Cannes Lions 2007 gets Indian flavour

Indian ads clearly strike a chord with global audience

MUMBAI: The Mediterranean shores have always added new feathers in the cap of the Rs 15,000-16,000 crore Indian advertising industry and the 57th Cannes Lions is not an exception.

This year, the festival kicked off with the announcement of shortlisted ads in six categories including Direct Lions, Promo Lions, Media Lions, Outdoor Lions, Radio Lions and Press Lions. In Direct Lion category, India had eight shortlisted campaigns from agencies including O&M, JWT, Everest Brand Solutions, Contract, Fortune and Vyas Giannetti Creative. While O&M and JWT had two shortlisted entries, the rest of the agencies had one entry each.

Everest Brand Solutions bagged a bronze metal for its client Cambridge Audio Systems. O&M bagged the second bronze metal for Hutch Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival.

In Promo Lions, JWT with one entry and Rediffusion DY&R with two entries were shortlisted. It was JWT which bagged a Promo Lion for its Nodding Bull campaign for the Vegetarian Conference.

India had seven shortlisted entries for the Media Lions category. While O&M had three entries short-listed for the Media Lions, Rediff, JWT, Leo Burnett and Madison had one each. The only media agency to have been short-listed in this category is Madison Communications for its work on Godrej powder hair dye. However, none of the agencies could win any metal in this category.

In the Outdoor Lions category, India had 14 shortlisted entries from agencies including Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide, McCann Erickson, Euro RSCG and Lowe. In this category also India failed to bag any metal.

Radio Lions category had five shortlisted entries from India — O&M had two, while Publicis Ambience, Leo Burnett and Mudra had one each. O&M’s short-listed entries were for Hindustan Pencils and Children’s Little Theatre.

Mudra’s nominated entry, ‘Bomb Blast’, for Big FM, had won an award at the Goafest earlier this year. Leo Burnett’s campaign on anti-female foeticide campaign for Cehat (Center for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes) got the agency a silver Lion.

India had 20 shortlisted entries in the Press Lion category, wherein McCann Erickson lead the Indian list with seven entries, followed by JWT with four. O&M had three entries and its second agency, Meridian, had two. Grey had three short-listed entries, and Leo Burnett had one.

The first and only silver in this category came in for Grey’s ‘Heena’ campaign for the Travel Corporation of India (TCI). McCann also grabbed two bronzes in this category, one each for Kansai Nerolac and Cocco’s Café. O&M’s campaign for Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare won a bronze.

Tribal DDB’s entry was the only shortlisted entry from India in the Cyber Lions category. However India failed to win any metal in this as well.

The remaining categories whose shortlisted entries have already been announced are Film Lions and Titanium and Integrated Lions.

The McCann’s Happydent Commercial that has Sufiana music in its background score has been nominated in the sub-category, Best Use of Music. The ad has also been shortlisted in another sub-category, Sweet Foods and Snacks.

Besides, the Nike commercial, done by Ramesh Deo productions  which has a mix of Goan and Latin music, has been nominated for a Film Lion in the sub-category, Best Use of Music. A three-minute film for the Eye Bank Association of India to promote eye donation, was entered by Code Red Films in the sub-category, Fundraising and Appeals.

This film has been shot by Gajaraj Rao and Subrat Ray, and has been written and conceived by Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat. Leo Burnett’s Bajaj film has also been shortlisted. All these films have a very local Indian flavour but have touched a chord with the international audiences.