Cannes Lions 2022: Dentsu Creative Bengaluru brings the first-ever Agency of the year title to India

First-ever Agency of the Year title to an Indian agency – Dentsu Creative Bengaluru, India’s first-ever five Grand Prix haul led by Dentsu Creative bagging three of them, First-ever Titanium Lions to Indian agencies – Dentsu Creative Bengaluru and Ogilvy India.

This is how India ended its Cannes Lions campaign this year besides winning 47 Lions, better than India’s best performance (40 Lions) in 2017.

The incredible performance of "The unfiltered history tour" made Denstu Creative Bengaluru the Agency of the Year, the first time an Indian agency has taken this title.

Amit Wadhwa, CEO India, Dentsu Creative, said, “Honestly, I am speechless right now, so it is a challenge to find words and new adjectives to express how I feel. To say this is historic almost seems like an understatement. When you start the week with a Grand Prix, then add two more along the week besides a Gold, 4 Silvers and 3 Bronze, you feel it’s a dream run. Then you end with a Titanium and it is that ‘top of the world’ feeling. But guess what this is not where it ends, we are ‘The Agency of the Year!!!!!!!!’.

Also let me add that while we have won what we have, it is also amazing to see all the other agencies from India win big. What a lovely feeling!! We are undeniably proud to be associated with a campaign that takes top honours on a global platform. This indeed fuels the fire of passion and commitment in the team that has relentlessly worked on it. The entire credit goes to each one of them who has been involved, to all our present and ex-colleagues who have worked so hard on the campaign. They are the real winners.

I would also like to share my heartfelt gratitude for all the love, appreciation, and acceptance received from the entire fraternity throughout the festival. All that I can assure you is that this is just the beginning. We have miles to go, newer targets to meet, and records to beat. Wish us luck and keep watching for Dentsu Creative!!”

Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer India, Dentsu Creative, “Winning the Agency of the Year is an emotion I cannot even begin to describe. When I used to watch other agencies win the title I often wondered if I ever would get that same honour. What they say is true. Dreams DO come true! I’m over the moon with the Titanium win along with the hat trick of Grand Prix and a whole lot of other metals. Not just me I think no one in the entire Indian ad industry has been part of such a huge haul of Lions ever before. And I do believe we are the first full-service Indian agency to win the title of Agency of the Year. I doff my hat to the entire team responsible for the Unfiltered History Tours. Those who are with us now and those who have moved on. Congratulations all. For now, it’s party time!”

Bringing more accolades for India on the final day at Cannes Lions 2022, Leo Burnett picked its first and India’s fifth Grand Prix. Other jewels in the Indian crown were added by Ogilvy India and Dentsu Creative India winning a Titanium each.

India stands second to the US (11 Grand Prix) in terms of the number of Grand Prix.

On the fifth and the last day of Cannes Lions 2022, India brought home one Grand Prix, two Titanium, two Silver and three Bronze Lions in total.

Sustainable Development Goals Lion

Leo Burnett has bagged a Grand Prix for “The Missing Chapter” campaign created for P&G’s Whisper.

Commenting on the big win, Dheeraj Sinha, CEO Leo Burnett, South Asia & Chairman BBH India, said, “23 million girls fall off the education system because they lack period education. Whisper has the purpose of Keeping Girls in school. This is a purpose that impacts the society and brand both. We have been building this platform over a period of time through multiple initiatives and ‘The missing chapter’ is an important initiative towards keeping girls in school. It's real in its impact. And the work winning a Grand Prix for Sustainable Development at Cannes makes us immensely proud and reiterates our commitment towards the cause.”

“Winning a Grand Prix for Whisper ‘The Missing Chapter’ is a massive win, but especially winning it in the category of Sustainable Development is right where we want our work to shine. At Burnett we believe that creativity can transform human behaviour and our work for Whisper does exactly that – spreading period education to help girls stay in school. As I always say, the only way to predict the future is to build it yourself,” added Rajdeepak Das, CEO & Chief Creative Officer, South Asia, Leo Burnett.

VMLY&R Commerce fetched a Silver for the “Smart Fill” campaign created for Unilever.

India had grabbed six shortlists in this category.

Titanium

Ogilvy India and Wavemaker’s campaign “Shahrukh Khan- My Ad” campaign has grabbed a Titanium Lion in this category.

Piyush Pandey, Chairman Global Creative & Executive Chairman India, Ogilvy, said, "I am delighted that the people's choice is also the jury's choice. I am very proud of the team that worked on it."

Sukesh Nayak, Harshad Rajadhyaksha & Kainaz Karmakar, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India, said, "This is a piece of work that has found love with the masses in India and we are grateful that the idea has also found love with the hugely accomplished Titanium Jury at Cannes.  This is a salute to our brave Ogilvy Team, Mondelez India Team, Tech partner - Rephrase, Content partner - Pack Films and Media partner - Wavemaker."

The second winner in this category is Dentsu Creative India, which has also got a Titanium Lion for Vice Media’s “The Unfiltered History Tour” campaign.

Both Ogilvy and Dentu Creative India had the only shortlisted entries from India.

Films

FCB India and Kinnect’s campaign “Chatpat” for SOS Children’s Village India has fetched a Silver and Bronze Lion.

In this category, DDB Mudra has bagged a Bronze Lion for “Machine-Gun Mouth” done for Battleground Gaming Mobile India.

There were eight shortlists from India in the Film category

Glass

The only winner in this category from India is VMLY&R. The agency has got a Bronze Lion for Unipads’ “Adeli” campaign.

There were two shortlists in this category from India.

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