The 18th edition of Pepper Creative Awards was held at Taj Vivanta Hotel, Kochi on 6 December to celebrate the creative achievements of the South Indian advertising, marketing and media industries.

Chennai-based Vermmillion Communications  won the ‘Agency of the Year Award’ for the agency’s work in the regional advertising space.

Mathrubhumi Group bagged the ‘Advertiser of the Year’ award.

Thiruvananthapuram-based Stark Communications bagged the ‘Best of Kerala’ award, and Bengaluru-based Nirvana Films won the ‘Best of Karnataka’ award.  

Vladimir Motion Pictures and Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing bagged special jury consideration awards. 

V M Shreyams Kumar, managing director, Mathrubhumi Group and president of Indian Newspaper Socienty ( INS)  was the chief guest at the award ceremony.  

Earlier in the evening, Senthil Kumar, chief creative officer, VML India; Vishnu Srivatsav, national creative director, 22 feet Tribal; Niranjan Natarajan, founder creative director, Why Axis Advertising and Chockalingam, co-founder director, OPN Advertising, were part of a jury panel moderated by Anupama Sajeet, features editor, Manifest (read more about this in the January issue).

K Venugopal, chairperson, Pepper Trust, said, “This year we received more than 600 entries from ad agencies, media, production houses, printers and photographers across South India.  There were two rounds of online judging and one round of offline judging at Bangalore.” 

PK Natesh, chairperson, Pepper Awards 2024, said, “Before the main award function, we had a panel discussion with four jury members  - Senthil Kumar, Vishnu Srivatsav, Niranjan Natarajan and Chockalingam, which was moderated by Anupama Sajeet, features editor, Manifest. The session mainly focused on the growing importance of regional communication, the impact of digital media, and creativity in general. The panel discussion lasted over an hour, providing a platform for the audience to engage with the jury, resulting in an interactive and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.”

He further added, “More than 380 participants from across South India attended the event, which lasted over four hours and featured plenty of entertainment, including an interactive quiz session by Manorama Max.”