MxMIndia

Tag: DDB Mudra

  • The Dubai Lynx Awards honour the region's best work in advertising. The 2013 Festival takes place from 10 to 13 March at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

    Sonal Dabral to speak at Dubai Lynx

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sonal Dabral
    Sonal Dabral

    Sonal Dabral, Chairman & CCO, DDB Mudra Group, has been invited to speak at the Dubai Lynx 2013 – International Festival of Creativity. Mr Dabral will be taking the audience through the rich artistic heritage of India and how it has the power to influence brands and communications, not just in India, but also on the international stage.

     

    Terry Savage, Chairman, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, said, “At the heart of Lions Festivals, is creativity and Dubai Lynx as one of our events has the same ethos. We have speaking at the event each year great creative leaders who show the way forward in terms of thought leadership and providing inspiration to our delegates. Sonal Dabral fits that role perfectly and we are delighted to have him speaking at Dubai Lynx 2013.”

     

    The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity is the Middle East and North Africa region’s (MENA) annual must-attend event for the advertising and communications industry to learn, be inspired, network and celebrate. The Dubai Lynx Awards honour the region’s best work in advertising. The 2013 Festival takes place from 10 to 13 March at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

     

    The Dubai Lynx is part of the Lions Festivals stable, which includes Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, Eurobest and the Asia Effectiveness Awards. The Festival and Awards are produced in partnership with Motivate Publishing, with the support of Dubai Media City (DMC) and in association with the UAE Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA).

     

  • Satish Sethumadhavan (popularly known as Sethu) has joined the agency as creative director, and Ashish Phatak and Aman Mannan have taken up the additional role of driving the Tribal DDB creative mandate

    Tribal DDB India beefs up its creative team

    By A Correspondent

     

    With a series of new business wins over the last few months, Tribal DDB India is on a growth spree and is investing in a significant ramp up of its creative team.

     

    Ashish Phatak
    Aman Mannan

    Ashish Phatak and Aman Mannan, both Group Creative Directors at DDB Mudra Mumbai, have taken up the additional role of driving the Tribal DDB creative mandate. Both joined DDB Mudra Mumbai in 2010 and have been working on LIC, Godrej, Future Group and Union Bank of India among others. They have individually and together won multiple awards across Abbys, Cannes, Effies, Emvies, London International Festival, One Show on work for brands like Union Bank of India, Parachute, Saffola, Tata Indico, Hit, Jaipur Foot Foundation.

     

     

    Satish Sethumadhavan

    Satish Sethumadhavan (popularly known as Sethu) has joined the agency as Creative Director. His last stint was with Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore. Over the past decade, Sethu has worked with world-class brands such as Coca-Cola, Western Union and American Express and famous Indian brands such as ITC’s Bingo, Marico’s Parachute, Haywards, Vicks and Titan among others. Sethu has won multiple awards across Cannes, One Show, Abby, Goafest, etc. and one of his best digital campaigns is the award winning one for Titan HTSE.

     

     

     

    Sonal Dabral
    Sonal Dabral

    Sonal Dabral, Chairman & CCO, DDB Mudra Group, said, “With technology opening up endless possibilities in the way we converse with our target audience these are truly exciting times. At DDB Mudra Group we want to be the best when it comes to providing breakthrough creative solutions to our clients across multiple media and platforms. With this new beefed-up creative structure at Tribal DDB we are walking our talk.”

     

     

     

    Venkat Mallik

    Venkat Mallik, President, Tribal DDB and Rapp India, said, “At Tribal DDB, we believe that the best work in the digital space will emerge from the fusion of the highest standards of brand creative thinking with Digital inventiveness.  We are building our team with award winning talent with backgrounds in digital, as well as, mainstream brand communication. Aman, Ashish and Sethu are individually outstanding creative talent who we are proud to have lead the creative show for us and help set a new benchmark for digital brand creativity.”

