McCann Worldgroup returns to Goafest

MUMBAI: McCann Worldgroup, one of the largest marketing communication groups in the world, will take part in the Abby awards and Goafest this year after a gap of two years.

The agency has also announced its participation at India's largest advertising festival in “full swing”.
“We will send symbolic token entries to honour the festival in all the categories but our delegates will participate and attend the fest in large numbers,” said Prasoon Joshi, chairman at McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific.

Abby awards ceremony is part of Goafest, organised by the Advertising Club of Bombay and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). McCann Worldgroup stayed away from Abby and Goafest on several years including in 2008, 2014 and 2015.

“We believe that genuine efforts have been made by the organisers this year to overcome the shortcomings and we also want to partner them in this journey.

Positively in the future we will see the festival touching newer heights,” said Joshi who is also CEO at McCann India. He said the decision to participate in the Abby was collectively taken by the agency’s global and local creative councils.

The absence of McCann Worldgroup — which has been ranked number one in the coveted Gunn Report for the past three years — had left a vacuum at the Abby awards, touted as India's biggest creative awards.

All eyes are now on whether other big agencies such as Mullen Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett, which have drifted away from Goafest and creative Abby, will mark their return this year’s edition or not.