India does a blink and miss at the One Show '08

A Pencil is a Pencil is a Pencil. No argument. Winning a Pencil has always been perceived as a career defining moment for most of Adland’s creatives. Blame it on the gleaming Pencil one gets to take home and occupy pride of place at that corner cabin or the fact that as a winner one gets to go down in creative posterity as their work finds itself on the glossy pages of the annual One Show showcase.

The One Show awards festival took place in New York city this year from May 5th to May 9th. What was evident during the course of the festival was the close bond that The One Club (which produces the One Show) shares with the student community in the States. Indeed, some of the people who went on to win Pencils at a later stage in their life started out by winning their first Pencil in the college category, when they were students. Wieden & Kennedy New York’s Kevin Proudfoot, one of the speakers during the festival, was one such example. A trend that perhaps India’s adland, with its acute talent shortage, could take some tips from.

As an attendee at The One Show pointed out, for the student community, winning a One Show Pencil was a sign of affirmation of their work which could open stubborn agency doors. He added, “The One Club started this (category) 14 years ago. To be included in it as one of the schools is an honour. It’s like karma. If you are in an awards book, the word goes out to the universe that you are not just average, you are much better than average and the kids get to win awards and get more job offers in good offices. They get to do better work. There is a sense of pride and an emotional lift associated with winning a Pencil.”
 
Day one
The first day of the festival began with the student college competition, where participants had been asked to create advertisements in four categories—print, television, innovative marketing and interactive—for the Doritos brand. Those entering in the Design category were asked to create design posters for an alternate brief—to raise awareness around a social cause of their choice.

Day two
Day two of the festival began with a series of speaker sessions designed to inspire the assembled student community towards a career in advertising. Speakers on day two included Kevin Proudfoot of Wieden & Kennedy, New York and veteran adman Jerry Della Femina each of whom gave his interpretation of what it took to make it in the advertising industry today. While Proudfoot had a more contemporary take on advertising, Femina’s presentation was an entertaining account of the golden days of American advertising.

The second day ended with the 2008 One Show Design awards ceremony which took place at the Chelsea Art Museum. This year, the category received 3,880 entries from around the world.
The major categories that Pencils are awarded in include, advertising design, corporate identity, environmental design, publication design, direct mail and package design. Countries that led in the design category included USA with the highest number of entries at 1158, which subsequently won 13 Pencils, the highest tally. Germany scored nine Pencils while Japan and India had five and three Pencils respectively. India scored (comparatively) well in the design category as all three Pencils were won in the Gold category.

The three winning entries from India included O&M’s campaign for WWF India titled ‘Plant more Lives’ which won a Gold Pencil in the Poster Campaign category; Rediffusion DY&R for Amway India titled ‘The Birds’ which won a Gold in the Posters Single- Collateral Design category and Leo Burnett Mumbai’s campaign for Luxor Highlighters which won a Gold Pencil  in the Posters Campaign- Collateral category.

To read the entire story, check out the latest issue of Campaign India dated May 23