The WOW Awards 2012 closes on a high note, with 73 award presentations

by EVENTFAQS Bureau | Marketing | April 27, 2012 | News

The WOW Awards witnessed an expansion in its list of categories from 25 last year to 27 this year. The two new categories introduced this year are the Brand Experience of the Year (best use of experiential marketing) and Advertiser-funded Program of the Year with On-ground Connect.

The fourth edition of the WOW Awards was presented in association with EEMA (Event and Entertainment Management Association of India), with High Street Phoenix as the associate partner and BloombergUTV as the exclusive television partner. The WOW Awards 2012 was supported by RMAI (the Rural Marketing Association of India), ICPB (the India Convention Promotion Bureau) and Ad Club Bombay.

The Gitanjali WOW Awards 2012 celebrated 73 event/experiential campaigns, including the special honours like the WOW Paradigm of the year, WOW LIVE Patrons of the year and the WOW LIVE Personalities of the year. The WOW Paradigm was presented to Ryan Foundation for its initiative, The International Children's Festival of Performing Arts. There were two WOW LIVE Patron honours bestowed at the awards ceremony. The first of the WOW LIVE Patrons was presented to the Gujarat Tourism Ministry for tourism promotion of the highest order through live initiatives. The second WOW LIVE Patron was presented to Hero MotoCorp. for establishing new benchmarks in brand experience creation and investment and belief in the live medium.

The Gitanjali WOW Awards 2012 also acknowledged the live performers that make an integral part of any event, celebration or experience. The WOW LIVE Personality of the Year was instituted in 2011 in recognition and acknowledgment of those stars that have contributed to the success of a live platform and truly brought in an element of connect and engagement with its audience. The WOW LIVE Personality of the Year - Film was presented to Priyanka Chopra not only to recognize her success as a film personality, but also to acknowledge her ability to leverage that success to live engagements and events in the most seamless manner. The WOW LIVE Personality of the Year - Television was presented to Ayushman Khurana. The award was in acknowledgment of Khurana's success and buzz among audiences, across mediums and ability to shoot up TRPs and warrant media frenzy at any event.

Commenting about this year's WOW Awards, Vishal Nagdev, Business Head - EVENTFAQS and The WOW Awards, said: "With each passing year of the WOW Awards, we're assured growth and grander success because of this industry and it's undying support toward EVENTFAQS. Be it through the encouraging numbers of entries we receive each year or the partnership extended to make this ceremony possible, the WOW Awards shines brighter along with the industry."

The awards ceremony opened with Sachin Gupta performing the WOW anthem. Hemant Malik, COO - Trade and Distribution, ITC Ltd. and EEMA President Brian Tellis took to the stage to address the audience in the inaugural segment. There were performances by Pakistani band Junoon, Sophie Choudhry with Sumit Vinod's dance troupe, a special percussion act by DJ King, Terrence Lewis along with the Terrence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company and the finale act was by Bollywood actor, Chitrangada Singh also backed by Sumit Vinod's dance troupe.

Television personality Mini Mathur and actress Tisca Chopra were the hosts of the ceremony which also saw a special segment hosted by Roshan Abbas and Brian Tellis and another by RJ Malishka.

The awards show witnessed a special unveiling of 'The Great Indian Wedding Carnival' with actress Aditi Rao Hydari and the unveiling of a special handbook, Experiential Venues (ExV).

The event was managed by Seventy Seven Entertainment for the fourth consecutive year.

For the complete list of winners, click here