KARACHI: In its fifth year now, the Pakistan Advertising Society (PAS) Awards have become a celebration, recognition and acknowledgement of creative skills in the advertising industry. Over the years this has led to an increase in the quality of competition by banking on past strengths, and the awards are judged by respected industry experts on the basis of sheer creative work. The level of competition remains very high and there is also the need to recognise people who have built the industry and continue to do so even today, as mentioned in the opening address by a senior PAS office bearer.

A minute of silence was observed at the start of the ceremony in honour of those industry professionals who have passed away during the past year. Later on into the ceremony Rachel Viccaji gave voice to the sentiment by singing a cover of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” with keyboardist Sohaib Ali Khan making his debut. The song was later dedicated to The Second Floor (T2F) Director Sabeen Mahmud who was recently shot dead.

It was Khalid Mehmood’s second year of hosting the PAS Awards (#PASAWARDS15) and he still has a very long way to go when it comes to embodying the traits of a good host. His jokes remained quite unimpressive while the punchlines he delivered mostly fell on deaf ears and were delivered to a pin-drop silence from the audience. Even the effeminate character he portrayed later on to induce laughter miserably failed to endear him to the audience who seemed to be in no mood for such a crass act. He seemed oblivious to the temperament of the audience and seemed even more desperate as he tried to rope in film actress Meera with his ‘bathroom’ humour, to which she feigned ignorance. Afterwards, he was left pretty much to his own devices and continued to falter throughout the ceremony. The man just did not know when to quit! Full marks for obstinate perseverance (read stubbornness).

One of the performances during the evening had Zia Mohyeddin, accompanied by sitar maestro Ustad Nafees Ahmad, deliver excerpts by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in his signature eloquent manner, later going on to read select paragraphs from Dr Younus Butt’s “Bari umer ki aurat se shaadi karna”, about a man’s perspective on marrying an older woman. Bushra Ansari performed a regional number on stage, but much more entertaining were the anecdotes she recounted from the past days of advertising. She spoke about how she once did the voice-over for a famous pan masala ad featuring a prominent film actress at the time and the paltry remuneration she received in 1982 as opposed to today’s payment structure for the same task. Sara Raza Khan came and went without much ado followed by an act by Fuzon and finally Jawwad Ahmed closed the evening on a patriotic note with Tu Mera Pyar.

Coming to the awards and their winners, Surf Excel won in the Fabric Care category while Ufone Voice Quality nailed it for Telecommunication Service Providers. Beverages-Hot went to the Brooke Bond Pearl Dust — Hik pyali pyar campaign, Consumer Electronics was won by Kenwood-Khush Raho, Banking & Financial Services to HBL Football Campaign, Automotive & Transportation went to Corolla – Simply Wow, and the Lifetime Achievement Awards was bestowed upon media magnate Javed Jabbar by the PAS Chairman and Vice-Chairman, Khurram Qureshi and Amir Paracha, respectively. Mr Jabbar thanked all and took the opportunity to “remember someone who to me was the epitome of courage and character, Sabeen Mahmud. Though she did not work in advertising, she embodied and upheld the very same values and sacrificed her life for them.”

One particular media campaign won in each and every category it was nominated in — Best in Digital, Platform Award — Outdoor, Media Innovation and Public Service CSR. This was Not a Bug Splay! by BBDO with Reprieve/Foundation for Fundamental Rights which displayed oversize visuals of young drone attack victims to drone operators in the heavily bombed regions of northern Pakistan. The purpose was to send across the moral message that we are humans, not bugs.

In other categories awards for the Beverages-Cold went to PEPSICO for Better Together; Breakfast, Food & Dairy winner was Olper’s Ramadan; BTL Activation to CocaCola for Coke Studio 7 + Project Connect; Healthcare to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital for 5 Rupay Rozana; Ice Creams & Desserts to Cornetto-Telenor Mobile Digital Activation; Textile, Fashion & Accessories to Servis Winter Campaign 2014; Best in TV, Best Nationally Originated Campaign and Campaign of the Year all went to Kenwood’s Khush Raho; Cosmetics & Personal Care to Lux; Media winner was Dawn National Spelling Bee Contest; Culinary to Meezan — Naimat-i-Ramazan; Confectionery & Snacks to Chilli Milli; Best in Print winner was Pond’s Miracle Journey; Hotels, Fastfood & Restaurants winner was Espresso for its Cookie Check-in; Passion for Pakistan award went to HBL Football Corporate and in the Others category the PAS trophy went to the British Council IELTS — Hello World campaign.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2015

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