BBDO Lanka wins ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year’ award for 3rd time

BBDO Lanka was recognised as one of the most creative agencies in the region once again when it was awarded the ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year – Gold’ award by Campaign Asia-Pacific at its Agency of the Year 2017 awards. The South Asian region awards were announced and presented at a gala dinner held in Mumbai, India on 5 December.

This is the third time that BBDO Lanka has entered the prestigious competition and been awarded a Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year award. It previously took home the Silver in 2012 and Bronze in 2015.

BBDO Pakistan took home the ‘Pakistan Creative Agency of the Year – Bronze’ award whilst BBDO India’s Hermant Shringy was named ‘South Asia Creative Person of the Year 2017’. Rajat Mendhi of BBDO India was named ‘South Asia Strategic/Brand Planner of the Year 2017 Runner-up’.

“2017 has been a great year for us. We have been recognised with awards, here in Sri Lanka and abroad, for our work on Anchor, Janashakthi Life and Piramal Glass. Winning Campaign Asia-Pacific’s ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year - Gold’ for our work overall is the icing on the cake. I am proud of the team and looking forward to celebrating this win with them,” said BBDO Lanka Managing Director Santosh Menon upon picking up the award.

In 2015, BBDO Lanka was named Agency of the Year at its Effie Awards debut in Sri Lanka and this year took home a Gold and Finalist award for its two entries. It was also recognised with a Bronze at the Tangrams Effectiveness Awards at Spikes Asia in Singapore in September this year.

“We are thrilled to have been recognised with this coveted regional award for the third time. The award recognises inspired leadership, management excellence, outstanding business performance and overall brilliance in the year and is a reflection of our continuous commitment to delivering great work for our clients year after year. I thank each and every one of our clients including Fonterra Brands, Janashakthi Life, London Stock Exchange Group – Millennium IT, CEAT Kelani International Tyres, Kansai Paints, Hatton National Bank, Piramal Glass, Taj Samudra and Marico for the opportunity to work on their businesses,” said BBDO Lanka Senior Account Director Chanithi Gunasekera.

“In recent years, the Sri Lankan market landscape has changed tremendously. There are marketers still holding onto traditional mass marketing techniques whilst others are resorting to post digital specialising, trading creativity for greater efficiencies. It is in this setting that we embarked upon the strategy of working with our clients to go beyond the USP-differentiator approach and become a ‘mass mattering’ agency, i.e. connecting brands to people and what matters to them,” added Menon.

Now in its 24th year, Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year awards is the region’s most esteemed Agency of the Year awards, identifying excellence in local markets through five separate regional competitions - Australia/New Zealand, Greater China, Japan/Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The judging panel comprises of senior marketers from key business categories and Campaign editors who look for compelling and inspiring content with a wow-factor that shakes things up and produces excellent business results. 

Campaign works closely with the industry to review and refine methodology and judging process to ensure fairness and the results are tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Entries were open to all media, advertising, creative, digital, PR, independent and specialist agencies from all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Only work done during the period 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017 was eligible. 

Commenting on the win, Vice President Client Servicing at BBDO Lanka Roneeta Ghosh said, “I had always wanted to work for BBDO because of its reputation for continuous award winning work, across the world. The accolades and the recognition are all on brand work and that is what makes BBDO special. This never-ending drive for creative and effective work that is recognised is a great motivator for us all and pushes us to achieve nothing less than great work as a team. This win, coming at this time of the year, is like a Christmas present in advance and allows us to bid adieu to 2017 in high spirits and begin 2018 with a bang, always creating great work that works.”