McCann Worldgroup India Sweeps Global Strategy Awards

McCann Worldgroup India has swept the prestigious Global Jay Chiat Awards for Strategy held in New York yesterday evening, being crowned Agency of the Year after dominating the much celebrated and sought after 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards.

The Agency won the biggest award of the night – the Grand prix for its campaign "5 words that made toilets India's new status symbol". 

It dominated the awards by winning three of the five golds that were awarded across three different categories:

• Gold in the ‘connection strategy’ category for  Reckitt Benckiser’s brand HARPIC for the campaign  "5 words that made toilets India’s new status symbol" 
• In the category ‘product / service’ it won a gold for Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan for “Immunity Charm”
• Gold in the ‘regional strategy’ category for Narayana Health for “The Door Blouse” campaign

This is the first time ever that an Indian agency has won the Agency of the Year at these awards, which are presented by the 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies.)

Commenting on the performance Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific, CEO McCann Worldgroup India said “On behalf of McCann Worldgroup India my sincere thanks to the jury for the recognition. Congratulations to our strategic planning team and all other team members along with our clients who nurtured this quality of work. These honours reflect the true culture of excellence at McCann Worldgroup.

Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman & MD McCann India commented “McCann has always been about strong fundamental thinking. It’s a classic McCann tradition. We understand culture and we have the capabilities of connecting brands with culture. The Jay Chiat Awards is a testimony to that capabilities. Awards are just markers, our pride is around our capabilities. I love our planning team.”

Ecstatic with the win Jitender Dabas, Chief Strategy Officer, McCann Worldgroup concluded  “To be crowned No. 1 agency in the world at the world’s leading strategy awards is an overwhelmingly proud moment for us. Winning even one award at Jay Chiat is one of the biggest honours for any planner. So the fact that we won literally half the golds across the various categories was simply staggering.”

He also added “For McCann Worldgroup India it is a re-affirmation of our strategic prowess that is fuelled by a strong culture of helping brands play a meaningful role in people’s lives. We were the India’s Effie Agency of the year by a big margin at the beginning of the year. We continued our strong showing at the WARC strategy awards. And now this. To win this title in the agency’s 50th year of planning makes it even more special.”

For 22 years, the Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence have celebrated the best in strategic thinking and have recognised advertising professionals who develop breakthrough insights and initiate creative campaigns that inspire both consumers and business around the globe. This year’s judging panels were comprised of top agency and marketing leaders.