Cannes Ad Fest: Medal hunt gathers pace

India currently has a total of 28 shortlists in categories such as design and entertainment

At the half-way mark, the Indian contingent at the Cannes Ad Fest is a happy lot. With 20 metals and counting, the contingent is in a comfortable position and is expected to keep the momentum going through the week, given that awards for crucial categories such as film, film craft, design, entertainment and integrated are yet to be declared.
 

India currently has a total of 28 shortlists in categories such as design, innovation, direct marketing and entertainment. Awards for some of them such as direct marketing and innovation will be declared on Tuesday night. 
 

All eyes incidentally will be on Leo Burnett's Roads that Honk for HP Lubricants, which features in both the direct and innovation shortlists. Roads that Honk is also the only Indian piece of work to make it to the innovation shortlist at Cannes this year, implying that the pressure remains high on Leo Burnett, industry executives Business Standard spoke to said. 
 

Some other entries that are billed as potential winners on Tuesday night include McCann Worldgroup's Immunity Charm for the ministry of public health, Afghanistan, Taproot Dentsu's Adidas Odds, and Ogilvy's Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks for brand Savlon.

These campaigns, which have been shortlisted in direct marketing, have already won in segments such as health care earlier in the week and are expected to continue picking up metals through the next few days, industry executives said.

So far, categories that have clicked for India include outdoor, glass, public relations (PR) and promo & activation, besides health care. But while the breadth of categories is steadily growing for India, the contingent, said experts, is expected to look at why it failed to bag metals in print and publishing, a segment where the country has traditionally done well through the years.
 

Print remains the second-largest advertising category in India, with an estimated market size of around ~18,000-19,000 crore. At the Cannes Ad Fest this year, there were a total of nine shortlists between three agencies, McCann Worldgroup, The Social Street, and DDB Mudra Group in print and publishing. While none clicked this year, the bigger challenge, said industry officials, would be to bounce back with stronger work next year.
 

Again, cyber (that is, online) and mobile categories failed to excite jurors at Cannes this year, with the categories getting no shortlists at all. While digital advertising as a whole is expected to touch ~10,000 crore in India this year, according to a report by media agency Magna, Indian work in segments such as online and mobile has still miles to go.