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  • 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

     

  • There are 34,301 entries from 87 countries for Cannes Lions, of which 1,182 pieces have been entered from India, slightly more than the last year's figure of 1,177

    How India fared @ Cannes in 2009-2011

     

    From the MxM Infodesk

     

    Adlanders from India wouldn’t want to forget 2009 in a hurry. If the slowdown of 2008-09 was one reason for gloom to descend on the industry, there was good news too – in the form of Cannes Lions – the pinnacle of award shows in the creative arena. With 25 metals,India beat all odds and set an example for global creative powerhouses to sit up and take notice.

     

    While the current economic growth has witnessed a decline in recent times, the number of entries that have been sent to Cannes Lions from India is at its highest. For the record, there are 34,301 entries from 87 countries that have been submitted to the Cannes Lions, of which 1,182 pieces have been entered from India. This is slightly more than the last year’s figure of 1,177 entries.

     

    A quick recap into India’s previous performances at the festival throws up interesting facts. Like 2009, the year 2011 too ended on a good note for India as it managed to accumulate a total of 24 metals – just one short of India’s highest ever tally of 25 Lions in 2009. With 4 Golds, 7 Silvers and 13 Bronzes, it was a memorable year for most agencies as hopeful entries ended up bagging the coveted metals. This was after India ended up putting 42 shortlists under its name.

     

    Mudra Communications emerged the ace performer as it ended up with three Silver Lions, five Bronze Lions and nine shortlisted entries. They were followed by BBDO India that bagged two Silvers, one Bronze metal and seven shortlists scoring 20 points. Ogilvy & Mather India with 13 points ended up third. McCann Worldgroup came next and was followed by Lodestar UM and Taproot India tying for the fifth place.

     

    As for the entries, the one that caught maximum attention was ‘Silent National Anthem’ by Mudra that won a total of four metals – one Silver metal and three Bronze metals. Another noteworthy entry was BBDO India’s ‘W.A.L.S – Women Against Lazy Stubble’ for Gillette that bagged the inaugural Creative Effectiveness Lion. Ogilvy & Mather too won metals for their entry ‘Train’ for Indian Railways and for Mentos Sour Marbels entries – Guillotine, Snake and Gun. McCann’s work for Onida Mobile Phones also enabled them to bag a couple of awards.

     

    In contrast, 2010 was one of the tough years for Indian ad agencies as they managed only 17 metals comprising 3 Golds, 6 Silvers and 8 Bronzes. The tally picked up pace towards the latter part of the event, offering a glimmer of hope to the delegates assembled, who otherwise were faced with the scare of India losing out on its popularity to outside countries.

     

    What was disheartening was that India drew a blank in most categories including Titanium, Integrated and Film Craft but finished well in Print, Design and Outdoor. While Publicis won a Gold Lion Campaign for the work done for Publicis Communications, Ogilvy won a Bronze Lion for the work done for Department of Posts. Aman Ki Asha and TransAsia Papers were the two entries by Taproot India that scored big at the awards. Tide Dirt Magnets by Leo Burnett was another entry that received due credits at the awards show. If not the metals, the delegates were perhaps comforted by way of august speakers who turned up at the event to share their knowledge on the given subject. It also witnessed Piyush Pandey and Agnello Dias taking part in discussions on the stage – a fact that was earlier moaned by Indian adlanders quite aloud.

     

    As for 2009, it was the best so far for India as it bagged 25 metals including 4 Golds, 7 silvers and 13 Bronzes out of a possible 42 shortlists. The highlight of the year was India winning its first Film Lion Gold, which was awarded to JWT India for the work done for The Times of India Chennai launch, entry titled A Day in the Life of Chennai. The entry by Senthil Kumar was awarded Gold in the Film Craft category and the in Music category. As for the agency tally, it was Ogilvy that emerged triumphant with 27 points followed by JWT India at 26 points. Publicis and Leo Burnett came third and fourth respectively. Other notable winners were Happy Dent’s Palace, Fevicol’s Bus, Neo Sports’s Gas entry, etc.

     

    Other notable winners included MediaCom India bagging a Gold Lion and a Silver Lion for ‘To Shave or Not to Shave’ campaign done for Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Maxus bagging two Bronze Lions – one for ’20 Million Experiences’ for Tata Sky and one for ‘Midas Touch’ for Nokia India, Lodestar Universal bagging a Bronze for Nano and Madison Media winning a Bronze for ‘Say Condom, Aloud’ for BBC World Service Trust.

