If there was a way to erase the year 2013 from his professional life, JWT CEO Colvyn Harris would have done it. Remember the controversial Ford Figo campaign that featured former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi driving the car with three gagged women in the boot? Not just the marketing communication agency but even its parent company, WPP, had to apologise for it. And it had cost the JWT creative head Bobby Pawar his job.

A year later, Harris can barely hide his joy as the agency has won eight metals at the recently concluded Cannes Advertising Festival. It has also bagged 41 metals at the Goafest 2014. "I am doing back-flips and somersaults. I will show it to you before you leave," says an elated Harris.

THE AGENCY
also bagged 41 metals across categories at The Goafest 2014

Though JWT won metals for brand campaigns such as Hero Cycles, Nutribic and Godrej Security Systems at the Abbys, the star was undoubtedly the 'Make-Every-Yard -Count' campaign for Nike. It has fetched the agency four silver and three bronze lions across cyber, film, film craft and branded content categories at Cannes.

Senthil Kumar, National Creative Director, JWT India, who is the brain behind the Nike ad calls it a campaign co-created by the cricket crazy youth of India. Cricket fans were invited on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to send their cricket playing action images. The agency received a whopping 225,001 images, of which it picked up 1,440 and stitched them together to complete one cycle of a ball from the bowler to the batsman, then to fielder and to the keeper.

"It was a simple idea, but it is the way it was executed that won JWT the award," says Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner, Bang In the Middle. He believes that JWT's creative work has seen huge improvement in the last one year.

Pratap Bose, President, The Advertising Club, who has been trying to regain the lost glory of Goafest and the Abbys is relieved that the agency that won the Agency of the Year has also proved its worth at the Cannes. "We picked up the right campaigns that brought the country glory at the Cannes," he says. Here, he refers to the Godrej Security Systems campaign which won a gold at the Abbys and a bronze at Cannes.

LESSONS LEARNT

So what lessons did the agency learn since last year's disgrace? "The learning is it shouldn't have happened," says Harris bluntly. He says apart from that one-off incident, the agency continues to do what it has always been doing - managing its clients brands and businesses.

"We see that our clients continue to be at the forefront. That's what keeps us going and which is why all our clients have long-term relationships. I don't want see ourselves doing something short-term that it impacts our long-term plans. These are the same clients who have got us so far."

Have they been extra cautious about the campaigns this year? Harris says that while they will ensure that blunders such Ford Figo ad are not repeated, all their work is regularly evaluated by the top management.

HARRIS SAYS
JWT is all about consistency. "We are not yesterday's vanilla and today's chocolate pastry"

JWT, says Harris, has a standard process called Mojo, where the top team meets four times a year to evaluate not only the work done, but also the work they are proactively looking at doing for their clients. "There is a global process called Global Creative Challenge. So we don't just evaluate our work internally or within the country, we also evaluate it at a global level and try and understand whether that work is of global standards."

Despite the Ford campaign last year, Harris claims that his agency performed much better than competitors in a tough economic environment. "We also attracted good talent at senior levels," he says. More than its creativity, JWT has been known for its good strategic capabilities. Will its award-winning streak this year help change this perception? The industry feels that winning awards just for one year will not make them a great creative agency.

According to Harris JWT is all about consistency. "We are not yesterday's vanilla and today's chocolate pastry. Look at the last so many years as to how JWT has been doing. Who got India's first gold, who got the first cyber, has there been anybody who has got a metal in the film category? Then look at when all we have achieved them. That's the measure. It's not yesterday or today."