'Abbys are the only awards that are for the industry, by the industry and of the industry'

For Ajay Kakar, Chairperson of Awards Governing Council, ABBY Awards 2024 powered by One Show and Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club, it’s fairly simple. “I think the ABBY Awards is legendary and it has been the industry barometer, if you ask me, for more than five decades. The other interesting part in more recent years, as among the many awards that happened in the industry, ours remains the only award that is, if I may use a cliché term, for the industry, by the industry and of the industry.”

At a time of widespread technological reform these decades-old awards are seeing significant change, reflective of that technological impact. The introduction of three new categories – Digital, Mobile, and Technology, collectively garnered 626 entries from 75 companies, even as the 2024 awards saw 3506 entries in total, with participation from 198 creative companies.

And given its recent ubiquity and conversations around it, how large a role did Artificial Intelligence play in the determination of the winners of these mostly creative awards?  

“So, I think if you look at AI as a category in itself, it's not there; but AI is part of categories like digital, mobile and technology and what we've tried to do is not look at innovation or trends or something specific (like AI) becoming a category, but rather becoming a part of the platform through which you experience this category and that is AI,” notes Kakar.

And it is an interesting mix, with the ABBY awards seeing entries from media agencies clocking in at 1258 this year against 1019 last year, while entries from creative companies came in at 2248. “Why am I saying companies, and not agencies? Because any entity is allowed to enter, for example, clients can also enter. We're very proud that we received 3,506 entries, and more importantly from 273 companies. And while I can give you the names of the big guys, the important thing is that this is not only for the big boys and by the big boys.”

The participation from media agencies rose to 73 this year against 63 last year, seeing Lowe Lintas, McCann, DDB Mudra, Famous Innovations, among other agencies returning to the fold, with Kakar pointing out, “We have all the top agencies participating because all of them believe this is worth a fight, a fight to the finish, to see who is doing a great job against peers.”

Among the reasons for this, apart from the draw of the awards themselves is that all stakeholders are involved through the process, with Kakar pointing out that a town hall of sorts is carried out post the events, to get feedback and see how the awards can be the best they possibly can be in a particular year, only to better them the next year.

The Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show employs a rigorous judging process, combining the renowned One Show system of shortlist and award rating with independent verification by KPMG. And harking back to a previous point, 20204 introduced the Best Use of AI sub-category in both digital and technology verticals.

Indeed, a new vertical called Health has been added this year with sub-categories such as OTC Oral Medicines, OTC Products, Nutraceuticals among others. A new specialist agency award being introduced is Health Specialist of the Year for the best performance by a company in this vertical.

“We are not a profit organization, we're not doing it as a business. The whole purpose is to gain recognition for the best of the best, such that it's an inspiration for many others and in the past we've always faced a growing interest, among companies, agencies as the number of entries keep increasing by the year,” says Kakar.