     

    Metals Tally in 2011

    Gold – 3

    Silver – 10

    Bronze – 10

    Creative Effectiveness metal: – 1

    Total No. of Metals - 24

     

    Metals Tally in 2010

    Gold – 3

    Silver – 6

    Bronze – 8

    Total No. of Metals - 17

     

    Metals tally in 2009

    Gold – 4

    Silver – 7

    Bronze – 13

    Total metals – 25

     

  • Taproot yet again proves how creativity can yank something regular and create a non-clichéd campaign

    Taproot’s ‘sexy’ humour for Fox Movies

    By A Correspondent

     

    The new campaign being aired for Fox Movies Premium, an Asian movie channel owned by Fox International Channel, subsidiary of News Corporation has created a lot of buzz. The campaign was created for the Thai market, and the film was shot inBangkokwith some lead actors from their TV industry.

     

    Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder TaprootIndiasaid: “The brief was very simple to communicate that Fox Channel now offers subtitle free movies, so the product promise is generic but the challenge was how to say it in a way that Fox Channel is on the top of the audiences’ mind. We thought whatever we say had to be entertaining in the first place, which is why one watches the movies, hence a humorous approach. And since it’s targeted for the Thai audience, the second challenge was a very distinctive humor as they are known for their mad humors. We decided to highlight the problem. The whole idea of the campaign or creative device is based on the behavior of the person who watches movies with subtitles.”

     

    Razneesh Ghai, film director, Asylum Films said: “The rampant usage of subtitles has taken away the cinematic experience of watching films. It has now become a habit to read the subtitles, taking your eyes off the action. We took this simple problem and highlighted it in a funny manner. The humour in the film is very subtle and not in your face. Also, there had to be a simple thread of communication to convey it to a global audience (since subtitles are everywhere!).”

    Manan Mehta, Managing Partner TaprootIndiasaid: “English language channels had struck a chord with the audience in non-English speaking markets due to subtitling. Of course, the next sphere of offering was the regional feed. This allowed the English channels to be relevant and come closer to their audience. Thus, this campaign was conceptualized with the brief of making the audience aware that Fox Channel is available inSouth East Asiain regional language.

     

    From January 1, Star Movies was rebranded Fox Movies Premium and was available inHong Kongand selected Southeast Asian countries. InIndia,China,Vietnam,Middle East,Taiwanand thePhilippines, the Star Movies brand will continue to be the same.

     

    TaprootIndiahas been handling Fox International Channel for theSouth East Asiamarket for last few years.

     

    CREDITS:
    Agency                                                            TaprootIndia

    Creative Director                                            Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
    Writer                                                              Santosh Padhi

    Account Servicing                                           Manan Mehta

    Director                                                           Razneesh Ghai ( Razy )

    Producer                                                          Anju Vaswani

    Associate Producer                                         Bhavna Singh

    Editor                                                              Jay Chandran

    Sound Design                                                  Joseph George

     

    THAI CREW

    Line ProducerThailand( Picnic Features)     Kornpanote Semros

    Director of Photography                                  Sinthop Sophon

    Art Director                                                    Achira Nokthet

     

  • The talc is from the stable of Argus Cosmetics, the manufacturers of a range of personal care products

    Taproot delivers a fragrant tale for ‘Z talc’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Having charmed some of its large clients with awe-inspiring ideas and execution, creative hotshop Taproot India has just finished work for another brand called ‘Z talc’. The talc is from the stable of Argus Cosmetics, the manufacturers of a range of personal care products.

     

    Explaining the rationale for the ongoing promotional activity, Mr Sundar, Managing Director, Argus Cosmetics Pvt Ltd said: “We launched “Z” Magnetism talc for men in April 1992. Our strategy at the time of launch was to create premium cosmetic products for the discerning male consumer. ‘Magnetism for Men’ is our endeavor to build on this strategy, and offer more personal care products for upwardly mobile men.” Mr Sundar added that they intended to target the metrosexual male as it is common to find men these days going to the parlours for a facial or dying their hair, and so on.”

    Throwing light on the new commercial, Mr Sundar said: “We have created this TVC to accelerate our growth, and create a strong brand. Thus far, our growth has come from building distribution, we now want to create heightened awareness and pull for brand ‘Z’.”

     

    On the objective set out for the agency, Manan Mehta, Managing Partner, Taproot India said: “With the business growth plans in place, the attempt was to consolidate the current market and look to engage with the fence sitter in the future markets. The overall exercise was to refresh the brand without losing its essence and present it in an alpha avatar that reflects today’s consumer aspirations and their lifestyles.”

