odestar, the media buying division of FCB-Ulka lifted the Best Media Agency trophy at EMVIES 2004 organised by the Mumbai Ad Club. Pitted against the likes of MindShare and Madison Media, that were adjudged the top two media agencies by a recent Brand Equity (a supplement of The Economic Times) survey, Lodestar�s is no mean achievement. Created in 1995, Lodestar today is a Rs 600-crore full-time media service agency handling over 75 clients across seven cities in India.

Lodestar has maintained a fairly low profile as an agency. Nandini Dias, head, Lodestar Media, observes that the agency prefers to let its work speak for itself and the aim is "to improve each day". In 2002 it won Agency of the Year at the EMVIES and was the runner-up in 2003. This year it won a Gold in the category of Best Media Research for the case study Reel Pointer, followed by a Silver in the category of Best Media Strategy for the launch of Indigo. In the category of Best Media Innovation, it bagged three awards in the sub-category of Events (Nerolac: Touch a Child�s Life), Direct Marketing (Club Mahindra: Film roll) and Press (Nerolac: Interactive Shadecard). ... more