Cannes 2016: Indian contenders keep fingers crossed

Cannes 2016 is here and the excitement is building up. It is no different in India as the advertising world is waiting with bated breath to know about this year's winners because the fest is all about throwing surprises. BestMediaInfo caught up with a few Indian contenders to get an idea about their thoughts and chances

Akansha Mihir Mota | Mumbai | June 17, 2016

Palais des Festivals at Cannes, France, is the talk of the town for the advertising fraternity these days. The 63^rd edition of Cannes Lions is scheduled to begin on June 18 this year and will conclude on June 25. Being the most-awaited festival, the ad-men in India too have a lot of expectations from the fest.

BBDO's #ShareTheLoad, Publicis' The Great Khali for Ambuja Cement, Scarecrow's 11 Minutes, Blue Film Festival and Leo Burnett's Bajaj-V, Ogilvy and Mather's 'Make Love Not Scar' featuring Reshma and a few more are the much-talked about contenders. Agencies like Taproot India, Rediffusion Y&R, BBH India, Cheil India and many more have also submitted their best piece of work as entries at the Cannes.

Last year, BBDO India's campaign 'Touch the Pickle' bagged a Grand Prix under the Glass Lions category and made it to as only entry from India to win the prestigious award.

BestMediaInfo met a few admen participating in the Cannes 2016 to know their expectations for India.

Manish Bhatt

Manish Bhatt, Founder Director at Scarecrow Communications said, “We felt our anti-smoking campaign 11 Minutes has a mass appeal. This video was supposedly the most viral of the year. This campaign was sent under 4-5 categories at Cannes. We might reach out to more people and have a chance of winning.”

Another digital campaign the agency sent was the 'Blue Film Festival'. Bhatt said, “The name itself attracted people to watch the campaign. Instead of making a normal catalogue, we made a digital catalogue. This campaign was trending on Twitter for some time. Therefore, we took a chance with this one too.”

Bhatt feels they have to first qualify for the shortlist. He said, “The jury is divided into several groups and they have to go through so many campaigns. We have tried to portray our campaign in the best possible way we can show it as a case study. The jury should notice it and we should qualify for the metal round. Hopefully, the Indian jury will explain it to the other jury members well.”

Commenting on other entries, Bhatt said, “I think 'Share the load', 'The Great Khali for Ambuja Cement', 'Reshma's Make Love Not Scars' and Paddy's entry for outdoor have a chance.”

Josy Paul

Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, also one of the jury members and speaker at Cannes, said, “I think India is going to do better than last year based on the diversity of work and they are all fresh. At Cannes, the works are seen by important jury members around the world. There are ambassadors for that work worldwide. I feel that because of all these things, India will perform much better this year.”

Commenting on the tentative winners, Paul said, “I have seen a lot of work doing well in other festivals before Cannes and those pieces will come up. The work appreciated at the Goa Fest and Kyoorius might also do well at Cannes. They are the definite contenders because the mood of the jury is positive towards them.”

Agnello Dias

Agnello Dias, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India said, “Everybody only hopes well for Cannes. I can only hope that not just the best but the universal campaigns also win at Cannes. It is all about the art of how you enter Cannes. For India, I can only wish the best for its performance.”

Santosh Padhi

Santosh Padhi, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India, “Cannes is very unpredictable. At times we have seen that a wonderful piece of work not winning. But sometimes a campaign we never expected to win fetched heavy metals. So, Cannes is all about throwing surprises.”

Pointing out reasons for surprises, Padhi said, “Cannes has such a large jury that helps put across a point or a case study in various ways. That could be the reason that we get to see surprises.”

Not looking very hopeful for India, Padhi said, “I have not come across any Indian piece that is earth-shattering. I don't find a piece of creativity that I can say 'I wish I could have done this'. To be frank, in the last one year I have not come across any piece that is really nice. Having said that Cannes is all about surprises, I wish a lot of surprises come to India. Because many a time, we have felt that it is not the best year and we have got surprises.”

Talking about the Indian entries, Padhi said, “I think the Whisper and Ariel piece might win in the creative effectiveness category as they have done well that category. I hope these two pieces create some magic in creative effectiveness. I think 'Reshma Beauty tips' has a chance of doing well. These are my three favourite from this year's Cannes entries from India.”

Saurabh Varma

Saurabh Varma, CEO, Leo Burnett, South Asia said, “I think India has great entries from the overall industry. So there is good work from BBDO 'Share the load', then there is some great work from Publicis for Ambuja Cement. We have entered our work for Bajaj V. We have some proud work but Cannes is very unpredictable as we are competing with the best teams in the world. We are entering an award show after more than two years, so it's a big deal for us. We have put our best foot forward and the results will be out in the next few days.”

Bobby Pawar

Bobby Pawar, Managing Director, Chief Creative Director, Publicis, South Asia said, “I think there are some interesting pieces of work. For example, Bajaj's Vikrant, our Khali, Tripstr for Broken Compass have a chance at Cannes.”

Mentioning the chances of The Great Khali by their agency, Pawar said, “There is a lot of chance for us too as many people are talking about it. But knowing about it and voting for it are two different things. I tend not to expect too much from that. It should do well.”

Dhunji S. Wadia

Dhunji S. Wadia, President at Rediffusion Y&R said, “I am certain India will do very well at this year's Cannes Lions. The overall quality of work is stunning and capable of accolades on the world stage. I would be surprised if proven wrong. It is for the juries to decide which entries for the Cannes will win.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com