<font color="#CC0033">Cannes 2008:</font> Lead India does it again, wins a Lion in Integrated & Titanium

This is the first time that an Indian entry has got a Lion or even got shortlisted, for that matter, in this category

Two campaigns – the Luxor Highlighter campaign and the Lead India campaign – have changed India’s fortunes at Cannes pretty dramatically.

The Lead India campaign has already bagged a Grand Prix in the Direct Lions, which was a first for India. Now, with another Lion in the Integrated and Titanium category, the campaign has broken further records for this is the first time that an Indian entry has won a Lion or even got shortlisted, for that matter, in this category.

The Lead India campaign is the brainchild of the JWT and Times of India teams. In fact, Agnello Dias, chief creative officer, JWT, told afaqs! that while the brainstorming sessions were on for this campaign, many a time they forgot which was the client and which the agency. Both teams contributed equally to the success of the campaign, said Dias. He repeatedly attributed the success of the campaign to Rahul Kansal and Priya Gupta of The Times of India brand team.

The Lead India campaign was launched on January 1, 2007. It was conducted in three phases. The first phase of the campaign was a series of print ads titled India Poised, along with a commercial starring actor Amitabh Bachchan. This phase provoked the thought whether as a nation, India was really capable of achieving what the world was expecting of it. The second phase of the campaign, which started in August 2007, revealed the Lead India initiative and asked the audience what they would 'do' if they were the leaders of the country. A lot of emphasis was laid on pushing the audience to aggressively 'do' something for the country. A series of print ads titled Do, featuring actor Shah Rukh Khan, was run in the newspapers.

The objective of the third phase of the campaign was to garner as much support from the audience as possible for the final eight contestants in the Lead India reality show, which was aired on STAR Plus.

Bhaskar Das, president, Times Group, had earlier told afaqs! that the Lead India campaign was the brainchild of the chief executive officer and the brand team, and it had been executed quite well.

Complete Cannes 2008 coverage

For India's complete metal tally at Cannes, click here.