Goafest 2017, India’s foremost advertising, media and marketing convention kick started its annual festival with a ceremonial popping of the Champagne bottle to herald a brand-new edition of the event. The day one of the festival which saw an exciting conclave with industry stalwarts such as Upasana Taku of Mobikwik, Hemant Malik of ITC Limited and Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali Ayurved taking the stage reached a crescendo with the announcement of Media & Publisher ABBYs later in the evening.

Media & Published ABBYs recognize excellence in use of media such as Print, TV, Cinema, Outdoor, Radio, Events, Digital & Social Media amongst others. In its 12^th edition this year, the festival received highest ever number of entries for the ABBY Awards this year from across media and advertising agencies in India with 94 entries alone making it to the Media and Publisher ABBYs which were judged by 112 jurors from across India.

Speaking about the line-up for the event, Nakul Chopra, President –  Advertising Agencies Association of India said, “Twelve years ago, Goafest began as an event for people from the world of advertising to get together to network and celebrate quality work. Today, it gives me immense pleasure to see how this festival has grown into becoming one of the foremost events in the creative calendar. It’s extremely encouraging for us to see so many young people participating in the event with such enthusiasm – and not just attending the ABBYs but also showing immense amount of interest in the varied seminars that we have lined up this year. The quality of work that has been felicitated today just goes to show how India has today become a tour de force when it comes to creative thinking. If the scene on day one is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure the next two days are going to be just as exciting with some exemplary speakers taking the stage and some must attend seminars taking place.”

Extending his congratulations to the winners, Raj Nayak – President, The Advertising Club said, “Goafest is the world’s largest industry event in the advertising industry – organized by two industry bodies coming together. In the true sense, it is an event by Indians, for Indians and completely made in India. This year, we had over 300 jurors from across the country coming together to judge the entries for which awards will be presented over these three days of the event…with almost 112 of them judging tonight’s Media and Publishing ABBYs. Goafest, when it started was only a creative awards ceremony. However, today, in its twelfth edition, it has become a festival of knowledge, wisdom, entertainment, fun and a great networking opportunity.”

Felicitating the winners, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, Goafest 2017 said, “With changing times, Goafest has also evolved. For the first time Goafest is going green in part by getting the delegates visiting the event to conserve water and taking other baby steps to our bit for the environment. This year we have heavily subsidized entry to let more and more young people to attend the event. It is extremely exciting for us to see so many young people participating in the event and appreciating the changes we have brought in. Curious young minds are keen to attend seminars and talks by interesting speakers this year. Day 1 has been such a huge success. We can only see this getting better and better over the next two days.”

Ramesh Narayan, Chairman of the Awards Governing Council of Goafest 2017, added, “The atmosphere at Goafest is always filled with excitement, camaraderie and a whole lot of fun. And this year is no different. It is absolutely heartening to see members of the advertising and marketing fraternity sending in some wonderful entries this year which have kept the jury on their toes. Judging any award is a difficult process and more so when you’re pitting one excellent entry against another. All I can say is, all the winners tonight are truly deserving of the honours that have been bestowed upon them. Judging by the level of excitement today, I’m sure that the next two days are going to be absolutely spectacular.”

With industry specific conclaves to expert seminars and ABBYs presentations, the Goafest ABBYs 2017 presented by the The Advertising Club and The AAA’ of I has once again seen the entire advertising and marketing community descend upon the silver sands of North Goa to celebrate excellence in creativity across media platforms and genres.

We will be soon with Day 02 & Day 03 stories.

XOXO!

Team India Fashion Blogger.