MAM
Lowe India receives accolades galore at Asian awards
MUMBAI: Lowe India has received international accolades for its creative work in two of the most recent international advertising festivals. The agency has bagged six international awards within a span of a fortnight, making Lowe the agency with the highest number of awards from India at these festivals.
Lowe India recently won three awards at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival, or ‘AP AdFest’ hosted at Pattaya, Thailand and the agency followed it up by becoming the leading Indian ad agency with another three awards at the Asian Advertising Awards by Media Magazine held on 21 April in Shanghai.
At AP Adfest, Lowe won the silver for S-Mart Basmati (Film), the bronze for Rexona (Outdoor), bronze for St. Gobain (Film) and a shortlist for Samrat Tractor (Film Campaign Category). Although having the least number of entries, the agency won a ‘Spike’ (equivalent to gold) for Saint Gobain, a ‘finalist’ (equivalent to silver) for Samrat Tractors, and a ‘certificate’ (equivalent to bronze) for ‘Save the Trees’ campaign at the Asian Advertising Awards by Media Magazine Awards.
At the AP Adfest, Lowe India also became the only Indian advertising agency to rank amongst the top 20 creative agencies in Asia.
Commenting on Lowe’s recent streak of International Awards, Lowe India national creative director R. Balkrishnan said, “Participation in such awards allows us to benchmark our work against the best in the world. We are very happy to know that ads made specifically for Indian audiences are being appreciated internationally, which demonstrates the strength of Lowe’s creative capabilities.”
Brands
Acko CMO Ashish Mishra to exit in July
The digital insurer’s marketing chief, who helped build the brand over nearly five years, is heading for the exit.
Ashish Mishra is stepping down as chief marketing officer of Acko, with his departure confirmed for July. He remains in the role for now, and an official announcement from the company is expected shortly.
Mishra joined the digital insurance start-up in August 2020, making him one of the longer-serving marketing chiefs in India’s fintech and insurtech space. Over nearly five years, he played a central role in building Acko’s brand presence in the country’s fiercely competitive digital insurance market. More recently, he was closely associated with Acko Life’s Unmixed brand philosophy, a proposition built around pure protection products stripped of the investment components that have long complicated traditional insurance offerings in India.
Before Acko, Mishra spent over a decade at HSBC in a series of marketing leadership roles spanning the Middle East, including regional marketing manager for credit cards and advance propositions, brand and media manager, and marketing manager for retail banking. Earlier in his career, he worked on the agency side, serving as senior brand service manager at Lowe Lintas and as executive for brand communications at DDB Mudra Group.
His exit leaves Acko with a sizeable gap to fill at a time when the brand is pushing deeper into life insurance and doubling down on its direct-to-consumer positioning. Whoever takes the seat next will inherit a brand that Mishra spent five years building from the ground up. That is not nothing.
