Cannes 2007: Grey gets silver, McCann, O&M bronzes

Out of the 20 finalists, India managed one silver and three bronze lions in the Press category

At the Salle de Redaction in Cannes, all the journalists wait eagerly to know how many lions their countries have won. And it’s a great feeling to see India’s name in the list. Something similar to watching India win a cricket match. And the best part is that our Indian agencies haven’t let us down so often as our cricket team.

After a no show since yesterday in the various categories of Outdoor, Media and Cyber, India has scored one silver and three bronzes today in the Press category. Not a bad show when you see other journalist getting excited about the fact that their country has managed to get into the lions tally for the very first time.

The first and only silver in this category came in for Grey’s ‘Heena’ campaign for the Travel Corporation of India (TCI).

John Pallant, executive creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, UK, who was in the Press jury, says, “I had seen this piece of work in ‘Archives’. And when I saw it while judging the entries, it struck me immediately, and all the other jury members, too. It’s a great piece of art director’s job.”

Pallant even enquired whether the ad had won a Grand Prix at the Goafest this year. And the campaign had indeed bagged a Gold at the fest.

The ‘Heena’ campaign shows a hand fully decorated with henna or ‘mehendi’, except in the centre, which was left blank in the shape of the map of Australia, Venice or Hawaii. The idea was to sell honeymoon packages from TCI.

Bob Scarpelli, chairman and chief creative officer, DDB Worldwide, who presided over the jury, comments on the ‘Heena’ campaign, “The campaign was interesting, innovative and also entertaining.”

How did the jury understand the relevance of henna in this ad? Thanks to Monica Moro, an executive creative director from McCann, Spain, who explained it to her colleagues.

But jury president Scarpelli appeared to be more impressed with O&M’s campaign for Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, which won a bronze. He says, “In the sub-category of Public Awareness, the ads had to be touching, but what we liked was this ad’s fantastic insight. Everyone talks about child adoption from the child’s point of view, but what these ads showed was the feeling of the adoptive parents. This makes the ad completely outstanding.”

The campaign has images of a child holding an adult in his/her arms, signifying that adoption is not some an act that 'saves' the life of an orphaned or abandoned child. These adoptive parents find that it is actually they themselves who get so much out of the adoption because of the love and joy the child gives them. This communication was aimed at changing people’s perspective on adoption, with the central thought being, ‘Adopt. You will receive far more than you can ever give’.

McCann also grabbed two bronzes in this category, one each for Kansai Nerolac and Cocco’s Café.

Scarpelli said the Kansai Nerolac ad was one best way for product benefit demonstration, which impressed the jury.

But the Cocco’s Café ad, which had copy in the form of a conversation between two people at a coffee table (between Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse in one ad, and John Lennon and Mark David Chapman, in the other) did not impress Pallant much. He says, “The art director’s job was good, and so it got the vote from most of the jury, who were from the art side.”

Overall, the jury’s objective was to find out the best ideas, which were also well executed. However, they did award a few outstanding ideas, which might not have been so great in execution. The jury also looked at the inspirational quotient in the entries from younger professionals. But what it specifically looked at was the fresh use of the print media, or rather which would re-invent the page. There was one particular entry from Saatchi & Saatchi, which the jury found interesting, but then they felt that it would fit better in the Media category than in the Press.

Talking about the trends that were observed among the 7,000 entries, the jury members say there were quite a few ads which had long copy, and some of them were awarded, but most of them had strong visuals, and short copy, just a great headline.

The Grand Prix went to a P&G campaign for Tide, which completely disproves those who say that P&G doesn’t believe in creative ads. The jury members say, “This also proves the fact that great creative work can be done in an uninteresting sector such as detergents.”

Cannes 2007, complete coverage.