India’s award hunt at the 62nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is off to a promising if not a spectacular start. Of the 18 shortlisted entries in the Press category, Indian agencies romped home with three Silver Lions and a solitary Bronze Lion.
Leading the pack was McCann Worldgroup with two silver metals for its campaigns for Dish TV and Dabur’s Gastrina. While Grey picked up a silver for its DHL Express campaign, the bronze went to Taproot Dentsu for Mumbai Mirror.
The Grand Prix winning entry in the category was from The Community, Miami, for its work on the Buenos Aires Public Bike System.
The solitary entry in Direct from TBWA failed to convert while India had a no show in other categories announced on Sunday like Promo & Activation, Innovation and Mobile Lions.
The Indian contingent has reason to stay hopeful though. BBDO has two shortlists in PR for Ariel and Whisper and O&M has one for Fortune Oil.
In the highly-prized Creative Effectiveness category, HUL’s mobile radio platform Kan Khajura Tesan has an entry submitted by Lowe & Partners Worldwide given the well-known antipathy of the agency’s Indian unit Lowe Lintas to awards.
In Outdoor category, India has 15 shortlists from five agencies out of 469 total shortlisted entries. These include McCann Worldgroup for Dish TV, Creativeland Asia for Reckitt Benckiser, Grey Worldwide for DHL, O&M for Puffin and DDB Mudra for Volkswagen.
In the Media Lions, India has eight of the 294 shortlisted entries. Interestingly enough, it’s not a media agency, but creative shop BBDO that leads the tally in this category with shortlists for its work on Ariel, Whisper and iCongo.
DDB Mudra has a shortlist for Zee Media and O&M for Philips. Among the media agencies, the shortlists are Mindshare for Clinic Plus and Mediacom for Gillette. Jasmin Sohrabji, CEO of Southeast Asia at Omnicom Media Group and one of the Media jurors feels that the work is good but not consistent.
“Most of the innovative work was not scalable. I think we need to add sustainability as a criteria along with idea, execution, strategy and results,†she says.
McCann Worldgroup, the biggest agency network in global advertising giant Interpublic Group’s fold, has elevated Prasoon Joshi as its chairman for Asia-Pacific region, bringing both Greater China and Australia under his purview, with immediate effect. Earlier, he was president of McCann Worldgroup South Asia and CEO of the agency’s Indian operations.
Harris Diamond, chairman and chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup, flew down to Mumbai to make the announcement. In his new role, Mr Joshi will lead the network’s strategic vision in the region and integrate McCann Worldgroup’s skills across platforms in line with its core ideas.
“Collaboration and integration is the value we bring to the table,” Mr Joshi said. “McCann is a truly international agency and clients benefit from talent across the world through one portal that they can access anywhere, say, from Latin America and get the benefit of minds sitting in Mumbai.” Joshi will be based in Mumbai.
Charles Cadell, who spent significant time in India with another Interpublic agency Lowe, and Jesse Lin, will provide him business and operational width from Singapore and Shanghai, respectively.
In an exclusive interaction with Joshi and Diamond, when asked why has Mr Joshi decided to stay in Mumbai despite having several world cities to choose from? “His wife would kill him if he chose to move!” Mr Diamond retorted with a smile. On a more serious note he said, “I believe in the growth story of India, but we also have to play our part and not expect growth on a platter,” emphasising the importance McCann gives to the country. “India is a tremendous growth environment,” Mr Diamond said. “The new leadership, the new prime minister…we are very enthusiastic about the market.
Candidly, a year ago there were a lot of questions. Mr Joshi will not be the first person to run regional or global operations of a multinational from India. Vikram Sakhuja, the worldwide CEO of media firm Maxus, still works out of his Goregaon East office in Mumbai, two years after taking over. We recently reported that Nitin Paranjpe, who assumed charge of Unilever’s global home care division 11 months ago, was yet to relocate out of India. McCann Worldgroup, which has 23,000 employees in 330 offices across the world, has turned more aggressive under Diamond, who took charge two years ago. Earlier this year, Microsoft parked its global account with McCann.
Mr Joshi – poet, scriptwriter and creative mastermind behind some memorable campaigns such as ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’ and the Happydent ‘Palace’ – joined McCann in 2002 after a decade at Ogilvy. He’s a member of both McCann’s global creative council and its board.