     

    Providing a more analytic insight, Santosh Padhi, CCO, Taproot India said that according to research, about 30 per cent females use the product not because it’s lying on the dressing table, but because she is in love with its fragrance. “The positioning ‘Magnetism for Men’ was carved on the brand two decades back, since than they have been using it on retail space, hence we too decided to take the same positioning forward.” He added: “The brand name “Z” sounds very international, strategically we decided to keep the perception of it being a international brand hence the whole treatment of the film is very international.”

     

    The campaign is currently on air in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and is expected to go national soon.

     

     

    Credits:

    Agency: Taproot India

    CD: Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias

    Writer: Santosh Padhi

    Client Servicing: Manan Mehta

    Director: Razneesh Ghai

    Producer: Anju Vaswani

    Associate Producer: Bhavna Singh

    DOP: Kavin Jagtiani

    Editor: Jay Chandran

    Post Production: Prime Focus

     

  • Ogilvy was the clear #1, but runner-up Taproot showed the Big Boys the might of the small…

    @Goafest, Taproot emerges tall. And how!

     

    By Tuhina Anand (with inputs from Robin Thomas)

    Photographs by Shailesh Mule/Fotocorp

     

    When Big Dad of Indian advertising Ogilvy pockets 51 metals at Creative Abbys at the Goafest 2012, it is something that one expects, so no surprise here really. But when a three-year-old agency goes on to become the runner-up, leaving behind the much settled Leo Burnett, DDB Mudra, Grey and JWT, it is indeed a proud moment for Indian advertising. It says that all is not lost and what still matters in the advertising business is creativity and if you have the ingredients right then there’s no one to stop you from writing your success story. Taproot India and its founders Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi have shown the industry the might of small and given hope to many aspirants on the same path.

     

    Talking about Taproot’s success, Agnello Dias said: “It’s been great, a satisfying feeling, but it is also slightly scary because we have got to do even better than last year as expectations have gone up, but as of now, we are just happy that we have performed well at the awards.”

     

    On Taproot missing out on the Grand Prix as there were huge expectations from Airtel campaign, Santosh Padhi said: “Yes, a lot of people said that our Airtel or Pepsi campaign would win us a Grand Prix, so I think that itself is a Grand Prix for us. Therefore, we have no grudge and we are happy with the way things have turned out for us. And definitely there were two strong competitors against us for the Grand Prix.”

     

    The victorious Ogilvy team

     

    The most awarded work at the Goafest was for  brands, including The Times of India, Volkswagen India and Airtel. Even for Ogilvy India, the work that fetched them maximum awards was for Fox Crime. Also the work that got CreativeLand Asia its Grand Prix in the Integrated category was for Audi 8L 3D.

     

    TOI’s ‘Wake Up Chennai’ (that fetched accolades at Goafest) has been embroiled in controversy as it spoofed its rival, The Hindu. the ad showed how reading the old player (read The Hindu) puts people to sleep and the readers should wake up to something more exciting – The Times of India. The ad was crafted by Taproot which also created Airtel’s Har Friend Zaroori Hai that fetched many awards for the agency across various categories. In fact, Har Friend… can be dubbed among the most popular campaigns of the year.

     

    A happy Creativeland Asia team

     

    Ogilvy’s work for Fox Crime titled The Photographs case, made by Good Morning, is in keeping with the genre of the channel and creates a mini thriller for its audience, building anticipation for what to expect on the channel. Talking about the wins, Abhijit Avasthi, NCD, O&M said: “It’s been a great year as always and I think the best part is that we have done well in every category, from design to direct to digital to integrated. Obviously there are some works where one wishes we had got more recognition, like the Cadbury in home campaign, but, overall, we are very happy. I think we have got the best clients who allow us to do really some very interesting work.”

     

    “It’s very reassuring that we have managed to win the Grand Prix back to back and this year I hold the digital grand prix to a greater importance, simply because it demolishes the myth of lots of clients that digital is something big network agencies cannot do,” he added.

     

    Volkswagen, which brought awards to DDB Mudra, Grey India and Nomad Films, is a brand that has caught attention because of its innovative use of media since its launch inIndia. While the fraternity may not have lauded all the innovations that Volkswagen did, but it cannot be disputed that the work did catch the attention of the people and fraternity.

     

    However, if one were to look at the Creative Abbys 2012, it will be remembered for Taproot India, which carved a name for itself among the behemoths, only because of its creative supremacy. More power to all those who want to chart their own path and keep in mind that great ideas zaroori hai and the rest will follow. Right, sirji?

     

    Click here to view all Goafest 2012 stories