     

  • The DDB Mudra Group firm sets up shop with a big client in the bag

    With Mahindra in tow, Interbrand begins India ops on a high

    By A Correspondent

     

    This February-end will mark the completion of a year since the unveiling of a new structure and brand identity by creative hotshop DDB Mudra Group in India. As part of the slew of changes that were planned for the network in India, the management had announced that the network would comprise of eight key agencies as under: DDB Mudra, DDB MudraMax, Mudra, DDB Health & Lifestyle, RAPP, Tribal DDB India, Water and Maatra.

     

    While plenty was reported and written about the performance of the creative, out-of-home, experiential and other units within the group in the past one year, one unit that preferred to stay away from the limelight was Water, the brand consultancy specialist that was rebranded Interbrand India at the time of restructuring. But that is until now. Interbrand India seems to have finally found its footing in the country as it announced the take-off of its operations in India.

     

    Formed by the transition of Water, the brand strategy and design consultancy of DDB Mudra Group, to Interbrand, Interbrand India will offer Interbrand’s complete suite of brand consulting services including brand strategy, audit/evaluation, design, brand management and verbal identity. The operation will continue to be located in Mumbai.

     

    A communique issued to media stated the following: “Joining a client roster that includes Tata and Godrej, Interbrand India is pleased to announce that it has begun consulting for the Mahindra Group. Mahindra, one of the more progressive Indian brands, is looking to establish itself as one of the world’s most valuable brands and as part of the journey has engaged Interbrand on an extensive brand valuation project. The Interbrand offices in Mumbai & London will carry out the assignment.”

     

    “India is one of the most exciting markets in the world for brands today, said Jez Frampton, Global CEO of Interbrand. “We are extremely pleased to have Ashish Mishra and his team join the Interbrand family and to mark the occasion with the start of a relationship with Mahindra, one of India’s most prestigious brands.”

     

    Commenting on joining Interbrand, Ashish Mishra, Managing Director, Interbrand India said, “We want Indian companies to realize that brands are not mere logos or slogans but rank among the most important assets a business owns. Mr. Mishra continued, “As the world’s leading brand consulting firm, our task, quite simply, is to help the Best Indian Brands graduate to Best Global Brands.”

     

    Interbrand’s brand valuation methodology – the first of its kind to be ISO certified – analyzes the many ways a brand touches and benefits an organization, from driving bottom-line business results to delivering on customer expectations. The methodology has been leveraged to build value, inform strategic brand management, restructure and create business cases for investments for some of the best global brands.

     

  • Carrier Midea India Pvt. Ltd. has appointed DDB Mudra Delhi as its creative agency for the Midea Brand. DDB Mudra Group was entrusted with the account after a multi-agency pitch

    Carrier Midea appoints DDB Mudra for creative

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carrier Midea India Pvt. Ltd. has appointed DDB Mudra Delhi as its creative agency for the Midea Brand. DDB Mudra Group was entrusted with the account after a multi-agency pitch. The agency’s main focus will be on strategic planning and creative execution for both ATL and BTL requirements of the Midea brand. Led by Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra Group, the account will be managed out of Delhi.

     

    Carrier Midea India is a new entrant in the Indian home appliances market and has aggressive marketing plans. The business was awarded to DDB Mudra Group based on its strong strategic recommendation and sharp point of view on positioning the brand Midea in the competitive Indian consumer durables market.

     

    Confirming the agency appointment, Sanjay Mahajan, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Carrier Midea India said, “We are delighted to partner with DDB Mudra. They have a proven track record of creating brands, remarkable campaigns and fresh ideas. The team is proactive, extremely passionate and provides a good balance of thinking and doing. Also, we are poised for growth with major expansion plans and are confident that our partner agency will play a critical role in achieving our marketing goals. We look forward to work with them.”

     

    Vandana Das, President DDB Mudra Group, said, “Wins are always delighting, but this specific one, we are even more delighted as we would be partnering with Carrier Midea India for a full fledged launch of the Midea brand in the country. We would be adopting an integrated approach to launch it across all consumer touch points, in the months ahead.”

     

  • Putting the spice into the edible oil landscape, Dhara's new campaign comes after a six-year break and addresses the health concerns of the new generation

    Dhara offers healthy variety to its TG

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    Dhara, which has in the past come up with successful taglines including ‘Dhara Dhara Shudh Dhara’ and ‘My Daddy Strongest’, has now after a gap of almost six years come out with a new campaign.