Videocon has shifted a part of its advertising account to Rediffusion Y&R as it tries to reposition its telecom, mobile handset and flat panel television business. The account size is pegged at upwards of Rs 150 crore. The mobile handset business was handled by McCann World-Group’s second agency TAG until three months ago. The rest of the account moved to Rediffusion Y&R last week.
Videocon has also appointed a small independent agency SHO to handle its home appliances business, which had been awarded to Mindset, a subsidiary of JWT last year. Videocon’s direct-to-home (DTH) business D2H will continue to be managed by Lowe Lintas. Confirming the development, Sunil Tandon, group chief marketing officer, Videocon, said that multiple agencies pitched for the account.
“We expected the agency to understand our products, market and consumer behaviour, so that we reach out to the right set of audience with relevant message. We observed team Rediffusion Y&R understood these requirements and the same was reflected in their proposal,” he said. Amitava Sinha, chief operating officer, Rediffusion Y&R said: “We have been pursuing and engaging with Videocon for a really long time and I believe our previous stint with LG helped us win the business. These are categories that are fast evolving and consequently the communication challenges will demand clutter breaking and innovative thinking.”
A mail sent to JWT received no response until the time of going to press, but Sanjay Nayak, president, McCann WorldGroup, who also heads TAG, acknowledged that they parted ways with Videocon “some time ago.” Videocon’s telecom business was not a part of this process, however.
The company has telecom licences in six circles. Though Videocon does not operate in any of the circles, it plans to launch 4G services by the end of 2014. Videocon’s pan-India telecom licenses were cancelled in February 2012, following which the company bid for seven circles during the auction in November 2012.The company is expected to launch a range of mobile handsets in the coming months, and a new campaign will be launched around Diwali said a source at the agency.
McCann Worldgroup, India has bagged 4 Golds & 2 Silvers at the prestigious One Show Awards that concluded recently.
The agency was awarded Gold for the foll work: Full Page or Spread – Campaign – Premier Tissues India Ltd – Author Headphones; Art Direction – Single or Campaign – Premier Tissues India Ltd – Author Headphones; Full Page or Spread – Single – Premier Tissues India Ltd – Mark Twain and one in the design category for Designer Initiated – Happy Life Welfare & Dabbawala Foundation – Share My Dabba.
The Silver winners include Posters – Single – Penguin Group (India) – William Shakespeare; Posters – Single – Penguin Group (India) – Mark Twain.
The entries that received a Merit nomination include Full Page or Spread – Single – Penguin Group (India)- Oscar Wilde; Posters – Single – Penguin Group (India) – Oscar Wilde; Posters – Single -Â Premier Tissues India Ltd; P.O.P. and In-store – Campaign -Â Premier Tissues India Ltd – Origami; and Full Page or Spread – Campaign – Yatra Online – Shoelace Monuments
Prasoon Joshi
Sharing his views, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman-CEO and Chief Creative officer of McCann India said, “One Show is a very prestigious show and winning 4 Gold pencils is really rare; we at McCann will cherish it for sure. I thank One Show on behalf of the entire team for this honour.”
Two WPP agencies, Y&R and J Walter Thompson, and Omnicom shop TBWA Worldwide are in the final rounds of the first ever Tata Group global advertising pitch, currently underway. These three agencies will make their final presentations next week to the Tata team which is being led by Mukund Rajan, Brand Custodian and Member – Group Executive Council, Tata Sons. Atul Agrawal, vice-president, Group Corporate Affairs & Media, Tata Services is also a key decision-maker, said two senior officials familiar with the pitch process.
Two other agencies in the fray – Interpublic Group’s FCB Ulka and McCann WorldGroup – were eliminated after preliminary rounds of presentations. In response to a mail sent by ET, a Tata Sons spokesperson declined to comment, stating, “This is internal to the company.” However, a senior Tata official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that both WPP and Omnicom have reached the final round of the pitch process.
The agencies are flying in global pinch hitters for this business, estimated at Rs 100-200 crore. “Teams from JWT New York and Y&R New York are a part of the pitch process,” said a source. Several senior WPP India officials also said that Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP made a one-day visit to India to meet key Tata officials when the pitch began in the first week of April. When we contacted Sorrell to comment on the teams that will represent JWT and Y&R in the final round of presentations, the brief given to the agencies by Tata Group and if he at all came to India when the pitch process started. But he declined to comment and he said, “Obviously I couldn’t possibly answer any of those questions”.
