NH7

On Friday, we announced that The Dewarists had been shortlisted for a Lion at the now concluded 59th International Festival of Creativity. Last night, the awards for the Branded Content and Entertainment Lions category were handed out and The Dewarists bagged itself a shiny bronze Lion.

The Dewarists was awarded the bronze in the sub-category – Best non-fiction program, series or film where a client has successfully created a reality, documentary or light entertainment show around a product(s) or brand(s). The silver in this category went to a campaign for Gatorade titled ‘Everything to Prove’, and the gold to a campaign for Nissan/Playstation called ‘GT Academy’.

Speaking about The Dewarists and the Branded Content awards, jury member from India and Creative Director of Bawa Broadcasting, Cyrus Oshidar said, “We considered factors such as relevance to the brand, relevance to the audience, inspiring, entertainment and outcome while judging entries. Dewarists is a great piece of work. The best thing – it’s come from Bacardi. Being an alcohol brand they cannot advertise on TV so they have taken the route of music which is the best way to reach out to people. But they have done it in a very nice, a very comprehensive manner. Fantastic storytelling, fusion project, live concert – it is a great integrated approach and it was very comfortable there competing with the best in the world.”

The Dewarists was directed by ad-filmmaker and Scribe frontman Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy. It was produced by Babble Fish Productions (who are also producing the currently on-air MTV Sound Trippin’), with support from OML Entertainment and Design of Information. The show was aired on Star World, and also streamed on YouTube, where episodes have been viewed nearly two million times.  The 10-part series came into being because of whiskey brand Dewar’s (owned and distributed in India by Bacardi). It was promoted by an online strategy that included an episode-by-episode behind-the-scenes look on Facebook (pictures by our very own Kunal Kakodkar), and an offline strategy that saw everything from tweetups with artists like Imogen Heap and Zeb & Haniya, screenings at movie theatres, and of course, The Dewarists Stage at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender.

Check out the winning entry of The Dewarists below.

Stay tuned for more about The Dewarists.