Grey Worldwide is first Indian advertising agency to win an Euro Effie

Mumbai: Grey Worldwide India has become the first advertising agency in India to ever win the Euro Effie Award. The agency won a bronze in the 'travel and tourism' category at this year's EACA Euro Effies Awards for its popular global "Incredible India" campaign, during 2005-06 in a ceremony held at Brussels yesterday.

The winning campaign, commissioned by the ministry of tourism, government of India, was aimed at persuading affluent travelers from the US, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East to visit India. It used a combination of three disciplines — advertising in print and outdoor media, interactive marketing and direct mailing.

The EACA Euro Effies are the 'gold standard' in commercial communications effectiveness awards. They reward campaigns from any discipline, which have achieved proven effectiveness in two or more European markets, rather than just commercial advertising.

To be considered for a Euro Effie, campaigns must offer proof of having met or exceeded clearly stated objectives. Judging procedures are primarily based on objective evidence of performance against goal. As the competition is open to agencies across the European continent, they are the toughest Effies to win

The Euro Effies programme supports and promotes the role of commercial communications as an effective and efficient use of marketing resources. Introduced in 1996 to reward advertising that builds brands across borders, the Euro Effies were the first pan-European advertising awards to be judged on the basis of effectiveness.

"Winning a Euro Effie is in itself a great feeling and being the first agency in India to be honoured with this award makes the win much more special," said Ashutosh Khanna, COO, Grey Worldwide while announcing having received the award. He added, "It also is affirmation of our ability to deliver synchronised solutions across the board. The "Incredible India" campaign brings together Grey Worldwide, G2, Grey Interactive and Mediacom to deliver a truly impactful campaign as well as a new benchmark in effective communication."

According to Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Grey Worldwide, "Even getting nominated for the Euro Effies was an achievement. Winning it has been better, and being the first ever Indian agency to do this has been remarkable for Grey! This has been the combined effort of all our departments along with our clients, Amitabh Kant and Leena Nandan. What makes this moment even better is that last week at the World Travel Awards in the Caribbean Islands, India was voted as Asia's leading destination, and the commercial was voted as the World's Leading Travel Destination Television Commercial. All of this essentially should redefine the potential and the trajectory of this campaign from now on."

A combination of mainstream and niche offerings was chosen to be highlighted in the campaign so as to meet varying needs of the target audience — ayurveda, yoga, festivals and fairs of India and wildlife were the key attractions highlighted in the campaign. The "Incredible India" ads had earlier also won the "travel and leisure highest recall worldwide award."