An email written to Tom Carroll, president and CEO TBWA Worldwide, did not elicit a response. Tata Group had given the agencies a formal brief, for an advertising mandate that would cover four key international markets including the US, the UK, Africa and China.
The mandate is to create a global corporate campaign for the Tata Group as the company is looking to reposition itself globally. “In each market the company’s positioning is different. For instance, it is the largest employer in the manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom, which is very different from their positioning in US or even China. So they are waiting to hear from the agencies how best they can build their brands in these highly competitive markets”, said a senior official from one of the agencies still in the fray.
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, India & South Asia, McCann Worldgroup, has been appointed Jury President of the Titanium & Integrated Lions category at the 2014 edition of the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival to be held in Cannes, France from June 15 to 21. “Titanium brings the world’s most respected and eclectic set of people to the jury, and there is immense learning. The bar is raised and new benchmarks set for the world in advertising and communications. It will be an honour to work with the jury,” Joshi, who also is an awardwinning film lyricist and scriptwriter, said.
Meanwhile at the Clio Awards which is scheduled to be held in October 1, 2014, Taproot India founder and Chief Creative Officer Agnello Dias and Malvika Mehra, National Creative Director, Grey India have been invited to the jury. Said Mehra, who will be on the jury of the ‘Content & Contact, Integrated Campaign & Innovative Media’ category, is looking forward to being on the jury. “It’s a great honour and a responsibility as one has a big part of play in setting a benchmark.” Dias will be on the Film jury.
It’s a fraternity which loves surprises. And the thousand-and-a-half-odd members of India’s advertising and marketing industry witnessed just that on Friday evening. The large contingent from Ogilvy & Mather India has made a habit out of winning big at the award events it participates in. But the crew from Lowe Lintas ensured that the adlanders in black (as Ogilvy staffers always turn up at trade events) don’t experience their fifth consecutive win at the Effie, the annual advertising effectiveness awards conducted by the Advertising Club. Lowe won the coveted Effie Agency of the Year 2013 outwitting Ogilvy & Mather by just 35 points in the final tally. “This is one night of fun and party for 2500 bucks. We can’t have a cheaper party than this,” chuckled R Balki, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer at Lowe Lintas while celebrating his team’s victory.
But it’s not that Pandey’s O&M cut a sorry figure. Other than scoring 130 points as compared to Lowe’s 165, Ogilvy also secured the Grand Effie for its Lifebuoy Roti campaign for Hindustan Unilever. Said Pandey who is Executive Chairman and. Creative Director, South Asia of the agency: “We have come first so many times and it feels great that Lowe is enjoying their win. Of course, being second is not a great feeling. You need to try harder.” The Aadat Campaign for Cadbury’s Bournvita and the Ear Muffs activation and Made for You campaign for Vodafone helped Ogilvy win its three golds.
The other three agencies in the Top 5 were McCann Worldgroup, JWT and Publicis Communications at 60, 40 and 35 points respectively. Nakul Chopra, CEO, South Asia at Publicis admitted his agency could have done better but he’s bullish on the year ahead. “I am not happy and I think the kind of work that we will do in 2014 is what I am excited about. I think in the years to come Publicis is going to be a brand which will be known for quality work,” he said.
From the client side, Hindustan Lever bagged the ‘Effie Client of the year’ after the total points came to 95. The campaigns for its brands Kissan and Lifebuoy were clear favourites of both the jury and the crowds at the awards. “Well, I think these awards are for effectiveness and we are quite delighted and proud to have received these awards,” said Hemant Bakshi, Executive Director – Home & Personal Care of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Chairman, Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA).
Cadbury India which emerged the Client of the Year in 2011 and 2012 came second with 55 points. “It is always a joy to win a few awards because it is recognition by the industry of the work that we have done,” said V Chandrmouli, Executive Director, Chocolates and Biscuits, Cadbury India. “Over the last few years, we have been getting recognition which pushes us to do better work,” he continue as Siddhartha Mukherjee, Director – Chocolate Category & Media added: “We have had a long-standing partnership with our agencies like Contract and Ogilvy who have produced excellent work over the years. And to get any award is a great reward to that partnership.”
