The 6th season of India's biggest advertising festival Goafest 2011, today celebrated the very best in media thinking and handed over the prestigious Media Abbys to the qualifying media agencies. Maxus India, the media buying arm of the WPP group led the tally by winning 2 gold 6 silver 2 bronze, sweeping away ten metals in all. Although best known as a creative agency, the independent advertising agency Creativeland Asia came 2nd in the metal tally with 2 golds.

In total, forty four metals were awarded to the media agencies this time which comprised of 8 gold, 25 silver and 11 bronze. Of these, Lodestar UM ( a part of Interpublic Group of Companies) won 1 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze, OMD won 1 gold and 1 silver, Mudra Max won 1 gold and 4 bronze , Mediacom (a part of WPP Group) won 1 gold, Mindshare (a part of WPP Group) won 5 silvers, Madison Media Plus, a part of Madison Group won 4 silvers, MEC (a part of WPP Group) got 2 silvers, McCann got 1 silver and digital marketing agency Isobar got 1 bronze.

“A total of 537 entries were received as compared to 484 entries received last year. There has been 14 categories like last year. But this year there are two global awards to be given by the group Festival of Media and also the winners will be directly facilitated to the finals of the festival of media award show. Mediacom has won a gold and a silver for its campaign for Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Yeti.

Creativeland Asia’s hippo initiative although haven’t won any metal under this category but is being highly appreciated and will be facilitated for the Festival of Media awards,” said Sashi Sinha, chief executive officer, LodestarUM and Chairman, Awards Governing Council, Goafest.

Maxus won 2 golds, one for its ‘We mixed India!’ campaign for Tata Sky and another in best use of newspaper and magazine category for Indian Premier League campaign. Creativeland Asia won the gold for its innovative campaign for Hippo Baked Munchies on Twitter called ‘Plan T-tracking Inventory Through Twitter’. Lodestar UM got the gold in the best use of sponsorship category for the programme Amul masterchef ‘Tasty Dish Varna Game Finish’. OMD and Mudra Max got one gold each under youth marketing category for initiatives like Clean and Clear Times Fresh Face 2010; Make me famous and 7UP Allu Non-stop. Mediacom got a gold for their campaign ‘People Read Newspaper till we made the newspaper talk’ for Volkswagen Vento.

Under best use of television category 3 silvers were given out of which 2 went to MEC for their campaigns for LG and Colgate and the 3rd silver was given to Madison Media Plus for Airtel Superstar ratings- 100 % Bollywood Passion. Under best use of cinema two silvers were given to Lodestar U and maxus for their work on brands like Mahindra 2 Wheelers and Vodafone Essar. Lodestar UM’s campaign Break Ke Baad- A movie like an AFP for Nestle Kit Kat got the agency a bronze in the same category.

Maxus and Lodestar UM got silver under Best use of Newspaper and Magazines category for their workl on brands like Nokia and Garnier respectively. Mediacom won a bronze under the same category for their Volkswagen Polo campaign. McCann Worldgroup and Lodestar UM won silvers in best use of outdoor and ambient media category for Onida washing machine and Birla Sunlife Insurance campaign. Mudra Max won a bronze under the same category for Phillips mood lighting campaign.

Maxus and mindshare won silver under the best use of special events and stunts/Live advertising for their campaigns on Nokia N8 and Brooke Bond 3 Roses campaign. Under best use of radio category Madison media Plus won a silver for their Airtel campaign. Mindshare, OMD and Maxus won 3 silvers for their work on Cornetto, Axe and Vodafone Essar respectively under Best Use of Internet and Digital Media category.

Under Best Use of Sponsorship Madison Media Plus won one silver for their Airtel campaign, Maxus won 2 silvers for Hero Honda and parle Krackjack campaign. Maxus won a bronze for under the same category for Vodafone Essar campaign. Under best use of branded content three silvers were given to Madison Media Plus, Lodestar UM and Mindshare for their work on Airtel, estle Kit Kat and Cornetto respectively.

Mindshare and Mudra Max got two bronze under Best Use of Mixed Media category for their work on lifebuoy and the movie 3 Idiots. Under the best use of never before media, Mindshare received a silver and Lodestar UM and Mudra Max won one bronze each. Under youth marketing category Mindshare and Lodestar UM won two silvers each for their work on Cornetto and Coca Cola respectively. Maxus and Mudra Max won two bronze under the same category for their work on Nokia N8 and 7UP respectively.

There wes no award given in the vertical marketing and Pro Bono marketing category.

Last year Lodestar Universal led the tally with three gold, four silver and two bronze awards. Mudra Max came in second with six metals, three gold, two silver and one bronze. Mindshare came next, with a total of seven metals , two gold, two silver and three bronze.