     

    India Ka Tadka is how Dhara has positioned itself in its current communication, which is about celebrating the fondness of food that Indians are known for and various emotions that come with food.  It also talks of the role that edible oil plays in daily Indian cooking, which also involve frying. Hence, Dhara offering guilt-free consumption of all things that are seen as sinful by switching to the brand that offers healthy variants of oil to choose from, thus also championing the rotating of different oils which is seen as a healthy choice.

     

    Offering an insight into the reason for the six-year gap before this campaign, Amit Kumar Taneja, Senior Brand Manager, Dhara, Mother Dairy, said, “In the year 2009, we revamped the entire packaging for the brand and then post that we have been doing a lot of work like creating a new brand identity based on its equity and heritage, introducing new variants and simultaneously focusing on distribution in regions with tactical media exposure. Taking a step ahead we thought that it is the right time to also introduce a national campaign now. Incidentally, Dhara has just entered its 25th year too.”

     

    The campaign tries to bring about an emotional connect, along with being relevant, to the consumers. Mr Taneja explained, “Edible oil is like salt which is a necessary ingredient for the everyday kitchen. Now there are certain reserves regarding consuming oil. So what we are essentially saying that research recommends changing oil variants frequently for healthy lifestyle, and we have taken the responsible route and provide those variants under the Dhara umbrella thus providing consumers reassurance that we are taking care of their health needs.”

     

    He added, “The message is being reinforced on Dhara packaging as well, which reads as ‘For optimum health benefits Dhara recommends consumption of more than one variant to get balanced quantity of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) along with a variety of micro nutrients present in different oils’. ”

     

    India ka Tadka essentially means that we have grown up hearing the crackling sound of tadka, and whenever we hear it, subconsciously we know that food is going to be served. Tadka is that wafting aroma of spices in oil which turns an ordinary meal into the most exquisite treat. It’s also a metaphor for the joie de vivre, the spice of life. The positioning tries to capture the significance of food even in our smallest of celebrations.

     

    The campaign is developed by DDB Mudra and shot by Thumbnail Pictures. It’s been launched pan-India with Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali edits. The OOH too is being tapped in different cities across India.

     

    Commenting on the TVC, Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra, said, “We take a lot of pride in this campaign and our association with Dhara for so many years. With past campaigns like ‘Jalebi’ and ‘My Daddy Strongest’ done for Dhara, the benchmark was already set very high. What’s great and delights us is that we managed to partner the client in creating yet another campaign that not just breaks the category clutter but also captures a strong insight. India ka Tadka for sure depicts each one of us in some way or the other.”

     

  • Behind every great commercial is super strategy. Every week, MxMIndia will bring you the brief and the strat as given by the client and whatever else that went into creating a winning ad

    AdStrat: 6 Days Mahabachat

    Anand Karir, Senior Creative Director, DDB Mudra

     

    Name of the Campaign

    6 Days Mahabachat

     

    Brief

    Mahabachat as a property was conceived in 2006 to spur consumption around the Independence Day holiday, offering great savings across product categories. This year the challenge was to instil confidence into the property promise of big savings at a time when persistent inflation was dampening consumer spirit.

     

    Research insights

    The consumer reality revealed that they harboured a sense of helplessness towards inflation, with no solution in sight. Over the years, the effect of inflation had moved beyond the kitchen and even impacted their purchases of fashion, education, fuel and entertainment, leading to an overall increase in the cost of living. At the same time consumer aspirations were also on the rise, resulting in an overall state of dissatisfaction.

     

    The thought process behind the creative

    As a solution to the consumer’s angst, the attempt was to empower consumers with a concrete solution throughout the six days of Mahabachat. The resolve of victory over inflation by participating in Mahabachat was brought alive through the optimistic clarion call of ‘Mehengai pe Halla Bol’.

     

    Media vehicles chosen

    TVC, Press, Outdoor, Radio, In-store and Digital.