This year, the number of entries leapfrogged 20 per cent to 419 from 52 agencies participated while 1200 tickets were sold for the awards night. Â On his impressions as the curtains came down on Effie 2013, Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group who was Chairperson of the Effie 2013 Committee said:Â “Effie has grown in participation therefore in stature and respect which is gratifying. This is an awards show which is beyond question and controversy. Both agency and client happily participate at various stages.”
Underscoring the role of the advertising effectiveness awards, K V Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer India subcontinent at Leo Burnett said: “Creativity will not matter without effectiveness and effectiveness doesn’t exist without creativity. The combination is what really works. This is why Effie is the most coveted award in India. Also, the fact is that there are no controversies attached to it.”
Delighted: Hemant Bakshi
Given the importance of advertising and promotion for its brands, it’s not surprising that Hindustan Unilever was crowned ‘Client of the Year’ at Effie 2013. A quick Q&A with Hemant Bakshi, Executive Director – Home & Personal Care of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) on the win.
How important are awards like the Effie for an organisation like Hindustan Unilever?
Well, these awards are for effectiveness and we are quite delighted. We are proud to have received these awards.
There’s this big debate about creativity versus effectiveness? What matters to you more?
Well, it is good to know that we have created value through what we do in marketing. We acknowledge the external appreciation that we’ve got.
And what are the goals you have set yourself for 2014?
Clearly, we have to sustain what we achieved in 2013.
In advertising, you are supposed to be more creative to be effective: R Balki
If there was joy in breaking the winning run of Ogilvy at the Effie, Lowe Lintas & Partners’ R Balki was understating it. A quick Q&A with the agency’s celebrated Chairman and Chief Creative Officer.
How important are awards like the Effie you?
What is important is to do the kind of work that you want do for the clients. Being able to do that right through the year and being satisfied with your own. Award or no award can’t increase or decrease the value of your work. You should know the value of your work before you have won or lost.
There’s this big debate about creativity versus effectiveness? What matters to you more?
McCann Worldgroup’s India office has reasons to bring out the bubbly. At Spikes Asia which concluded in Singapore on Tuesday, its entry for ATSS Keyless Entry System won a Grand Prix in the Design category.
Before we gush further, the bad news. India drew a blank in the following categories:
Back to McCann (MWG)’s winnings, there are 8 metals that the folks bring back. The tally for Ogilvy is 8, Ramesh Deo Productions is 5 and Taproot is 4. (note: the earlier report had grave errors given that the calculation was based on each individual entry in the table below. Campaigns typically have to be clubbed together. Note: in the table below Ogilvy has bagged two Outdoor golds for its Philips campaign. We deeply regret the error – Ed).
See the three tables to see how Indian agencies and advertisers fared.
Leading luggage manufacturer VIP Industries Pvt Ltd has announced the appointment of McCann Erickson as its creative agency for VIP brand. The company also said that it is currently scouting for a creative partner for its Skybags brand. The business has moved both its brands -VIP and Skybags from its incumbent agency Ogilvy and Mather
Commenting on the development, Sudip Ghose, Vice President, Marketing- VIP Industries said, “We believe that McCann has the potential of leveraging our innately strong brand and providing the thrust to take it to the next level. â€
Prasoon Joshi
Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and CEO McCann Worldgroup said, “VIP is among India’s most prestigious brands. We are proud to partner a brand of this stature and heritage. We look forward to doing great work on the brands and a long-term relationship.â€
At the Adfest 2013, Taproot India was declared as the Agency of the Year. Taproot India won Grande Lotus Roots for Mumbai Mirror ‘I am Mumbai’ campaign, apart from Lotus Roots for ‘Save Our Sisters’, and Finalist for ‘Nima Bartan’.
“Taproot is the top most awarded offices amongst 33 city and offices across Asia with eleven metals including a Grand Prix and two Golds. Nothing can be better than this for us at Adfest. Hope we continue our momentum and live up to our clients and industry expectation in come years as well,†said Santosh Padhi, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India.
BBDO’s campaign for Gillette, You Shave I Shave won an Effective Lotus. McCann Worldgroup India also won Lotus Roots for Yatra.com, BBDO for Visa Debit Card, and Contract Advertising for Morphy Richards Juicers.
