Yahoo! UnCannies finds its star in Mumbai

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Bangalore, May 14th, 2009: Press Release Point - Yahoo! India, the leading Internet company, today announced the grand prize winner for ‘UnCannies’, a platform to showcase the best advertising work in print, outdoor, radio, online and broadcast mediums.

Deepti Deorukhkar of Public Ambience, Mumbai, won the Gold at UnCannies - an all-expense paid trip to the Cannes International Advertising Festival 2009 for her fresh and sharp ‘Back Seat Quickie’ campaign selling the brand ‘Cupid Condoms’. Also, three silver prize winners took home Apple iphones. For complete winners list, visit www.uncannies.com

Creative agencies as well as individuals from print, television, radio, outdoor and the digital medium posted over 1,000 of their best work on the UnCannies website www.uncannies.com. The participation had a nationwide appeal, going beyond top metros to include tier two and three cities in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

UnCannies also received entries from a cross section of advertising industry including top creative agencies viz. O&M, Leo Burnett, Publicis, Euro RSGC, JWT and leading brands like IBM, Star India, Naukri, Fever 104 FM and WWF among others. Print creatives dominated entries followed by outdoor, radio, television and digital.

“Through UnCannies, Yahoo! India has established a powerful platform for fresh ideas and young creative talent. It’s helped several young and aspiring advertising professionals, showcase their creativity including their unpublished work. We would like to congratulate all the winners and hundreds of other people for participating and making UnCannies hugely successful in its very first year,” said Nitin Mathur, Director – Marketing, Yahoo! India.

“What do you say to an opportunity that not only lets your creative juices flow, but also gives you an international platform to showcase your talent? UnCannies was an exciting and fulfilling experience. It was a perfect solution to vent my creative instincts. Like any other competition, UnCannies was highly competitive with high standards of creativity. It was fun to have participated and won on a global platform,” said Deepti Deorukhkar, gold prize winner of UnCannies.

Pushpendra Misra (Flying Saucer Films), "Yahoo! UnCannies has been a fabulous idea. A platform for unfettered creative thinking. It clearly celebrates creativity. As a jury it was wonderful to be looking at all those ideas, unfiltered and uncensored. There were some clear hits and good volume of entries even in its 1st year. I am sure that it would only grow in popularity and appeal in years to come."

Says Malvika Mehra, Group Creative Director, O&M, “We saw some really fresh work for the UnCannies. Given the fact that 'unreleased' pieces were called too, one would have thought the best work would have come from there. Surprisingly it did not. The 4 pieces that won are actually 'released'. It means clients are buying good stuff.”

According to Cyrus Oshidar, Creative Head, Bawa Broadcasting Corporation, "With entries from Moradabad to Koothattukulam, the UnCannies clearly demonstrated the growing power of the Internet. A remarkable body of work and clear proof of the growing talent and ability of young Indian creatives. Time for the old ones like me to pack up and log out!"

Karl Gomes from Digital Rediffusion | Y&R: “I was excited looking at not just the quantity but also the quality of the submissions, perfectly managed by the team at Yahoo!. We never felt like it was a first of its kind in India. I thank Yahoo! for the honor and congratulate the winners.”

UnCannies saw a genre of creatives ranging from social issues and social marketing to mainstream product marketing to campaigns for brands one has never heard of. The contest involved participants showcasing their creative masterpieces directly onto the contest website and the users rating the shortlisted creatives. An elite panel comprising of the ad gurus — Cyrus Oshidar (BBC), Pushpendra Misra (Flying Saucer Films), Malvika Mehra (Ogilvy & Mather Advertising) and Karl Gomes (Digital Rediffusion | Y&R) — scrutinized the works of art and selected the final winners.

About Yahoo! India:

Yahoo! India (www.yahoo.in), launched in June 2000, has established itself as the pioneering and leading Internet portal providing value added services for Web users in India and users abroad with special interest in India.

Yahoo! India seeks to provide a compelling web experience to Internet users. A full range of tools and marketing solutions from Yahoo! India help businesses connect with Internet users and make it a ‘must-buy’ partner of choice for advertisers, globally. Yahoo! India also offers an array of communications, commerce and content services that serve as a starting point for online needs of Internet users.