     

    Key issues kept in mind while executing the ad

    The clarion call of ‘Mehengai pe Halla Bol’ was not an agitation or a morcha against anyone but the joy of having found a solution against inflation at Big Bazaar through the ‘6 days of Mahabachat’. The mood was that of celebration and freedom.

     

    Does the treatment do justice to the brief?

    Yes.

     

    What is the differentiating factor about the ad?

    Every Indian detests the inflation of the last few months. Our TG, the middle class Indian housewife, is feeling no different. Her budgets have not grown in proportion to the inflation and this is somewhere tying her hands and giving her a feeling of being helpless. Of not being able to do enough for her family. She wants to do something to change this and vent her feelings. We just gave her feelings an expression – ‘Mehengai pe Halla Bol’. She knows that Big Bazaar has always understood her needs and brought stuff within her reach. Mahabachat 2012 is yet another chapter in that epic.

     

    The TVC first mildly touches upon her and her family’s day-to-day encounters with inflation and then introduces ‘Mehangai pe Halla Bol’ as a positive cry, during these testing times, asking her to reach out to her friend Big Bazaar and grab everything she and her family wants and deserves, in abundance. Simple poetry narrated in the background subtly sets the mood and puts the point across without letting the harsh reality hit her in the face, which was a very important objective that we wished to achieve.

     

    Compiled by Shubhangi Mehta.

     

  • With just 14 metals, it was a forgettable year for the Indian contingent at the premier fest celebrating creativity in ad & marketing

    Glory eludes India @Cannes Lions 2012

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an Annus Horribilis. Thus spoke Queen Elizabeth II describing the year that was quite horrible for the British royal family. Now as the world celebrates 60 years of her Accession, the Latin phrase could be used for India’s performance at the Cannes Lions.

     

    Now that the 7-day grand creative festival has come to a close in the south of France, agencies that have emerged tall and triumphant from across the globe will be heading back to their respective continents to kick off celebrations.

     

    And that we guess India will miss out on, as the contingent make its way back home. Some have done so already as you read this. The boardrooms, bars and smokers’ areas will be busy as a new week commences with agencies trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. Or perhaps what didn’t go right. Some obvious questions that’ll come up for scrutiny are whether agencies have become too complacent and are taking their creative skills for granted or whether other countries have simply outsmarted India in the game of creative one upmanship.

     

    Few doubt the creative aptitude India possesses, having given a tough time to most agencies in the past but 2012 could easily be billed as the worst year thus far – just 14 metals in kitty when the number of entries that were sent were the highest at 1,182.

     

    Even in a dry year like 2008 where India had sent only 982 entries, the total metal count stood at 23. The only bad year was 2007 where India bagged just 12 metals but then one expects performances to see an upward spike year-on-year and not the other way round. It will be interesting to see the kind of reactions that emerge from the entrant companies in the ensuing days.

     

    Though it was a forgettable year for India , there were some agencies that shone bright and whose entries managed to win a few metals. Those that were hopeful of a win did just that and came back lapping up either Gold, Silver or Bronze in the respective categories. Mentos Sour Marbles by Ogilvy & Mather continued its winning spree across festivals as it bagged a bronze in the Press Lions category.

     

    Another sureshot that bagged India its metal was an entry by Leo Burnett for its client Bajaj Electricals for their exhaust fans. The team of KV Sridhar and Nitesh Tiwari carried on with their winning spree bagging Silver in the Press Lions category.

     

    In fact, the team of Leo Burnett carried on with their rich display by picking up a Media Lion Silver for its Doorstep School campaign in the Best Localised Campaign category.  Another entry from India that was sure of a win was Cheil Worldwide’s campaign for Samsung Printers. The work bagged a Media Lion Silver in Best Use of Integrated Media in Media Lions. BBDO India’s You Shave, I shave campaign for Gillette continued with its winning streak as it bagged a Bronze in the Media Lions category.

     

    While those that were touted to win did just that, it was the Gold winners that were the talk among the delegates at the Cannes Lions festival. The tally was opened by McCann Worldgroup which won an Outdoor Lions Gold for its client Western Union.

