(19 July 2008 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The mood was upbeat and the enthusiasm was infectious.

It was after all, as Radio Mirchi CEO Prashant Panday said, the evening of the 'only 100 per cent dedicated awards for radio advertising'. Mumbai's Grand Hyatt Ballroom wore a festive look with the creative brains in the advertising business converging at the venue to celebrate the fifth edition of the Mirchi Kaan awards on Friday night.

The theme was an emphatic 'March against Mediocrity', and communism clearly the flavour of the evening, with quasi Marxist music playing in the background and invitees walking in with the mandatory little red party cards in tow. But it was anchor Vir Das, who with his oft risque comments, who had the best in the advertising business laughing into their wine glasses throughout the evening.

With over 700 entries from 31 agencies, stations and production houses jostling for the honours, the event was well attended by those connected with the radio advertising space - the team from Mudra in particular being the most vociferous of the lot through the evening, cheering their wins and lauding their colleagues.

Hardly anyone would have gone home disappointed. The 'agency of the year' honours were divided between McCann Erickson and O&M, two agencies that also staked claim to many of the silver and golds. The coveted Crystal Award was bagged by Mudra for its innovative Cycle Agarbatti (JayDev JayDev) ad, while GM Motors was adjudged the Client of the Year for its Chevrolet U Va campaign.

Among the technical awards, adman Prasoon Joshi won two honours - both the Best Voice Award and the Radio Writer of the Year. Autoedit Productions was adjudged the Production House of the Year while Publicis Ambience won the Best Sound Design award.

There were agencies that swept entire categories with their creative campaigns - McCann Erickson's Chevrolet UVa campaign won all four honours in the Automotives and Accessories category, as well most of the awards in the Foods category for its Alpen Liebe campaign. Mudra's Cycle campaign won it three awards in the Toiletries and Household Care category. O&M's campaign for Videocon's Integra did a similar job in the Consumer Durables category.

O&M led the bronzes with 13 honours, followed by Leo Burnett with 11, Mc Cann Erickson came in a distand third with four bronzes. Bates David Enterprise and Contract followed with two bronzes apiece, while Publicis Ambience, Mudra, Lowe Lintas and JWT and Everest Brand Solutions had to be satisfied with one bronze each.

The Kaan awards managed to pull in an impressive line up of eminent personalities from those connected to the entertainment business - from ad gurus Prahlad Kakkar, Piyush Panday and Josy Paul to composers Ram Sampath and Shantanu Moitra, as well as Tam India CEO L V Krishnan and Ram head Pradeep Hejmadi were all spotted at the event.