Ashwini Gangal
Advertising

Cannes 2011: India tames two silver and two bronze Press Lions

McCann and Ogilvy have won a silver lion each, while the bronze lions have been won by Grey and Mudra.

This year's Press Lions roared four times for India. We have two silver and two bronze lions in this category.

The two silvers have been won by McCann Worldgroup and Ogilvy India.

McCann's campaign for Onida's i21 Mobile has helped tame this silver lion. The advertisements are titled 'City', 'Forest' and 'Sea'. Jury member and national creative director, Lowe Mumbai, Amer Jaleel, tells afaqs! that it was the illustrative look and feel of this campaign that caught the attention of the jury.

The other Indian silver is for Ogilvy India's Mentos Sour Marbles (Guillotine) campaign for Perfetti Van Melle India.

The two bronze metals have been won by Grey Worldwide India and Mudra Communications.

Grey won this bronze for its campaign for P&G's Downy (fabric softener). Jaleel reveals that this entry came close to winning a discussion for a gold. It lost out because the product category is, in today's day and age, out of the imagination of the jury that has evolved beyond it. "They've seen other countries' work on this product," Jaleel explains.

Mudra's bronze is for the Blueprint campaign for Union Bank of India (Home Loans).

Jaleel tells afaqs! that this time, the big trend that he noticed in the press entries was the fact that many tried to connect press to digital in some way or the other, either by the use of graphics or by making it interactive (say, the print image moves when something in the real world is pointed at it) with the help of QR (Quick Response) Codes. So, this time the print entries bore a lot of aspects that took the consumer back to the digital zone.

Jaleel however adds that at the end of the day, these are all mere execution-led details and are not necessarily great, new thoughts. "You kind of see one such entry and say 'Wow', but by the time you're on the 6th or 7th one, you realise that everyone has done the same thing," he says.

To view interviews from Cannes 2011, click here.

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