Live from New York: Still miles to go for India’s digital natives

The 2008 One Show festival culminated with the Interactive awards on Friday night in New York city at the Nokia theatre at Times Square. The final tally of winners only highlighted the still nascent stage of the Indian market’s digital maturity, with no Pencil in sight, although JWT India’s campaign YellowRippers for Sulekha.com was a finalist in the category. India had 15 entries in Interactive. United States scored the highest in the category with 23 Pencils, while UK was second with 16 Pencils. 
The Interactive Awards, launched as a part of The One Show festival in 1998, was a much awaited event as agencies slugged it out, literally, in the digital space. The event was hosted in a boxing ring as presenters gave away awards from inside the arena.
The winners included Nike which was named ‘Client of the year’ for the second year in a row. The ‘Best in Show’ went to ‘Uniqlock’, a blog widget/clock created by agency Projector to build awareness for Japanese clothier Uniqlo.  The clock features Uniqlo clad Japanese girls dancing to an infectious beat by Japanese pop artist Fantastic Plastic Machine, all the while keeping visitors updated with the current time. The clock has attracted 68 million views from 209 countries since its launch.
Among the agencies that walked away with Pencils this year were Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which won a total of 4 Pencils, with 2 Golds and 2 Silvers; Lean Mean Fighting Machine won 4 Pencils, with 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze; Farfar which won 4 Pencils including 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze, and AKQA which won 4 Pencils that included 1 Silver and 3 Bronze Pencils.
While Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s work for Burger King titled ‘WhopperFreakout.com’ (see picture) and ‘Simpsons Integrated’ clinched a Pencil, R/GA won a Pencil for ‘Nike Zoom,' AKQA won their Pencil for Xbox’s ‘Halo 3 Sonic Vault’ and ‘Halo3.com/Believe.’ TBWA\Media Arts Lab won for Apple’s ‘Don't Give Up,’ ‘Quote’ and ‘Mac Contextuals.’
There were 3,139 entries for the interactive category at The One Show this year. The major categories that Pencils are awarded in Interactive include, wireless mobile advertising, web sites, online branded content, new media innovation and development, email marketing and microsites.