McCann Worldgroup India secured a Silver in Film Lotus for Yatra.com apart from Contract Advertising for Morphy Richard Juicers. Scarecrow Communications won a Bronze for Panasonic SmooSpeak Video Door Phone, apart from Leo Burnett for Kaun Banega Crorepati’s Girl Child campaign, Firstpost.com campaign by Contract, Bang Bang Films for IPL Carnival, while Taproot India secured it for Fox Movies, Bombay Times, I Am Mumbai campaign for Mumbai Mirror, Teach India for Times of India.
In the Press Lotus Categopry, DDB Mudra Group won a Bronze for Volkswagen Passat and McCann Worldgroup India for Videocon Mobile. Taproot India secured a Silver for Times Classified and was a Finalist for Audio Book India.
Western Union Money Transfer’s campign by McCann Worldgroup India won a Silver in Otdoor Lotus while Leo Burnett’s Tide campaign and McCann’s campaign for Xolo Mobiles X900 were declared Finalists. DDB Mudra walked away with a Bronze for Paper Shredder. Taproot India won a Bronze for Rolling Stone and was a Finalist for Save Our Sisters campaign.
In Interactive Lotus, the sole Indian winner was Webchutney, which won a Bronze for Harmonium Love campaign for Mohan Music Palace. BBDO walked away with Silver in Direct Lotus category for Diastix.
Grey Worldwide India was awarded Silver for Killer Jeans campaign in Design Lotus category, as Taproot India walked away with a Bronze for Red Cross. McCann Worldgroup India’s Western Union Money Transfer campaign was declared a Finalist as was Grey’s 45-degree card campaign for Achyut Palav. However, Grey’s Killer Jeans did win a Silver in the category.
Print Craft Lotus saw McCann winning a Silver for ATSS and Taproot for Save Our Sisters; Bronze for Taproot India (Nima Bartan, Prayas Bharti Trust) and Leo Burnett for Bajaj exhaust fans respectively. McCann Worldgroup India’s three camapigns for Videocon Microwave Ovens, and Leo Burneet India’s entry for Bajaj Exhaust Fans were declared Finalists.
In Film Lotus, The Finalists were Storytellers.in for Make My Trip campaign, and Bang Bang Films for IPL Carnival that also won a Silver. Corcoise Films’ ICICI Bank campaign also won a Silver apart from Contract Advertising’s Morphy Richard Juicers.
Adfest 2013, with the theme ‘Connect the Dots’, was held during 17-19 March at Pattaya, Thailand.
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
As the week progresses, it’s become obvious that you need to ‘friend’ social media if you’d like to win atCannes. Almost every single award case study this year in the more functional result- driven categories like Direct, Promo and Activation and Creative Effectiveness came complete with a laundry list of social media successes.
Indian agencies and the smattering of marketers who continue to lament the country’s performance atCannesthis year would do well to heed some of the new rules of creativity. According to Manish Bhatt, founder, Scarecrow Communications, and a jury member on Direct: “The definition of creativity is changing. Everybody is now talking about making a difference to the world. It’s a tall claim we all know, but creative effectiveness alone cannot get you to a Grand Prix.â€
A few jury members go so far as to say creativity is almost playing second fiddle in some cases to ‘earned media’ – getting spontaneous mentions in news sources – the more global, the better and being widely shared across social media. And in rare cases, an endorsement from the president of the United States Barack Obama who tweeted about Small Business Sunday, a campaign from American Express that won both in Promo and Activation and Direct and is said to be a close contender for the highly prized Titanium category.
Even this year’s press winner for Benetton, ‘Unhate’ which featured photoshopped images of notoriously antagonistic political leaders kissing, was a news and social media success long before it reached the jury. It’s not thatIndiadoesn’t do socially relevant advertising; it’s just missing a trick in viewing such campaigns as ‘awardworthy.’
Prasoon Joshi, president – McCann Worldgroup,South Asiasaid: “If Team Anna had entered their campaign that would have been a Grand Prix in my book. It was well managed in social media and everything. But in our country that consciousness is not there: that social movements and social good by brands is a big thing.â€
The serious exception to the rule of corporate ‘good’ winning applies to work that takes a radically different view of the possibilities a category represents; never mind if it seems almost too bizarre for their own good. A global brand like Mercedes lost the Grand Prix on radio to an entry fromBrazil’s Go Outside magazine from Talent,Sao Paulofeaturing a radio station with allegedly mosquito repellent properties.
Delighted: Hemant Bakshi
In advertising, you are supposed to be more creative to be effective: R Balki
