FCB India’s ‘Lucky Yatra’ to Cannes Lions: Dheeraj Sinha on growth, glory, guts, and big wins

New Delhi: With six Gold Lions, a Silver, a Bronze, and India’s only Grand Prix this year, FCB India’s ‘Yatra’ to Cannes turned out to be truly ‘Lucky’.

The agency emerged as the highest-performing Indian player at Cannes Lions 2025, bagging the majority of the country’s medals for its ‘Lucky Yatra’ campaign created for Indian Railways.

For Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO – FCB Group India and South Asia, the wins go beyond trophy shelves. He believes the awards are a validation of a deeper creative transformation within the agency.

“The awards are a byproduct of a creative culture that we’re building,” said Sinha. “What’s happened at Cannes this year is a testimony to our team, our talent, and how they work together daily on their brands and businesses. It’s not one event at a point in time; it’s a movement that’s been building over a long period.”

That movement, he explained, has been driven by relentless focus on nurturing both external and internal talent.

“In the last 12 to 15 months, we’ve brought in the best talent from the market and promoted the best from within. The momentum the world is seeing now has existed behind the scenes for quite some time. This is simply an external recognition of that internal drive, and it continues.”

Sinha stressed that what the world witnessed at Cannes was only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface lay years of consistent investment in building a team culture rooted in excellence, collaboration, and strategic risk-taking.

When asked whether FCB India’s performance at Cannes Lions would give it leverage over other creative agencies in the event of the Omnicom and IPG merger, Sinha was clear:

“That’s not on our minds at all. Our focus is on our clients and business. The merger decisions will be taken by others; we’re simply building momentum and not getting distracted.”

“Our approach, globally and across India and the APAC region, is to stay the course and continue building on our strengths, regardless of the external environment.”

Asked whether the campaign was expected to perform this well at Cannes, Sinha was candid.

“No, not really. We were just excited about the solution and focused on its implementation, which wasn’t easy. Cannes is unpredictable; we let the work speak.”

And speak it did. The campaign’s strength lay in its idea and execution, not just in its case study presentation, Sinha emphasised.

“A case study can only do justice to what’s already been done,” he noted. “It cannot create the idea, it cannot create the execution, and it certainly cannot create the impact. If the idea lacks strength, no case study can rescue it. But yes, a strong case study can help sell a good idea well.”

Even as some news reports stated that the eight-week-long Lucky Yatra Yojana (operational from March 20 to June 15) was paused due to no significant spike in ticket sales, Sinha remained optimistic about Indian Railways continuing the initiative.

“Yes, that’s the endeavour—that this campaign continues. It’s a powerful one,” he confirmed when asked if Indian Railways would extend the journey.

Of the nine Gold Lions India brought home this year, six came from FCB India alone. It was, undeniably, the campaign powering India’s overall tally.

“We’ll probably be in the top five or top eight most awarded campaigns in the world,” Sinha said with pride. “It shows the prowess of Indian creativity on the world stage.”

Asked what it feels like to go up on that stage, Sinha’s response was deeply human:

“The smiles on our faces say it all. You can’t get that kind of glow with any cosmetic. It’s the joy of excellence. It’s the joy of creativity.”

And yet, even in the afterglow of Cannes, FCB India remains grounded in its daily discipline. Sinha describes the agency’s mantra as a three-pronged pursuit: “growth, glory, and guts.”

“That’s what we chase from the first to the last day of the calendar year. Growth is at the core of everything. If you don’t grow, how do you attract talent? How do you pay them well? That’s where it all starts.”

He believes this Cannes triumph will serve as a business catalyst, attracting clients, energising teams, and reinforcing the agency’s core values.

“We wake up every day to do our best for current clients, win new pitches, and build value. Nothing changes post-Cannes; we just push harder.”