     

    An elated Prasoon collected the coveted prize on the dais. DDB Mudra’s ‘The Hinglish Project’ for Ministry of Tourism, Government of India was another Gold winner as it bagged the metal in the Design Lions category. The same project also won a bronze in the same category.

     

    Abhinay Deo

    The third Gold winner was the entry ‘I am Mumbai’ that was entered by Ramesh Deo Productions and the advertising agency for which was Taproot India . Abhinay Deo, on bagging the award, said: “There is no thumb rule for success. All I can say is that one has to be honest to his craft. Never make a film to win an award be it Cannes or any other, because then you surely won’t.”

     

    Failures Unlimited

    While that was about the winners, the conversation that dominated the festival during the latter half was the lack of wins by India across categories. The discussion was compounded by India failing to make the shortlist across categories too. India would definitely want to forget its showing in the Mobile Lions & Cyber Lions category where it didn’t manage a single shortlist.

     

    Even categories like Film Craft, Creative Effectiveness, Branded Content & Entertainment put up a poor show by bagging just a handful of nominations. In comparison, categories like Radio and PR performed better with the shortlisted entries in either of them going on to win metals.

     

    In fact, the categories where India had the maximum number of shortlisted entries like Press and Outdoor too were failures as the conversion rate averaged about 10 per cent or so for each of them. Titanium & Integrated continued to elude the Indian contingent of bagging any metal.

     

    KV Sridhar

    The overall grim mood at the festival was highlighted by KV Sridhar, NCD, Leo Burnett India : “We are extremely satisfied with Leo Burnett’s performance at Cannes this year; getting three Lions is not an everyday event. The only disheartening thing being that India’s overall performance this year wasn’t gratifying. I think we need to push ourselves a little more to do well in such awards, because at the end of the day it’s not about how good your work is, but about how much better the world is performing than you.”

     

    Said Pratap Bose, COO, DDB Mudra Group, whose agency did win some big awards but not as many as they had hoped: “At the end of the day, as DDB Mudra, we were more hopeful as we did get 21 shortlists. Though this is an extended India problem as well. We did bag a Gold and that compensated a little. The standard to which the world has risen surpasses India to a very great extent hence India has got a lot of catching up to do. To sum it all, we are quite disheartened with the overall performance.”

     

    Pratap Bose

    Mr Bose’s comments on the creative standard of other agencies around the world rising to surpass India may all but be true. Why else would entries that stood a high chance of bagging a metal miss out on winning one? DDB Mudra’s work for Stedfast, Volkswagen and GeeBees Beverages were all assured of a win but sadly missed up winning any.

     

    Chaplin Chapters & Google Chrome by BBH India , Keeping the Legend Alive by McCann Worldgroup, Parle Agro by Creativeland Asia and A Day in the Life of India by Taproot were other worthy entrants too but were skipped for the sake of others that were found to be more deserving.

     

    Manish Bhatt

    Manish Bhatt, Founder-Director, Scarecrow and a jury member for Cannes, 2012, said, “I would say that winning at Cannes has a lot to do with probability, so many factors can work for or against a piece of work during the judging process. Also with my interactions with other jury members, I got a feel that many felt that while there is no disputing Indian creativity but the viability of that idea on various medium is restricted. As creativity is being redefined, there is a need to bring on an idea that can work on multiple platform. There is also a need to bring in more interactivity in our entries as thats what the judges are looking for.”

     

    Perhaps, it’s time for India to stop being looked upon as the ‘favourite’ one and for more creative ideas to spawn if we have to make a rousing comeback in 2013.

     

    We could then look forward to a wonderful year… Annus Mirabilis may be

     

    With inputs from Shubhangi Mehta, Tuhina Anand and Meghna Sharma

     

    Cannes Lions 2012 Winning Entrant

    Gold

    Silver

    Bronze

    Bacardi India

    1

    BBDO India

    2

    Cheil Worldwide

    1

    DDB Mudra

    1

    1

    Leo Burnett

    2

    1

    McCann Worldgroup

    1

    Ogilvy India

    3

    Ramesh Deo Productions

    1

    In alphabetical order of agency names

     

    Imaging: Rafiq

    Photograph of Abhinay Deo: Fotocorp

     

  • Last year India had won a total of 5 awards in this category, its best showing so far

    India@Cannes: DDB Mudra steals limelight with 6 Design shortlists

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    A glimmer of hope for India in Design Lions as eight of its entries have managed to make it to the shortlists. India had sent a total of 134 entries in this category, compared to 139 last year. Last year India had won a total of 5 awards in this category, its best showing so far.

