Cannes 2015: Falling off the map

Fatigue or disconnect with the digital age; experts explore the reasons behind India's poor show at Cannes this year

Of the 945 entries that Indian advertising agencies logged into Cannes this year, only 13 won metals. Naturally then, there has been hand-wringing and soul searching within the community over what went wrong. Many believe that this is because Indian agencies are behind the curve when it comes to digital media and that is cause for their downfall. Some blame it on the surfeit of such honours being doled out in recent years; agencies are no longer motivated enough to showcase their best work.

This is the lowest tally in seven years for Indian ad agencies participating in the festival. "I knew it was coming," Bobby Pawar, director and chief creative officer, Publicis South Asia says. The Indian contingent drew a blank in a number of a categories including mobile, cyber, promo and activation, product design, radio and film craft, where it had no shortlists at all. Shortlists, for the record, ensure that a nation has a fighting chance of winning a metal, advertising parlance for an award or trophy. In certain other segments, where India did have shortlist, it was scanty. Like in direct marketing, branded content and entertainment and film, where there were not more than one or two shortlists respectively for Indian agencies. The metals won, including a Grand Prix that BBDO won for its 'Touch the Pickle' campaign for sanitary napkin Whisper, were in categories such as press, outdoor, media and glass.

  Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director for Ogilvy & Mather India and South Asia, said, "We need to improve our work in cyber and digital. These are fairly new categories for us as a nation. But we will get there," adding that India's performance at Cannes this year was a one-off phenomenon. Pandey remains optimistic that India will bounce back next year. Pawar, who was a columnist for the Business Standard during the Cannes 2015,is not as hopeful. He says, "We still tend to focus our attention on categories such as print and outdoor, when the attention of the serious contenders has shifted to digital, new media, cyber etc."

From 1.2 per cent a decade ago, digital advertising, according to a recent GroupM forecast, is now at 9.5 per cent of total advertising. The digital market, GroupM said, would touch Rs 4,661 crore in size this year. Total advertising was pegged at Rs 48,976 crore by the agency. Industry estimates are that in another five to seven years, digital advertising could touch about 20-25 per cent of total advertising by which time it would have crossed the Rs 10,000-crore mark.

But despite its growth in size and reach, experts argue that digital advertising emanating out of India is yet to throw up award-winning entries at international fests such as Cannes. Manish Bhatt, founder-director, Scarecrow Communications, pins it down to craft. "The kind of sophistication and class you see in the work coming out of the some of the countries abroad. We are no match to it. But bear in mind that digital is a mainstream medium for countries in the west. It is not as big for us yet. TV and the print are still the big ones here," he says.

Says Prasoon Joshi, chairman, McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific,"From an industry point of view, yes, it is one of those years when there haven't been too many wins for India at Cannes. But I'm of the view this has more to do with our emphasis on ideas than craft. We are great at generating ideas. But we also need to focus on the craft," drawing a broad brush on India's poor run, adding that improvement in craft has to come across categories.

Television and print, for the record, still remain the largest and second-largest contributors to total advertising in India, according to the GroupM forecast. They stand at Rs 22,446 crore and Rs 16,872 crore respectively. Pawar is scathing in his analysis of what went wrong at Cannes. "What happens when your work doesn't stand out in a particular year? You neither win big in the segments that are your comfort zones and have no shortlists in categories where you are not strong at all. This was the reason for our poor show this year," he says.

But while agency heads get down to doing a post-awards analysis of what went wrong, some agency insiders say that the motivation to do well at Cannes is simply waning. Unlike in the past when winning at Cannes was considered a matter of pride, agencies are no longer as keen to bag a metal. Apart from Cannes, there are the D&AD Awards, the Clio Awards, One Show and a host of regional ad fests vying for attention. In India, the annual Goafest has competition in the Kyoorius awards and festivals held in Mumbai. The net result, say agency insiders, is fatigue and lack of motivation, which was visible at Cannes this year.