Cannes 2009: Fewer Indian entries in Direct Lions; 7 nominations nevertheless

Will BCCL’s Teach India do it again? Last year, one reason it won a grand prix was the scale of activity

It seems that India’s Grand Prix win last year in the Direct Lions category at the International Advertising Festival, Cannes, did not inspire too many people in the Indian advertising fraternity. The number of Indian entries in this category has come down to 69 from 87 entries last year. Even in 2007, there were as many as 80 entries from India in this category. Last year, there were 3 wins for India in this category, including the Grand Prix for Time of India’s Lead India campaign. This was India’s best ever performance in this category since the inception of Direct Lions in 2004.

The lower number of entries may be an effect of the slowdown; or it could be that Indian agencies just did not have enough good work to qualify; or perhaps the Lead India campaign just raised the benchmark.

This year, seven Indian entries have been shortlisted. Last year, nine entries from India were shortlisted.

The Indian entries shortlisted this year are – Condom campaign by BBC World Service Trust; Vandana campaign for America India Foundation by Rediffusion Y&R Stainbroidery campaign for Tide detergent by Leo Burnett; Mousepad by Vodafone Essar; Donkey thrashes Tiger for Sanctuary Asia by Contract; Let our paths cross for Mumbai City Red Cross by McCann Erickson; and Teach India campaign for Bennett Coleman & Co. (BCCL) by JWT India.

Five out these seven campaigns are public service campaigns entered in various sub categories.

The Teach India campaign launched by BCCL was an initiative similar to Lead India. The initiative was an effort to change the literacy figures of India. It called to the citizens of the country to volunteer with a non-government organisation (NGO) in their locality and spend two hours a week teaching underprivileged children.

Full page press ads were carried in TOI, along with articles on the state of education in the city. About 60 NGOs had signed up to be a part of the Teach India movement; even corporates became a part of this activity, wherein they committed that at least 50 of their employees would dedicate two hours per week to the initiative.

The Vandana campaign for America India Foundation – a pro-active work done by Rediffusion – also delves into the problem of literacy. The campaign, which is a radio spot, urges people to contribute for the education of underprivileged children. In the radio spot, a voiceover artiste helps an illiterate girl child to read the message urging people to contribute. The radio spot directs the listeners to a website.

The condom campaign, which is a television commercial, urges people to download the Condom ringtone. The idea was to promote the usage of the word ‘condom’ and remove the shyness and hesitation that people have while using this word.

The Donkey thrashes Tiger was an online poll to replace the tiger as India’s national animal. The candidates for the position were the donkey, the monkey, the goat and the rat. A TV campaign was also launched to convince people to vote for one of the four candidates. It directed people to a website, NewNationalAnimal.com, where they could vote for a new national animal. This was as a mark of protest by environmental newsmagazine Sanctuary Asia against the declining number of tigers in the country.

Similarly, the campaign for Bombay City Red Cross was a print ad to commemorate the 150 years of Red Cross in the city. The print ad urged people to contribute money to the Red Cross. The message had a long copy on how different people such as Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Lean Henry Dunant have made a difference to the society and how each one could add to the contribution. The text was designed in the form a cross – the Red Cross symbol.

The Mousepad work for Vodafone was an initiative to encourage subscribers to opt for e-billing, and conserve forests by eliminating the need for physical paper bills.

From India, Leena Basrur, executive chairperson, Direxions Marketing Solutions is part of the Direct Lions jury.