Sarva Integrated among winners of ‘Most Effective Agency of the Year’

Tuesday, 3 March 2015 01:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sarva Integrated, which prides in calling itself creative business consultants with an understanding of marketing from both sides of the coin rather than give itself the typical ‘ad agency’ tag, proved its claim at the prestigious ‘Effies Awards 2014’ held at Waters Edge on Friday 27 February. Sarva Integrated was adjudged ‘Most Effective Agency of the Year 2014,’ becoming one of only four agencies to win this award from amongst the number of big names in the industry present at the glittering event. The agency submitted campaigns that had gained impressive results for three of uts clients, all of which created waves at the Awards. Sarva’s entry for Triumph Women’s intimate wear was showcased as a nominee. The campaign very effectively achieved a 25% increase in sales for the client by the clever way in which Sarva managed to convince the target audience (some of whom had a negative perception of the brand as being vulgar) to spend 600% more on a quality product. This entry did not receive an award but was the only entrant in the fashion and retail category to make the short list. The agency won a finalist award for its work for Softlogic Finance; the fixed deposit campaign and related activity it carried out effectively increased the deposit base of the company from Rs. 3 billion to Rs. 12 billion.

An effective activation at the Book Fair Colombo for the Eye Donation Society which was on a zero budget won Sarva a silver. Suresh Jayaweera who led the team that conceptualised and carried out the activation said that it enabled the client to get the highest number of people signing up to donate their eyes on a single day. As a globally-recognised awards platform, the Effies maintains very high standards and not all entries make the cut. There is a stringent judging process in place, on par with international standards. Therefore, making it to the short list as a nominee at this august ceremony in itself is considered an achievement. Sarva Integrated Managing Director Chrishantha Jayasinghe (better known as CJ within the industry) says that becoming one of the four Most Effective Agencies of the Year in that environment says its own story for him and his team. “This year only 8% of the entries from across the industry were awarded, which makes our win even more special. We have always taken pride that we are an effective agency rather than a creative one, therefore winning the ‘Effective Agency of the Year’ title is a great strength to us and proves our mettle as a team which understands our clients’ needs as well as the cultural diversity of our audience,” he says. CJ says the evening was going great for Sarva with the results it was getting at the Effies, “To our way of thinking we had a 100% success rate with our entries and we were in a buoyant mood all round. But the icing on the cake was when we were called on stage to receive the ‘Most Effective Agency of the Year’ award on the strength of our three submissions. We have always taken pride in the fact that our focus as an agency was more on efficacy than creativity and we have as a team proved it at the Effies Awards 2014.” Sarva, which has delivered some outstanding brand building work for industry biggies such as Lanka Bell, Dimo, Union Assurance, Caltex NDB Group and PABC to name a few in the past, says its USP is thoroughly understanding the culture and people of Sri Lanka and delivering strategic solutions that bring results rather than creatives that sometimes end in the graveyard.