MAM
Ad agencies compete in Yahoo! Hackathon
NEW DELHI: Yahoo! India has announced the successful completion of its first ever Agency Hack in India, the first to be held outside the United States.
The 24-hour non-stop Hackathon was held at Gurgaon on 2 and 3 November. The event saw participation from leading advertising agencies with teams from Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai competing to come up with smart digital and tech-powered solutions to address real-life challenges.
In the past, Yahoo! has organized successful Agency Hacks in New York with large advertising groups such as WPP and Publicis.
Agency teams comprising developers, designers, user-experience specialists, copy-writers, media planners and digital strategists got together to come up with innovative ideas and build prototype solutions within 24 hours. Participating teams could choose to either build a campaign-based solution or a product-based one using technologies from Yahoo! and other players. Seven agencies, including Ogilvy, Webchutney, Sapient Nitro, ad2c, Digitas, Indiatimes and Reprise Media participated in this event.
Eight working prototypes ranging from mobile applications, to companion apps in a living room experience, to social apps for voting and blood donations, were completed in the frenzied 24-hour hacking event.
The hacks were adjudged by a team comprising technology, media and marketing experts. The Gold Prize was won by the team from Web Chutney (Mandeep Singh, Sattvik Mishra, Gurbaksh Singh, Abhishek Saxena and Akshay Raheja) with their whacky utilitarian hack ‘Y! Loo‘ – a hardware-led hack that usesYahoo! Messenger and allows users to remotely check the status of the office loos (and conference rooms). Users can knock on the door if the loo is engaged and it is smart enough to notify the user back, once vacant. Team Digitas (Akshat Bhardwaj, Prosenjit Som, Sidharth K Dhanda, Vivek R Sharma) walked away with the Silver Prize for their twitter-based hack “Twinority Report”, a tweet investigator that anticipates criminal intentions ranging from drug abuse to suicide to serious national threats by analyzing keyword patterns. Bronze Prize was won by Sapient Nitro (Syed Suffiyan, Parag Gajjar) for their movie viewing companion experience platform “Lens”.
“It feels awesome to have won at the first-ever Agency Hack in India. For this event we wanted to solve a problem that we ourselves face and that‘s how we came up with the Y Loo. We are five people in our team, and only one has been to the US. So a trip to participate in the international hack event is thrilling. We are so kicked about it!”, said Sattvik Mishra, from the winning team from Web Chutney.
The Agency Hack was one of the initiatives that Yahoo! hosted in the run up to the prestigious Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Awards. This year‘s Yahoo! Big Idea Chair, has received a significant 383 entries across 8 categories. The entries will be evaluated and judged by a panel of 16 eminent jury members from diverse sectors within the marketing and advertising world. The panel will shortlist three outstanding campaigns in each of the 8 categories: Best Use of Display Advertising, Best Online Video Advertising, Best Use of Social Media, Best Use of Technology, Best Use of Mobile Advertising, Best Use of Search, Digital 360, andYahoo! Big Idea Chair Award. They will also select the Grand Winner from amongst all the entries received across all categories. The winners will be announced at a gala event in Mumbai on 9 November.
Brands
Axis Bank named Official Banking Partner of DP World PGTI
Partnership supports all tournaments this season to grow professional golf in India.
MUMBAI: Axis Bank just teed up a hole-in-one partnership because when a bank sponsors golf’s biggest swing in India, even the fairways feel more financially secure. Axis Bank has been appointed Official Banking Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India (DP World PGTI), strengthening its commitment to sporting excellence and community engagement while backing the growth of professional golf across the country.
Under the partnership, Axis Bank will support all DP World PGTI tournaments this season, contributing to talent development, enhanced tournament experiences and wider fan engagement. The collaboration aligns the bank’s values of precision, discipline and trust with the Tour’s focus on performance and opportunity.
Axis Bank executive director Munish Sharda said, “We are pleased to partner with DP World PGTI as its Official Banking Partner. Golf embodies precision, discipline, and a pursuit of excellence qualities that strongly reflect who we are at Axis Bank. This association also strengthens our engagement with India’s growing premium customer segments, where the sport has a deep and enduring connect.”
Professional Golf Tour of India president Kapil Dev said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Axis Bank as a Tour Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India. Partnerships of this stature play a vital role in strengthening the foundation of the Tour, enhancing opportunities for our players, and expanding the sport’s reach across the country.”
Professional Golf Tour of India CEO Amandeep Johl added, “Axis Bank’s strong legacy of excellence, innovation, and nationwide reach aligns perfectly with DP World PGTI’s goal to elevate professional golf in India and provide greater opportunities for our players.”
In a sport where every stroke counts and every partnership drives distance, Axis Bank isn’t just backing golfers, it’s investing in the fairway to future, turning India’s greens into a stage where precision meets passion and every drive has the power to inspire.
