New York City.
On the win, Lifebuoy global planning director Saji Abraham and global business director Virat Tandon said, “Lifebuoy ‘Superfast‘ Hand-wash is a liquid handwash formulation that kills 99.9 per cent germs in 10 seconds. We responded to this fantastic innovation with a simple but insightful and persuasive idea – that children are in a hurry when it comes to hand-washing; and so if your handwash cannot keep pace with them, germs on their hands will just not go. This campaign won because we were bold, competitive and consumer focused at the same time.”
Lowe Lintas and Partners- India CEO Joseph George added, “As an agency, we take the Effies seriously. And so winning, not just the Lowe & Partners Worldwide Network‘s but also India‘s first ever Global Effies is hugely satisfying and encouraging.”
Based on the analysis of Effie Awards competition finalist and winner data from the past year, Procter & Gamble is the most effective advertiser in North America (for the second year in a row), IBM is the most effective brand, WPP is the most effective advertising holding company and Ogilvy & Mather is the most effective advertising agency network.
Meanwhile, Ogilvy & Mather‘s New York office is the most effective individual agency office, while McKinney, based in Durham, North Carolina, is the most effective independently held advertising agency.
Wieden+Kennedy and Chrysler‘s Imported from Detroit is the Grand Effie winner for the 2012 Effie Awards.
The top three most effective advertising holding companies in North America are: WPP, Publicis Groupe and Omnicom, while the top five most effective agency networks are Ogilvy & Mather, Leo Burnett Worldwide, Starcom MediaVest Group, BBDO Worldwide and Saatchi & Saatchi. Also, the top five most effective independent agencies in North America are McKinney, Wieden+Kennedy, BBH New York, Droga5 and SYPartners.
“The Effie Effectiveness Index has put a spotlight on the industry‘s top performers, and created a learning tool to help all of us become better marketers,” IPG Mediabrands global CEO and Effie Worldwide chairman of the board Matt Seiler said.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
