For this year’s edition of The Abby Awards, Adfactor PR’s Madan Bahal, Lowe Lintas’ Prateek Bhardwaj, and Chrome Pictures’ Amit Sharma have been appointed as Jury Chairs for the categories- Public Relations, Direct, and Video Craft, respectively.
Bahal, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Adfactors PR, who has been appointed the Jury Chair for the Public Relations category in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show has served as a lead communication counsel in many of the events of Corporate India, including fundraises, M&As, disputes, litigations, issues, and crises over the past 25 years.
Founded in 1997, Adfactors PR is one of the youngest and the only independent firms in its peer group in India. It currently serves over 500 retained clients, including many of India’s leading conglomerates, corporations, unicorns, financial institutions, and NGOs.
Some of the prominent recognitions that Bahal has received so far include International Communications Consultancy Organization’s (ICCO) Hall Of Fame (November 2017), PRovoke’s Individual outstanding achievement in Asia-Pac (September 2013), Communicator of the Decade by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), and the Life Time Achievement Award by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI).
Similarly, Bhardwaj, Chief Creative Officer and Head of Creative (India), Lowe Lintas, who has been appointed the Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show for the Direct Category has also earned a slew of prestigious awards including the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, Jay Chiat Awards, and the coveted Black Pencil at D&AD in the past 20 years.
He has been the Creative Director behind the much acclaimed recent work on Nescafé (stammering comedian and RJ Rishi), Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan (Immunity Charm), and Incredible India. Some of his other notable work include long-running campaigns for Dettol and PayTM and the still-famous launches of Sprite (Bujhaye only pyaas), Kinley, and Chlor-mint.
Apart from this, he has also been a creative entrepreneur and founded Eleven Brandworks in 2008.
On the other hand, Sharma, Founder Director, Chrome Pictures, who has been appointed the Jury Chair for the Video Craft category in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show is a leading director of both- ad and feature films.
Some of his groundbreaking TVCs include Pooja Didi- Facebook, Dove #StopTheBeautyTest, Lifebuoy- Help A Child Reach Five, Silent National Anthem, Google Reunion and many more.
His style of filmmaking has always revolved around topics that question the society at large and challenges its norms. For instance, his National award winning feature film, Badhaai Ho (directed and produced under his banner Chrome Pictures), addresses the issues that a middle aged couple, with two grown sons, face when they get pregnant at the age of 51.
Over the years, he has bagged several prestigious awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes Asia, Adfest, London International Awards, Abby among others.
The ABBY Awards 2024 will take place at Mumbai’s Westin Powai from May 29-31, this year.
