We are all for great ideas: Prasoon Joshi on McCann's Cannes Grand Prix

McCann Worldgroup India has brought a lot of cheer to the Indian camp at the ongoing Cannes Lions Festival, winning top honours - the Grand Prix for Good. The winning campaign, titled 'Immunity Charm', was created for the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health. 

McCann Worldgroup India also dominates Health Lions with the highest metal tally comprising one Grand Prix, 4 Golds 4 Silvers and 4 Finalists.

Also, in the Health & Wellness category the campaign for Dettol, titled 'Germbursters' secured 3 Finalists, while 'Immunity Charm' received one Finalist.

Commenting on the win, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, McCann Asia Pacific & CEO and Chief Creative Officer, McCann India, said, “We are really proud of the work done for the Afghan Ministry of Public Affairs, titled the 'Immunity Charm'. When an idea is seeded in culture and finds a meaningful role in people's lives, it always has a positive impact and increased salience. This idea does exactly that. McCann feels pride in being associated with a brand effort as meaningful as this. I am also proud of Prateek Bhardwaj, Harshit Jain, Soumya Nagabhushan  Dr. Daniel J Carucci, Kamya lawadhi,  Andrew Schirmer, Urvashi Das & Vaibhava Bhatnagar”and the entire team." 

Speaking further on the win, Joshi said, “Cannes is very special to me as I started my experience looking up to winning at Cannes. I have also been at the giving end and presented awards at Cannes, but now to be at the receiving end of it is a very different feeling. It’s a great feeling to receive this trophy on behalf of McCann members and teammates, especially because we have won an award for a good cause and Cannes is a world forum where best of the work comes together. Overall, I am happy and thankful to all the jury members.” 

Elaborating on the Grand Prix winning campaign, he added, "The entry was for a campaign in Afghanistan, wherein it spoke about remembering what vaccine to give a child and when to give it, which is kind of a bracelet (taaveez) that kids wear and it is more of a cultural thing. In this particular campaign, the idea marries culture with health, where beads of different colours resemble different vaccines. So at any given time, a doctor while doing the check up of a child can see which vaccine has been given to the child and which one is missing. It was a very innovative idea to combine culture and health." 

Joshi further said, "Cannes has just begun and there is so much more to happen and so many work yet to be seen. Healthcare was the first category in Cannes and there is a lot more to come, although I personally won’t be able to stay back and enjoy the rest of the days, but we are all for great ideas and Cannes is all about celebrating great ideas."