India's largest ad agency Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA) is in the limelight, down south. Not in Ozzland but it shone at the 25th South India Advertising Awards 2002 organised and hosted by the Advertising Club, Madras.
At the finishing line, the fight was close between HTA Chennai and HTA Bangalore for the coveted Agency of the Year trophy. The former romped home and additionally picked up as many as 14 additional awards. HTA Chennai senior vice-president & general manager Anita Gupta went up on stage to receive the Agency of the Year honour at the hands of chief guest ad veteran and former O&M India managing director Mani Iyer. 3Aof I president Ramesh Narayanan also graced the occasion. A panel of about 14 senior creative advertising professionals adjudged the awards under the chairmanship of K. S. 'Chaks' Chakravarthy.
HTA Chennai's big wins were in various categories for work done for brands like Ford, LifeStyle International, Parry's Coffy Bite, KTV Channel and Aquafina.
"HTA's sound strategy, relevant planning and the ability to offer clutter-breaking creative solutions has resulted in high impact and success for its clients. It is extremely gratifying to receive recognition from our peers in the creative fraternity," says Gupta.
In the Press Advertising category, HTA Chennai won awards for the corporate campaign of Ford India. In the Press Product campaign category, it won awards for Ford Ikon and LifeStyle International in the Colour and Black & White campaigns respectively.
In the single press colour category, HTA Chennai bagged three awards for Ford Ikon again. The agency also bagged three awards for Ford Mondeo - one each in the Direct Response Package, Multimedia Presentation and Multimedia Campaign categories.
HTA Chennai went on to win awards in Media Innovation and Outdoor Advertising for LifeStyle International.
In the Television Advertising category, HTA Chennai won awards for TV spots for Parry's Coffy Bite, KTV Channel and Aquafina.
HTA Bangalore's haul of 10 awards came from Spice Telecom and I-flex.
The cheering never stopped at the HTA camp as the 'Art Director of the Year' went to HTA Chennai's Jaju Krishnankutty and the 'Copywriter of the Year' prize to HTA Bangalore's Senthil Kumar.
