The prestigious Olive Crown Awards India 2025 awarded the 45th IAA World Congress Penang, 2024 as being a force for good of people and the planet.
The awards took place in Mumbai, India on April 4th, 2025. The theme of the Congress Brand RE-CODE, Better World, Better Life and the global scale of the conference resonated with the award’s mission of celebrating and recognizing the creative excellence in communicating sustainability.
“It is an honor to be recognized by one the largest Marcomm communities in the world who firmly believes that brands and businesses should be a force for good. We live in trying times. The recent global pandemic, wars and conflicts, climate change, natural catastrophes, poverty, inflation, gender inequality, immense wealth and wage gap, mental health crisis and more. The 45th IAA World Congress was on an all-encompassing quest for a purpose-driven life of brands and businesses to become agents of change” said John D Chacko, Chairman of the 45th IAA World Congress and President of IAA Malaysia.
The congress organized between 6th and 8th March 2024, had garnered 1036 registered delegates and over 80 speakers from 35 countries who converged in Penang for the 3 days with a common rally cry of ‘recoding their outlook and approaches to build a sustainable and better future for all’.
The congress was supported by the Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB).
First day of the congress was devoted to discussing sustainability as a business growth driver while Day 2 and 3 was anchored in sustainability with Creativity & Technology and Inclusivity as a force for good in conjunction with International Women’s Day. Some of the leading thought leaders on sustainability shared possible strategies, best practices, use cases of technology and creative interventions to drive sustainable business practices.
The 45th IAA World Congress was co-hosted by Penang State; the Silicon Valley of the East is also home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of George Town. This is a land of juxtaposition –a modern cosmopolitan where the confluence of diversity, heritage and culture forms the very fabric of society and is celebrated every day.
“The true winners of this prestigious award are those who believed in and supported our cause, those who contributed to this congress in any capacity, and those who worked tirelessly to make the event an outstanding success” said Omar Shaari, Vice President of IAA Malaysia.
“We would like to thank all our sponsors, supporters, speakers and delegates of 45th IAA World Congress Penang, who came forward as one voice to support the congress and trigger relevant discussions for sustainable business and brand growth.” said Chacko.
Also present at the prestigious ceremony was R Giridharan Chief General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Debapriya Dutt, Director at Earthday.Org, Dr. Milan Agnihotri, Head of Growth and Strategy, Dentsu Malaysia, Pradeep Dwivedi, Group CEO | Executive Director Eros International Media Limited, India and IAA APAC VP. among others.