On the night of 25th April 2015, Karachi witnessed the most awaited and biggest event of the year for both advertisers and brands; the prestigious PAS Awards by the Pakistan Advertisers Society was held at Expo Centre to celebrate creativity in Pakistan.
Recognized by advertisers and brands throughout Pakistan as the most prestigious award in the industry, PAS has over the years become a platform that is a benchmark for assessing the most effective marketing efforts and creative campaigns. With an overwhelming response from agencies and brands across the nation, the PAS Awards 2015 made more noise than any entertainment awards in the country.
The show kicked off with Khalid Malik, who by the way isn’t even funny anymore, not with his in bad taste jokes about Meera and Malaika Lawn but let’s not digress, it was an evening of whining and dining; love the pun, more of whining actually from agencies particularly as they had a lot on stake.
Rachel Viccaji sang her heart out in a soulful number in the honor of the dearly departed industry legends. Entertaining performances by Fuzon, Jawad Ahmed and Sara Raza followed. Zia Mohiuddin also took the podium to enthrall the audience with his ideology, while Bushra Ansari got the crowd in stitches with her advertising anecdotes.
The night was graced by the glitterati and who’s who of the local advertising powerhouses. The red carpet saw quite a bit of glamour with the appearances of Nadia Hussain, Zhalay Sarhadi, Meera, Sadaf Malatarre, Mahira Khan, Mohammad Malik, Ehsan Malik, Amir Paracha, Khurram Koraishy, Tariq Ikram, Shayan Malik, Michael Nederlof, Zainab Mohammad, Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui, Kamran Khan, Romain Dequesne, Sarmad Ali, Azra Mohyeddin, Bahauddin Khan, Imran Aslam and Mujtaba Naqvi.
With its 5 special categories namely Passion for Pakistan, Best in Digital, Media Innovation, Best BTL Activation and Best Platform Award to honor the most innovative marketing ideas, PAS Awards is now Pakistan’s version of the esteemed CLIO Awards. Where, the best of marketing and advertising vie neck to neck to stand out from the crowd.
Unlike last year, it wasn’t mostly about regional adaptations and the new category Best Nationally Originated Campaign was a refreshing break. This year the stage was set, to be a little breathtaking, more like a fashion show, for crowning the best of local work; where Aray Wah stole the limelight by winning the Campaign of the Year award. BBDO Pakistan’s #NotABugSplat also contended in a couple of categories and no one deserved it more than them. Ufone once again proved its superiority over its rivals. Teams Lowe & JWT were seen having a blast and bagging awards as usual.
The revered legend Jawed Jabbar went home with a bright smile after winning the first PAS Lifetime Achievement Award, and it was well deserved. Not just that he proved that behind every successful man there’s a woman by reminiscing about the late Sabeen Mehmood for her indomitable spirit.
All in all, it was a night to have fun and cheer for those who work too hard behind the scene for making the best happen! It was good to see something other than politics trending, all thanks to PAS Awards 2015.
P.S. Loved the chic cocktail lounge! ?
Photography Credits: Omair Ali Photography
