‘Abby’s has broken all records with far more entries this year’

“If there is one big headline in Abby's this year, it is the collaboration with The One Show, which means that it has completely changed the game in one shot. It's a game-changer, as we call it in the Indian advertising industry because nothing like it has ever happened before. We've put in a lot of effort to secure this partnership. We've really killed ourselves over the last few months to get to the point where we can have this partnership even in the shortest amount of time, get the jury, people, and work in, and get it started,” said Rana Barua, Chairman, Abby Awards Governing Council 2022, and Vice President of The Ad Club.

Both Rana Barua and Partha Sinha, President of The Ad Club, spoke about The One Show tie-up and the entries that came in this year. They spoke to exchange4media about what to expect at this year’s Abby’s. Since 2004, the Abby Awards has represented the South Asia region, which includes India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Abby's has partnered with The One Show, one of the most prestigious award programmes in advertising, design, and digital marketing, and will now share the stage with other global and regional award platforms. By bringing global standards of judging, jury selection, and transparency to the already revered and established Indian Awards brand, the association establishes a new gold standard in recognising and awarding the region's best creativity.

Talking about the entries, Barua mentioned without disclosing the number of entries that the number is higher as compared to previous years. “We have broken all records. The number of entries that has come in is far better than the numbers we saw before the pandemic.”

This year marks the thirteenth Abby Award at Goafest, which will be held from May 5-7, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Both Barua and Sinha stated that they did not see this year's work as being strictly controlled by the way The One Show manages it. "There will be some very good pieces of work produced. Remember, this is The One Show's first year. So, we're hoping that excellence begins to emerge in the first year."

Speaking about the partnership with The One Show and how it will change the standard of Abby’s award, Sinha shared that people had cast aspersions in the history of Abby’s - some people participate, some people not. 

“We wanted to get out of that completely because what happens is by tying up with One Show we are doing the entire evaluation on their platform. It's a globally recognized platform, and not many people get to judge One Show to start with. This is the gold standard, in not just process in terms of transparency and authenticity, but also in terms of standard because one show is also giving us a lot of internationally acclaimed juries. So, this is the first time there will be a mix of international and Indian jury who will select work which is hopefully of the global standard. So which means suddenly the game has changed. This is our first year so we know that it is going to be baby step year one, but I think the step is absolutely the right direction.”