Ravi Deshpande, Abhinay Deo to judge D&AD Awards 2009

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
Ravi Deshpande, chairman and chief creative officer, Contract Advertising and filmmaker Abhinay Deo from Ramesh Deo Productions will be part of the jury for the D&AD Awards 2009. While Deshpande will judge the Radio category, Deo will judge the TV and Cinema Crafts category.

This will be Deshpande's first stint at the D&AD awards. In the past, he has been part of the jury for other awards, such as Cannes, The One Show, Dubai Lynx Awards and Asia Outdoor Advertising Awards. Deo has judged national award shows such as GoaFest and Abbys's earlier, but this will be his first stint at an international award show.

Deshpande says, "Although, I am not too familiar with the radio category, it will be an interesting category to judge. The power of the idea is the most important parameter for judging a radio jingle, sound plays a critical role and I am sure it will be an interesting experience to see radio ads from across the world."

Deo says, "Personally, I will look out for a strong idea that has been freshly executed. I am clear that the entries will be judged on the basis of the freshness of the idea and not the scale of the production or the reputation of the film director."

Although there were no winners from India at the D&AD last year, five agencies had achieved the In-Book status. Besides O&M, Leo Burnett, Publicis Ambience and Lowe, Ramesh Deo Productions also won a total of four nominations for the Nike Cricket ad.

The judging will take place from April 21-24, 2009 in London. D&AD, earlier known as British Design & Art Direction Awards, were initiated in 1962 to commemorate creative ideas and to reward and raise standards throughout the design and advertising world.