     

    Overall, the category has received 2,182 entries from 62 countries, an increase of 23 per cent compared with 2011. Countries with the most entries include USA at 340, Brazil at 225, Germany at 219,UK at 168 and Japan at 113.

     

    As for the shortlisted entries, the table may well belong to DDB Mudra that has 6 entries against its name. Its entries – Stay Alert New York blackout for GeeBees Beverages and Moustache Gym and Musical Jungle for its client Volkswagen has been nominated in the Illustration category. The Hinglish Project entry for Ministry of Toursim has received two nominations in two categories including Design Typography & Consumer Services.

     

    Other entries include Elephant Combs Logo design for MKV Household Products by TBWA\India Gurgaon in Logo Design category and Chaplin Chapters for its client Movies Now by BBH India in Posters category.

     

    Representing India in the Jury is Abhijit Bansod, Principal Designer & Creative Head, Studio ABD. The awards ceremony will take place on June 20, in the Grand Auditorium, Palais des Festivals.

     

  • Of the various shortlists announced today, the tally was 2 in Radio, 8 in Design and 0 in Cyber

    India@Cannes: Shortlists announced today: 2 in Radio, 8 in Design & 0 in Cyber

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    India drew a blank in the digital domain yet again with zero entries shortlisted. However, in the other shortlists announced today, there was reason for cheer. Two Indian entries were shortlisted in Radio Lions and Eight in Design Lions.

     

    In Radio, McCann (for Lasky Herbal) and Leo Burnett for Strand Book Stall were shortlisted.

     

    In Design, the following entrants were shortlisted:

     

    BBH India for Movies Now

    DDB Mudra for Volkswagen Beetle

    TBWA Gurgaon for MKV Household Products (Elephant Combs)

    DDB Mudra for Geebes Beverage (Coffee Gold)

    DDB Mudra for Volkswagen (Attention Assist System-Moustache)

    DDB Mudra for Volkswagen (Attention Assist System-Jingle)

    DDB Mudra for Ministry of Tourism (Incredible India)

    DDB Mudra for Ministry of Tourism (Incredible India-Hinglish)

    [please await detailed reports]

     

  • Over the years, India's winning tally from 2007-2011 in Press Lions read thus: 4, 7, 2, 6, and 4

    India@Cannes: DDB Mudra with 10 & Leo Burnett with 8 shortlists raise India’s hopes for Press Lions

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Largely the same as the number of entries sent last year,India’s tally in Press Lions stands at 266 – compared to 267 last year. Overall the category has seen a rise of 12 per cent, recording 6,056 entries from 72 countries. Leading from the front once again is Brazil that has sent a record 948 entries. It is followed by UK & USA that have sent 399 and 390 entries respectively,Germany that has sent 385 entries and France that has sent 325 entries.

     

    The number of shortlists from India stands at a commendable 30. This is led by DDB Mudra that has 10 of its entries being shortlisted, Leo Burnett which has 8, Ogilvy & Mather that has 6, BBD0 that has 4 and Publicis that has 2.

     

    In the category Art Direction, DDB Mudra has three of its entries – Great Fire of London, New York Blackout and Armenian Internet Shutdown that have been shortlisted for its client Geebees Beverages. Three other shortlists of DDB Mudra include Elvis, JFK and Roswel lfor its client Stedfast in the Business Equipment & Services category. Leo Burnett once again finds four mentions for its Cigarette, Socks, Fish and Egg entries for its client Bajaj Electricals in the Photography category while Ogilvy bags three shortlists for its client Mattel Toys in the entertainment & Leisure category. Publicis has two shortlists for its client Bookstalk Audiobooks in the Retail Stores category.

