Cannes Lions 2013: India opens account with 1 Silver & 3 Bronzes

Indian entries have won one silver and two bronze metals in the PR category at the Cannes Lions 2013.  The silver was won by Publicis Communications for its ‘Adopt a Pothole’ campaign for Apollo Tyres. The two bronze were won each by BBDO India and Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai respectively. While BBDO bagged it for ‘Shave or Crave’ campaign for Gillette, O & M and Mindshare Fulcrum' got it for Lifebuoy’s, ‘Roti Reminder’ for Hindustan Unilever. In the Direct category, India's solitary bronze metal was bagged by DDB Mudra for Aarambh.

The ‘Adopt a Pothole’ campaign was an activity that involved people taking pictures of potholes in Gurgaon and 'adopting them', sharing these photos on social media. The campaign made people change their attitude towards potholes – instead of viewing them as someone else's responsibility to fix, the campaign made people proactive in solving this problem. Based on social tweets, Apollo Tyres then stepped in to fix the pothole.

As for the ‘Shave or Crave’ campaign, it was seen as a big marketing idea by the jury in a low interest category like shaving. The idea successfully created excitement & engagement; and buzz for the brand. The ‘Roti Reminder’ campaign talked about hand washing during the Kumbh mela, the message was stenciled on rotis. The campaign generated huge media coverage in India.

In the Promos & Activation category as well as the Creative Effectiveness category, India has failed to bag any metals. There were 73 Indian entries in Promos & Activation category out of a total of 2974 entries.

However a good thing is that the Indian account at Cannes Lions 2013 has opened. Let us see how the Indian advertising industry fares at the ongoing event in the coming days. Keep watching out this space for more updates on the Indian winners.