Clash of the titans: HUL and P&G fight for metals

Two of the largest advertisers in the country had quite a few campaigns bagging awards at the festival this year

They fight each other not only in the marketplace but at award shows as well. Old rivals Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Procter & Gamble (P&G) had five campaigns between them that bagged metals at the Cannes Festival of Creativity this year.

For HUL, it was Lifebuoy, the largest soap brand in the country, that got it two big wins — a bronze in the public relations (PR) category for its innovative ‘Roti Reminder’ and a silver in film for its ‘Help a child reach five’ campaign, done by Lowe, India, but entered by Lowe, London.

‘Roti Reminder’, which used the humble staple to convey the message of washing one's hands before meals, was done by Ogilvy Activation during the Kumbh Mela earlier this year.

P&G, meanwhile, had three campaigns — for brands Tide, Duracell and Gillette  — done by its club agencies Leo Burnett (Tide), Grey (Duracell) and BBDO (Gillette) that bagged awards at the festival. Leo Burnett's print campaign for Tide detergent powder titled ‘School’ bagged a silver, while Grey’s ‘Positive & Negative’ campaign for Duracell bagged a gold in press and a bronze in outdoor, and BBDO’s ‘Shave or Crave’ campaign bagged a bronze in PR.

The Tide campaign showed visuals of two young bullies spotted from head to toe in an ink fight, standing later in front of the school principal in blindingly white stain-free shirts. The much-feted ‘Positive & Negative’ campaign for Duracell used the popular brown and black colours of the brand to convey the positive and negative polarities of stored electricity. There was no mention of the brand name in the visuals. BBDO’s ‘Shave or Crave’ campaign, on the other hand, used PR innovatively for the launch of Gillette's Fusion series of razors.