Despite a good performance at other international awards, O&M had a practical no show at Cannes with just a bronze to its credit. But its hopes are still alive with three nominations in the Films category
O&M has had poor luck across categories at Cannes. While it kept raining metals for JWT, Leo Burnett and Contract, O&M has just a single bronze to its credit in the Media Lions. This is despite the fact that the agency scored well at other international awards such as the Clios, One Show and D&AD this year.
Piyush Pandey
Abhijit Awasthi
But the agency’s hopes are still alive. Three of its films have been shortlisted in the Film Lions category. Two of these are for Neo Sports, and the third one is for Center Fruit Candy.
Ask Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M India, on which of these film entries he is betting on, and he says, “Although I am happy that we have three nominations, in the last 15 years, I have never placed a bet.”
According to Pandey, awards are a different ball game. First, he says, one’s work could be good, but there could be better entries that year. Besides, the jury may differ from one bay to another. So, results differ.
However, Pandey said he is very hopeful.
Abhijit Awasthi, executive creative director, O&M, said he was surprised that O&M India had not done well at Cannes. “A lot of our work this year, which won at shows such as D&AD, One Show and even the Clios, has not even been shortlisted at Cannes. This includes work for WWF, Vodafone and Glaxo SmithKline. But what can I say? These things happen.”
Meanwhile, the India delegates are already predicting that the Neo Sports TVCs will win a metal. It’s to be seen now whether this film gets India its first gold in the Film Lions. Going by India’s performance, nothing seems too difficult this year.
The Center Fruit ad opens with a jeep travelling on a lonely forest road. The music score in the background is distinctly South Indian. The jeep stops at a rusty ATM centre called Raju Bank. An elderly South Indian is at the chair and the ‘bank’ is a dilapidated shack. A Japanese man steps out of the jeep and hands his credit card to the old man. The old man shakes his head and asks the Japanese man to put his credit card into a slot in the shanty and tells him to punch in the amount he needs. Once the card is through the slot, the old man takes the credit card and puts it in his pocket. Next, the old man opens a window in the shanty and reveals a man with his hands bound behind his back and looking upwards. The Japanese man is wondering what’s going to happen next. The old man lowers a lever and a bunch of notes rises up to the level of the bound man’s face. The minute the lever is lowered, the man goes ballistic and laps away like crazy. The man is a money dispenser of sorts! The Japanese man takes his cash and leaves. Cut to the lever behind the window. There is a Center Fruit hanging from the end of the lever. The old man pulls the lever up again, and the bound man stops lapping. The ad ends with a VO that says, “Center Fruit. Kaisi jeebh laplapayee.”
The other two nominations, the Neo Sports films Gas and Rusty Nail, were aimed at creating tension for the then upcoming India-Pakistan series to be aired on the channel. Gas tells the story of a busy household where the servant has left the gas on by mistake and gone away. The whole story has members of the household doing things that could lead to starting a fire: A man plays with his lighter, children prepare to light firecrackers nearby. The tension is at a crescendo, when the super appears: ‘Get used to tension.’
Similarly, Rusty Nail is about a young girl who has been kidnapped trying to free herself of the ropes that bind her by rubbing them against a rusty nail, while her kidnapper is napping. But as she does so, the table (which the nail holds together) starts shaking, and a cold drink bottle on the table is on the verge of falling down with a crash. The frightened girl struggles to make no noise while freeing herself. A similar super ends the ad.
Watch this space for more! The results for the Film Lions will be announced on Saturday.
Follow Us/afaqs/media/agency_attachments/2024-10-10t065829449z-afaqs_640x480.png)
