Cannes 2013: Taproot India and O&M India strike Gold in Design Lions

India has had a good run in the Design category at Cannes this year; we have two Gold Lions, two Silver Lions and eight Bronze Lions. In sum we have 12 Design Lions this time.

And as far as the Bronze wins go, O&M, McCann and BBDO have two Bronze Lions each. Additionally, TBWA and Leo Burnett have one Bronze Lion each.

Taproot's Gold is for its Farmers' Suicide campaign for Bennett Colman & Co, one that has quickly become a favourite here at Cannes this year. About this campaign, the Design Jury president Mary Lewis, creative director and founding partner, Lewis Moberly, UK, said, "It is a well-thought through, beautifully simple campaign, with almost child-like execution. It moved us."She added that striking as it is, this campaign didn't reach the consideration set for the Grand Prix because it fell into a charity-related zone. "The jury kept going back to it, throughout the judging process, though," Lewis said, in appreciation.

O&M's Gold is for its Day Light creative for Philips Electronics India, another hot favourite at the International Festival of Creativity 2013. One of the agency's Silvers is for a couple of creatives from the same campaign, namely, Alley and Gorge. O&M's second Silver is for its Ogilvy Persian & Urdu creative.

O&M's Bronze Lions are for its Animal Trees creative for WWF India and its Save Calligraphy creative for the Qalamkari Creative Calligraphy Trust.

One of McCann's Bronzes is for its Author Headphones creative for Penguin Group India and the other is for a creative called Oscar Wilde for the same brand.

Both of BBDO's Bronze Lions are for its Stick It Art creative for Haiyya, one in the Design Crafts - Illustration sub-category and the other in the Graphic Design - Flyers, tickets, invitations, postcards, greeting cards sub-category.

TBWA's Bronze is for its Wall Cricket creative for Adidas India. Leo Burnett's Bronze is for its Good Paper Project for Cotex Bio-farm.

Lewis stated that this time, the themes that the Design jurors were cognizant of while judging included the following: individualism, work that had emotion and humanity, and work that involved a high degree of personalisation. Conor Brady, global creative director, Huge, New York, a juror, added, "We found a real sense of craft in a lot of the work."

In general, the jury was happy about the way the Design entries utilised a lot of digital technology. Polly Chu, chief creative officer, JWT Beijing, said, "It was interesting to note how today design is not just about paper, books, packaging, colour and typography, but also about the overall user interaction and engagement. It's about the way design makes brands touch peoples' hearts."

This year, the Design jury received a total of 2373 entries from world over. The figure is nine per cent more than last year's 2182. Of the 2373 entries received, 141 were awarded Lions. India's 12 wins are part of these 141.

Recall that this year India sent in 116 Design entries. The number of Indian entries in this category in the recent past is: 93 in 2009, 89 in 2010, 139 in 2011 and 134 in 2012.

Last year, India won two Design Lions. In 2011 we won five, in 2010 we won two, in 2009 we won five and in 2008 we won three. This year India has surpassed its previous record and raised the bar to 12 Lions.

In a pre-Cannes conversation with afaqs!, Bhupal Ramnathkar, chairman and founder, Umbrella Design, and Design juror this time, said, "Design has a universal language." Well, it certainly looks like India is getting more and more fluent in this language over the years.