The excitement continues: Twelve Lions for India so far

It’s Thursday and everyone seemed to have just one thing in mind: to attend a talk by former US President Bill Clinton.

It’s only when I reached the venue, about 45 minutes ahead of the gate’s opening, did I realise that people were really serious.

Luckily, the very well managed queue moved quickly and here we are seated to hear a man who could perhaps be the most charismatic of recent American presidents.

He will be speaking about how advertising can help build a better world. And, indeed it can. Brands are increasingly using advertising to help a difference.

Today there are no awards. But the film shortlists have been declared. Taproot has made it to the shortlists for its work for Bennett, Coleman & Co. The work is called I am Mumbai. Taproot’s is the only Indian shortlist in the film category. A total of 56 entries were sent by Indian agencies. This shows the level of competition in film.

But we had a lot to cheer last evening, as the young Shirin Johari of DDB picked up a gold for a spectacular piece of work in design.

The campaign was Incredible India — an initiative to bolster inbound tourism.

Johari’s work is a delightful way of figuring out the similarities between Hindi and English alphabets to help tourists overcome the onerous task of trying to figure out simple Hindi signs.

India had a total of seven Lions yesterday, which takes our tally to 12, if we take into count the five we bagged earlier.

Elsewhere, Raj Kurup of CreativeLand Asia and Prasoon Joshi of McCann both felt it was the best time to be creative in India. Joshi said the twin worlds of entertainment and advertising were increasingly merging and that made it such an exciting space to be.

In another seminar, Michael Patrick King, writer of the TV show Sex And The City, disclosed that “women are much more willing to talk about their emotions, which makes them amazing to write for.”

Cannes Lions are not just about great work. There’s a beach soccer contest every year. This year, it was won by the Danish delegates, who beat the combined team of Estonia and Latvia 3-1.

At the Gutter Bar, last evening, there was much discussion about WPP picking up the digital agency AKQA for $540 million.

I wonder if the sale of alcohol surged due to the news. I suspect it did.

The author is Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer - EuroRSCG India. He can be reached on twitter at @thesatbir