     

    Representing the jury from India is Raj Kamble Former Chief Creative Officer, BBH.  Over the years,India’s winning tally from 2007-2011 in Press Lions read thus: 4, 7, 2, 6, and 4.

     

    The awards will be distributed at a glittering ceremony at Palais des Festivals on Wednesday evening.

     

     

  • India managed to line up an unprecedented 130 entries in Media Lions 2012 compared to 103 entries that it had sent last year

    India@Cannes: Leo Burnett, Cheil lead race for Media Lions

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The biggest year by far in terms of the number of entries sent,Indiamanaged to line up an unprecedented 130 entries in Media Lions 2012 compared to 103 entries that it had sent last year. But this number is distant from what the other countries have nominated from their shores:USA- 411,Germany- 272,Brazil- 252 andAustralia- 138. A total of 3,247 entries have been sent from 74 countries compared to 2,895 entries last year – an increase of 12 per cent.

     

    Having widened its scope with the sheer number of entries,Indiashould look at gaining more than 2 wins in this category, a figure which it achieved last year. But whether it will cross 8 metals, which it did in 2009, will be something to be seen at the awards function which will be held on Tuesday evening.

     

    Instituted in 1999 to honour excellence in media strategy, planning and execution and give key players in the media industry an annual meeting point, the jury will be looking not just for brilliant ideas, but moreover, ideas that work. RepresentingIndiaat the Media Lions Jury is Premjeet Sodhi, Chief Operating Officer, Lintas Media Group.

     

    Leo Burnett Mumbai leads the tally with two shortlists including ‘Ink Pad’ forDoorStepSchoolunder the Best Localised Campaign and ‘Happy Sparrows’ for McDonald’s under Best Consumer Engagement. Also having two shortlists is Cheil Worldwide for ‘Minus One Project’ for Samsung under the Best Use of Integrated Media. The entry is also nominated under the Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages category. The other entries include DDB Mudra’s ‘Smokers Balloon’ for CPAA in the Best Use of Ambient Media and OMD India’s ‘Honeymoon Down Under Works Wonders’ for TourismAustraliain the Best Use of Branded Content & Sponsorship.

     

     

  • It's time for the 59th Cannes Lions, the true festival of creativity. Presenting a curtain-raiser and a kickstart of MxMIndia's coverage

    Heading high towards Cannes 2012

     

     

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    In its 59th year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which will take place from June 17 till 23, is considered the largest worldwide gathering of advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators and marketers.

     

    Every year in June, around 9,000 registered delegates from 90 countries visit the fest to celebrate the best of creativity in brand communication, discuss industry issues and network with one another. Thousands of ads from all over the world are showcased and judged.

     

    Inspired by the International Film Festival, staged in Cannes since the late 1940s; a group of cinema screen advertising contractors from the Screen Advertising World Association (Sawa) felt that the makers of advertising films should be recognised similarly. They established the International Advertising Film Festival, the first of which took place in Venice in September 1954, with 187 entries from 14 countries. The lion of the Piazza San Marco in Venice was the inspiration for the Lion trophy.

     

    Cannes Lions juries are drawn from experts in each field from around the world. Each jury is headed by a jury president. They judge submissions in Film, Film Craft, Media, Press, Outdoor, Cyber, Promo & Activation, Direct, Design, Radio, PR, Creative Effectiveness and Titanium and Integrated.

     

    Inspiring creativity is at the heart of Cannes Lions. The Festival is where creative professionals come to debate, learn and be inspired; where the greatest industry honours are bestowed; where those pushing creative communications forward are celebrated. Amongst the featured agencies this year are names such as BBDO India, Leo Burnett India, DDB Mudra, TBWA India, JWT India, BBH India, Taproot India, Publicis India, Contract Advertising, Grey India , Happy Creative Service and Ogilvy India.

     

    Since the past couple of years, India has been doing fairly well at Cannes due to which the expectations are increasing with each passing year. Hence MxM India tried to find out what the experts think are India’s chances in the run for metals at Cannes Lions this year.

