Leo Burnett's Luxor ad wins award, generates controversy at Goafest 2008

Mumbai: Leo Burnett's Grand Prix winning entry at the Abbys 2008, the ad for  Luxor Highlighters  has generated more controversy than applause.

At the heart of the issue is that while Leo Burnett's entry has seen the ad win the award, Luxor is actualy a Lowe India's client. Even more confounding, is that Luxor company officials have spoken to the media, highlighting the fact that they have no idea of commissioning the work that Leo Burnett showcased in its entry.

According to a report in The Economic Times, Luxor Highlighters managing director Pooja Jain, ratified that Lowe is the company's official agency. She said she was unaware about the campaign that won the award at the Goa Fest 2008, while speculating that the authorisation of the campaign could have been given by a VP of marketing who has since left the company.

Jain  said that she was the only person who could authorise this kind of work, and clarified that she had not ''commissioned any ad for Luxor Highlighters, to the best of my knowledge.'' The report goes on to say that the work appeared in a small-town edition of a newspaper.

Sources at Lowe indicate that Luxor is still a Lowe client, and has not commissioned any work from Leo Burnett or any other agency. Leo Burnett chairman Arvind Sharma on the other hand maintained that this was ''a normal ad,'' and said that he has correspondence and the whole process of ad creation and approval for the ad. Economic Times reported that it has a copy of a letter from Arvind Krishnan, senior vice-president, business operations, Luxor, and the press campaign was approved and released in December 2007.

For his part, Madhukar Kamat, chairman of the Advertising Agencies Association of India said the matter would be investigated.