LMG to send two Young Professionals to the 42nd IAA World Congress Moscow

In a bid to encourage and enthuse its young professionals, a few months ago Lintas Media Group (LMG) had given many as 10 youngsters the Young Professional memberships of the India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IC-IAA).

Last month, as soon as IAA announced that the 42nd IAA World Congress were scheduled to be held in Moscow, Russian Federation, between May 12 and May 14, 2010, LMG decided to send two of their Young Professional members to the Moscow Congress at its own cost after a minor 'contest'.

In order to be selected, they were asked to send in a 500-word essay on why they think they should go to Moscow to attend this Congress. The winners were to be selected by a panel of three judges from the IAA India Chapter's Board, and not anyone from the agency, to rule out any biases. The entries, they were told, would be decided on the basis of innovation and creativity, expression of key LMG values, and overall communication quality of the submission.

The key LMG values were explained as - a strong performance orientation, and growth by collaboration.

The email IDs of the three eminent judges, who are also Committee Members from India are also on the IAA World Board (Pheroza Bilimoria, Managing Director, Business India Publications Ltd, and Honorary Secretary IAA World Board; Pradeep Guha, Managing Director, Culture Company (I) Pvt Ltd and Immediate Past President and current Vice President & Area Director for IAA Asia Pacific Region; and Raj Nayak, CEO, NDTV Media Ltd and President of the India Chapter of IAA) were shared with them so that the 10 contestants could email their submissions directly by January 15, 2010.

Each mark sheet has been collected, collated and final scores have been compiled by the India Chapter of the IAA. The same is now in a sealed envelope, which will be opened and the winners would be announced at LMG's annual conference in Pattaya on January 29, 2010.

"There were stars in their eyes of LMG's Young Professionals. They were thrilled that their words were read and judged by such distinguished people who are also on the IAA World Board," said Lynn de Souza, Chairman & CEO, Lintas Media Group, and Honorary Secretary India Chapter of IAA.

Raj Nayak said, "This was a wonderful way to incentivise and persuade youngsters to push the envelope and I am sure that more and more companies would adopt such methods to promote and reward their future star-performers.”