Drum roll! Applause! Confetti!
   

Our very own Ogilvy & Mather has done it once again! The O&M team bagged a Gold Abby for Bell Bajao – in the Public Service, Appeals and Charity category for Best Integrated Campaign of the Year at the Abbys – the Oscars of the advertising world – held at Goa this weekend. And as though that wasn’t enough, they went ahead and bagged the only a Silver Abby for Film Singles for the ‘Doodh’ (Got Milk?) TV commercial  at Goafest 2009. For more pictures of the Award Ceremony, click here.

So while O&M is reveling in the glory of their spoils, we’d like to jump in the celebration bandwagon and root as loudly as we can too. A BIG round of applause, hugs and thankyous go out to the entire O&M team: Piyush Pandey, National Creative Director – for supporting us through and through. Zenobia Pithawalla, Senior Group Creative Head and the mind behind Bell Bajao – for conceptualising and spearheading the campaign and keeping sane through it all. Mark  Benjamin – for visualising the campaign and giving it its final shape. Ryan Mendoca – for so succinctly putting across thoughts in words. Suchitra and Kelvin – the client servicing team and always in the first line of fire from both ends! Needless to say, this campaign wouldn’t ever have taken off without each one of you putting in all the time and energy that you did so selflessly.

We’d also like to give a shout out to Bauddhayan Mukherji or “Buddy” (of Little Lamb Films), the director of our Ad films who brought the campaign alive on screen. UNIFEM – for believing in our cause and backstopping us every inch of the way. The Ministry of Women and Child Development – for disseminating our campaign pro bono across TV Channels and making sure our message reaches out to billions throughout the country. And last, but not the least we’d like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Campaign Ambassador Boman Irani for believing in us as much as he did the cause, voicing his support at various public fora and playing protagonist in our third TV spot.

Bell Bajao began with a hope. The hope that millions of women silently suffering abuse behind closed doors would now get a second chance. The hope that Domestic Violence will cease to be a woman’s issue and the belief that communities across the country will rise up to the occasion in reducing its epidemic growth. And it is this hope that the team at Ogilvy helped realise over months of brain storming, cups of coffee and gallons of midnight oil.

We couldn’t have done it without you.