Brotherhood and the hunt for awards at Cannes Lions 2018

India expected to put up a strong show, but the spotlight will be on Pandey and Akali brothers

India’s annual campaign at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity (Cannes Lions) will begin on Monday. It will be the first edition when the advertising event will take place for five days, as opposed to nearly eight days earlier.

While Indian agencies will be looking to put up a strong show after a haul of 40 Lions (trophies) last year, the spotlight will be on the Pandey and Akali brothers.

Piyush and Prasoon Pandey will be conferred a lifetime achievement award, called the Lion of St Mark, on the last day of the festival.

The celebrated admen are the first Asians to be conferred with this since it was instituted eight years ago. For Piyush, executive chairman and creative director, South Asia at Ogilvy, this will be a double honour. He is the first from the WPP group to receive the lifetime achievement award. 

Speaking to Business Standard, he said he was looking forward to this year's event. “It is big for both me and my brother. And, it tells us one thing: That we have to continue to work for the consumer.”

The Pandey brothers will also make a presentation midweek, highlighting their work and the journey of Indian advertising. This is expected to be a full-house session.
 

The Akali brothers — Praful and Amit — will take the stage before the Pandey brothers, for a seminar on the Lions Health. This is the health care award at the Ad Fest.

The session will be important for the two, running Medulla Communications, a Mumbai-based health care agency. This is because it is the first time an agency (in the world) has been invited to make a presentation on motto of the Lions Health awards.

Praful Akali, founder and managing director of Medulla, says, “We are representing the Lions Health, speaking on ‘Lifechanging Creativity’, the motto of the (healthcare) awards; what it is about, past winners, etc. While we have presented on the Lions Health platform earlier, it pertained to our work, not the festival’s theme or motto.”

On the awards front, Indian agencies are gearing up to make a mark in an edition that has seen significant change in the structure, as well as a drop in worldwide entries by over 20 per cent as against last year.

While Indian agencies have bagged a shortlist each in the innovation and titanium categories this year, the Glass Lions have four Indian entries making the cut.

This comprises BBDO India’s ‘#StandbyToughMoms’ for All Out (mosquito repellents), Cheil India’s ‘Samsung Technical School — Seema’, DDB Mudra’s ‘Project Free Period’ for Johnson & Johnson and FCB India’s ‘Sindhoor Khela – No Conditions Apply’ for The Times of India.

In other categories, five Indian agencies, including DDB Mudra, Grey, TBWA, McCann Health and J Walter Thompson, have bagged a total of 13 shortlists in health & wellness and pharmaceuticals.

A shortlist, for the uninitiated, ensures the agency bagging it is in the race for metals.

Last year, India won a total of 39 metals and a Grand Prix, its highest-ever tally at the festival, surpassing its previous highest record of 33 metals in 2013.

Josy Paul, chairman and chief creatve officer, BBDO India, says, “Award shows are highly unpredictable and it feels good when one’s work resonates with the international jury. This year, we will be making a presentation of the shortlisted Glass Lion entry (‘#StandbyToughMoms’). This is a first for the Glass Lions at Cannes and the other three (Indian) agencies will also be doing the same. The winner will be declared after the presentations are made.”

While last year saw McCann contributing to over a third of the metals tally, there could be more winning agencies this year, experts say.

Prasoon Joshi, chairman, McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, and CEO and chief creative officer, McCann Worldgroup India, endorses this point, adding a wider spread (of winning agencies) is good for Indian advertising. "Last year, the performance centred around us. This year, there could be more participants,” he says.

Entries by McCann at the event this year include 'Noon Assembly' by Kwality (Milk) and the Food Safety & Standards Association of India; also work for Harpic (toilet cleaners) and Strepsils (lozenges).