The 71st edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity commenced on June 17 in the French riviera. Indian agencies picked up a total of four Lions on Day 1, five Lions on Day 2 and three Lions on Day 3 at the ongoing festival.
Day 4 results revealed an even smaller haul for Indian agencies and brands, having picked up only two Lions. This takes India’s total tally to 14.
In the Creative Effectiveness Lions category, Leo Burnett (Mumbai) picked up a Silver Lion for its ‘Bring Back 2011’ campaign for Oreo.
In the Creative Strategy Lions category, Ogilvy (Mumbai) won a Bronze Lion for their ‘VI Human Network Testing Network’ campaign for Vodafone Idea.
On June 19, Leo Burnett (Mumbai) picked up a Gold Lion for their ‘Turf Finder’ campaign for Gatorade in the Creative Data Lions category.
In the PR Lions category, FCB Kinnect (Mumbai) won a Silver Lion for their ‘Lulumelon Eoss’ campaign for HDFC Bank. The media agency for the campaign is FCB/SIX India.
In the same PR Lions category, VML (Mumbai) won a Silver Lion for their ‘Sing To Remember’ campaign for Coca-Cola’s Coke Studio. The media agency for the campaign is EssenceMediacom (Delhi).
There has been a bit of tiff between nominees and jurors at the festival. The ‘Jindal Steel – Steel for India’ campaign for Jindal Steel and Power by Early Man Film bagged two Lions – a Silver and a Bronze in the Film Craft Lions category. Wieden+Kennedy India has raised an issue for being overlooked in the credits for the creative ideation of the campaign. Kondurkar Studio has been mentioned for creative ideation of the campaign that won two Lions.
In March, W+K had approached the Delhi High Court asking it to restrain Jindal Steel and Power from publishing and distributing the campaign video across platforms. The agency informed the court that the idea on which the campaign was created, was very similar to the one W+K had originally presented to JSP. The Court seconded W+K’s appeal and stated in its judgement that the campaign was indeed similar to the idea that had been originally presented.
The matter was then settled out of court with mutual satisfaction of both parties, a W+K exec told ET. However JSP disputed the statement saying that the agency remains the creator of the idea even after the copyright is transferred to the client once the fees are paid, an industry practice being followed for a long time.