Mumbai: Wunderman Thompson India has had a winning spree at the recently concluded Spikes Asia awards 2022. The agency bagged a Grand Prix for ‘Good’ for ‘The Lost Daughters’ in addition to winning a ‘Glass Spike’ for the same campaign. Wunderman Thompson India also won a gold for the film ‘Hidden Truth’ for Vidya India in the category ‘Film Craft’ for ‘Script writing’.
The Lost Daughters activation was in collaboration with Sanlaap, a Kolkata-based NGO that rescues and rehabilitates sex trafficking survivors. An estimated 16 million women are victims of sex trafficking in India. Unfortunately, only 7% of them are ever rescued. When a woman is rescued from sex trafficking, often families refuse to accept them back because of social stigma and the fear of being shunned by society. The Lost Daughters activation is an attempt to raise awareness about this issue to help more daughters come back home with dignity.
The agency’s other gold win was for the film ‘The Hidden Truth’ in the category ‘Film Craft’ for ‘Script writing’ which was in collaboration with Vidya India, an NGO that strives for empowering and transforming lives of women and children. The film unmasks the silent struggle waged inside the homes against domestic violence with The Vidya Helpline becoming a safe way to reach out for help. The Hidden Truth made the truth of the rising instances of Domestic Abuse hard to ignore by setting it against the narrative of the Covid 19 Pandemic.
On the agency wins, Shams Jasani, Wunderman Thompson South Asia’s CEO, said, “I am immensely proud of our stellar performance at Spikes Asia 2022 and I feel honoured and privileged to be leading a team of extremely talented and passionate people at Wunderman Thompson India. I congratulate our CCO, Senthil Kumar, Regional Creative Director, Tista and Senior NCD, Priya and their teams for producing path-breaking work with powerful social messages. Great way to kick start the year and we look forward to raising the bar and setting new benchmarks with our creative bravery.”
Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson India, commented, “In the business of ideas it doesn’t get bigger than the Grand Prix at Spikes Asia. Every idea that is ever born to solve a marketing problem dreams of growing up into a Gold Lion and if it’s truly blessed into a Gigantic Grand Prix at Spikes Asia. We are very proud of our Creative Firepower at Wunderman Thompson that is connecting the dots between Creativity and Technology with every new idea every day. Our Senior Creative Leaders Tista and Priya are leading by example and this recognition on the biggest international stage will surely inspire everyone in the team towards greatness.”
Talking about ‘The Lost Daughters’ campaign, Tista Sen, Regional Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson South Asia, said, “What a more befitting tribute to Women’s day than an idea which is fierce, challenges patriarchy and makes you acknowledge the hypocrisy in society. Lost Daughters is for every woman who knows the home she grew up in may not be welcoming anymore. It forces us to look at relationships and question how rescued girls are abandoned by their families because of social stigma and regressive pervasiveness.”
Commenting on her film, ‘The Hidden Truth’, Priya Shivakumar, Senior National Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson India, said, “This is a special win for a writer and to have won it for a piece that was dedicated to the sisterhood is the best kind of feeling. We set out to turn the spotlight on the pandemic hiding in the shadows and this was a case of putting two different and equal truths together to uncover the Hidden Truth. While all media and messaging directed people towards their homes, urging them to stay safe, the realisation that home was not a safe place for a few, while also giving them a safe way to reach out for help, became a small but meaningful way to draw attention to the Shadow Pandemic, as it was called by UN Women.”
