The Goafest mood hits you right from the time one lands at Dabolim airport. As one heads for the luggage belt, there's a Goan band welcoming the delegates and posters of who's who of the Indian advertising circuit plastered on the walls. The interesting part of the pictures are there are two versions of the faces-one the original and the other, the Avatar version. No, Cavalossim beach, the venue of Goafest 2010, hasn't transformed into Navi, but considering the battering the ad world has taken last year with the financial meltdown, Navi is indeed the quest for the ad world this year. No wonder, the theme of Goafest 2010 is survival of the freshest.

Like any festival, day one is beginning with a jog, before starting the sprint, which is the Media Abby and Creative Abby awards. Thus, the venue comprising convention centre, display areas for ads and even an oasis to quench ones thirst had a spartan presence on Thursday. One by one, the head honchos of agencies reached Goa on day one, the heavy artillery that is the contingents from respective agencies will be making it to Goa today. And there are some impressive numbers from agencies sending delegates. Rediff YR, for example, has a contingent size of 150, Bates 141 has 40 people and even BBH has 30 people to name a few coming in for Goafest 2010. Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT and co-chairman, Goafest, said around 2,800 delegates will participate in the fifth edition of Goafest.

While today and tomorrow will have heavyweights from the world of advertising talking to the delegates, Thursday was all about business conclave with the theme 'time to grow'. Incisive questions through topics for panel discussion like 'is creativity rising to the occassion to drive and grow brands in India', 'what needs to be done to arrest the degrowth of the advertising pie' and 'are agencies building adequate competencies in resources and processes' were discussed threadbare by representatives from agencies, media and brands.

Source: The Economic Times