McCann Worldgroup India Became The Agency Of The Year: Effie 2021

HUL became the client of the year, Ogilvy's Dairy Milk campaign -"Melting Power Distance" won Grand Effie 2021

The Advertising Club held the latest edition of the esteemed "Effie Awards India 2021". The awards, which were announced in a virtual ceremony, honoured the best work by agencies and clients that broke new ground in marketing and advertising communication ineffectiveness. The Ad Club got an all-time high of 950 entries this year, with 51 agencies taking part.

With 30 medals, including one gold, nine silvers, and four bronzes, McCann Worldgroup India was crowned the agency of the year. Client of the Year was given to Hindustan Unilever Limited. Ogilvy Group and contributing agency Wavemaker India received the prestigious Grand Effie for Cadbury Dairy Milk's "Melting Power Distance" campaign.

McCann India won 30 medals in total, including one gold, nine silvers, and four bronzes. For One97 Communications Limited, the agency won gold for its 'Paytm Soundbox: The Sound Of Reassurance' campaign. The campaign was created to promote Paytm SoundBox, a voice-activated POS (point-of-sale) equipment that notifies the merchant when the transaction is complete. The goal was to provide shops peace of mind that they had received payment, even if they were working in a low-network location without access to SMS or email notifications.

Other top agencies, in pecking order were Ogilvy, MullenLowe Lintas, DDB Mudra, and Leo Burnett. Ogilvy also picked the Grand Effie for its ‘Melting Power Distance’ campaign for Mondelez under the Integrated Advertising Campaign: Products category


Hindustan Unilever was named the client of the year with 10 metals, including four golds, three silvers and three bronzes. Some of the most successful of the brand were ‘H for Handwashing’ and ‘Use Any Soap’ both released during the pandemic to promote handwashing by the brand Lifebuoy. 

Other top clients were Mondelez, RB, ITC, and Nestle. 

Speaking about the participants and winners at the coveted EFFIEs, Partha Sinha, President of The Advertising Club said, “Looking at the cases that have won here today, you will know for a fact that this is the highest level of award in this country. Effie India today is the most definitive award in the country - and is revered by both the client and the agency. I want to thank every single member of the jury, the participating agencies and the sponsors. You know that this award has reached the level thanks to all of you. Let the celebrations continue but more importantly let the effective culture continue. As I had mentioned before we are going to hold Effie effectiveness workshops in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.” 

Elaborating on the awards, Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Chairperson, EFFIE India said, “It gives me great pleasure to deliver the first virtual awards presentation of Effie India. It has been a long and tough journey over the past one and half years to bring this to life. To judge 950 entries over two rounds of judging by 520 judges, with minimal physical meetings has been quite a task. I thank each participating agency and client for their support. And a big thank you to our sponsors, the Ad Club managing committee, Effie committee and the Ad Club secretariat to make this possible.”

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