THE 1997 ABBY AWARDS

For the people from the advertising and publicity world, it was a night they had been staying awake for. The 31st All India Awards for Excellence in Advertising, better known as the ABBY Awards was held at the Vallabhbhai Patel grounds, NSCI, Worli with great pomp and grandeur. The theme for the awards was “Passion in Advertising”. Kamal Haasan was the chief guest. The hosts for the show were popular radio jockey and compere Brian Tellis and model Achala Sachdev, who added glamour to the show. The who’s who of the ad world were present making it a grand event alongwith some dance performances by Tobby and group, Vinay Mandke’s live recitals of Hamara Bajaj and some other popular jingles. Not to mention the lively rock music by Uday Benegal and Dominique. CNN International and TNT/Cartoon Network were the sponsors for the event.

THE WINNERS WERE:
Best Internet Advertising - Silver Abby for the Arvind Mills website - Trikaya Grey.

Most Outstanding Event Marketing awarded jointly to Channel [V] for the 1997 Channel [V] music awards and Cause Celebre for the Canada Dry Freedom Salvo.

Best Outdoor Advertising - Gold Abby awarded to Enterprise Nexus for the Sesa Seat Yellow Pages and the Silver Abby jointly awarded to Contract Advertising for Blues Bizaar and Business Sense for encouraging Indians to vote.

Best Corporate Advertising (Film) - The Gold Abby given to Trikaya Grey for the Kotak Mahindra campaign. Siver Abby given to Ambience Advertising for Parachute Coconut Oil.

Best Cinema/TV/Video commercial for Consumer Products (English) - Gold Abby to Mc Cann Erickson for the Durex Condoms campaign and the Silver Abby jointly awarded to Ambience for Elle 18 perfumes and Ammirati Puris Lintas for the BPL Excel Alkaline battery campaign.

Best Cinema/TV/Video commercial for Consumer Durables (English) - Gold Abby awarded to Contract Advertising for the Bajaj Sunny Zip Ad and the Silver Abby to Channel [V] for their Dumb Charades Ad.

MTV won the coveted Gold Abby for the Most Outstanding Brand. The Gold Abby for the Best Advertising Campaign of the year was awarded to Hindustan Thompson Associates for the Indian Army campaign. The Silver Abby for the same category was awarded to Enterprise Nexus for the Times Of India campaign.

O&M beat Contract to a close quarter by winning The Creative Agency of the Year Award, which was handed over by the Kamal Haasan to Piyush Pandey, Executive Creative Director of O&M.