     

    Russel Barret
    Ashish Khazaanchi
    Kartik Iyer
    KV Sridhar
    Rajiv Rao
    Senthil Kumar
    Jishnu Sen
    Josy Paul

    Russel Barret, Managing Partner, BBH India, said: “India matches up to any other country when it comes to creativity. What we lack is the space between ideas and execution. The factors that affect it are probably budget and time. I am really hopeful that we will win just like any other agency which sends their work. Though out of all the Indian work that I have seen, the Tide (print) by Leo Burnett India and OOH Iconic poster by Mudra are my favourite works.

     

    Ashish Khazaanchi, NCD, Publicis Ambience was optimistic: “Our country has had some good and some not so good years at Cannes, but there has never been an extremely dreadful year for our country. India is amongst the countries having ‘great creative talent’ and the proof is the Grand Prix in the past. Our agency has done wonderfully at Cannes, but this year our focus was mostly on agency growth. My preferred work for this year would be Fox Crime ad and Gandhi booklet by Leo Burnett.

     

    Karthik Iyer, Owner, Happy Creative Service felt awesome: “Any agency would, to get recognition from the world’s best creative leaders on a global scale. India never lacked ideas, for sure. But I think more attention can be paid to craft. That’s an area we always get beaten, either because of the lack of time, budget or both. When it comes to my favourite work, there are so many it would be unfair to point a few. But a few that come to mind – Coke Studio Entry of the music from Coke bottles DM, I absolutely love that piece, Fox Crime should pick up something, Bajaj Exhaust fans and Sour Marbels to name a few.

     

    KV Sridhar aka Pops, NCD, Leo Burnett, India maintained: “The only place where our country lacks is exploring the new medium ideas such as digital. We focus more on the conventional mediums rather than the non-conventional ones, unlike countries in Latin America. The chances of India collecting metals at Cannes Lions are more in the categories like design, photography and sound design. For me the magic creators are Killer Jeans, Tide and Bajaj. I feel this will be a good year and we might get close to 20 odd metals, but we cannot regard it as a record breaking year. I’m hoping for the best for Leo – especially for properties like Tide, Coke Studio, a couple of Radio spots and Thums Up for branded content.

     

    Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy India said: “I think Indian work is absolutely fantastic, hence it does so well in the Indian market. The scenario in our country is such that we need to do a specific kind of work to appeal to our consumers, hence we do not appeal to the global jury at times. But that is not because of the quality of our work. All we need is to bridge our work in such a way that we appeal to the local masses as well as the international juries.”

     

    Senthil Kumar, National Creative Director JWT India was of the belief that they can only do their best and hope for God and the jury to do the rest: “Sure we have the potential but until the jury agrees, we won’t be striking heavy metal there. I have always believed that Indians are the most creative people on earth. We have to be more unabashedly Indian in our ideas and even in our ‘God is in the details’ execution. If only we’d stop aping the West and strive to unleash something very Indian every time, we’d have better chance at hunting down Gold Lions. This year, our creative hopes would ride on the following ideas: The Times of India Kerala Launch, RIN Eraser, Lifestyle’s Baddie bags, Nokia Recycle Films, and some other ideas that may just surprise the audience.

     

    From a potential point of view, these ads are the ones that could hunt down a few Lions for India this year: Google Chrome Tanjore, Mumbai Mirror, The Times of India Kerala Film & IPL 5 Carnival in Film Craft, The FOX Crime Series in Digital, the Nokia Recycle Viral Films, the Coffee House print work, the 3D Audi Website…

     

    Jishnu Sen, chief operating officer, Grey India, put forth his view: “The reason that the metal tally for India isn’t as high as some Latin American country is because of the international jury. Our work is always great and creative. Grey has done some great work this year with Killer Jeans and Cupid Condom. We are hoping to pick up some metals.”

     

    Josy Paul, Chairman and NCD, BBDO India felt: “India is a late entrant at Cannes, and taking that in consideration, we are doing fairly well and growing year by year. I am expecting the Gold and Silver winners from Abbys to do well at Cannes as well. As for my agency, Cannes is like a lottery, last year we did not expect to do so well, but we did. This year too, we are hoping our Gillette campaign would do well.”

     

     

    Main image: www.CannesLions.com