Continuing the razzle and dazzle of Monday’s win, Indian agencies added five more metals to its tally on the second day of the Festival of Creativity. The wins came in the form of four bronze and one silver lion.
The coveted silver lion was won by Early Man Films and Kundurkar Studio for Jindal Steel – The Steel of India campaign in Film Craft under the editing subcategory. The same campaign also picked a bronze in the same category under Direction section. Interestingly, this was the only campaign that made it to the film crafts shortlist this year.
The campaign showcased India's resilience and progress through a connection made with steel in film and portraits. It illustrated the transformation of steel from raw material to finished product, symbolizing the nation's strength and development. Directed by Ayappa K.M with music by Sneha Khanwalkar, it reflected the enduring spirit and growth of India.
On the silver win, Ayappa KM, Director, Early Man Films, said: "We tried to push the boundaries of the way montage is viewed in India with experimental imagery and sound. We would like to commend Venkatesh Jindal, Kondurkar Studio and every member of the team for wholeheartedly supporting and sharing our vision."
The next bronze win came for Ogilvy in Entertainment Lions under the Integrated Brand Experience subcategory. The winning campaign was Cadbury 5 Star’s’ ‘Erase Valentine’s Day' campaign, a cheeky initiative that sent three volunteers on a ship, the F.N.S Cringe Vinash, to cross the international date line and skip February 14th entirely. The event was live streamed from Mumbai, allowing participants to ‘do nothing’ while enjoying 5 Star bars. The campaign also included an ad featuring space scientist Nambi Narayanan and invited people to enroll as ‘Mission Engineers.’
Reacting to the win, Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, and Sukesh Nayak, joint CCOs, Ogilvy, said, “We’re very happy that the bravery of the idea, and the bravery of the client are being rewarded. The ECD on 5 star, Karunasagar and the entire team has put in months and months of work to bring this idea to life. It is one of those seemingly impossible ideas that can be set aside as a joke. But sometimes those are exactly the ideas that the brand needs and can make a great impact.”
This win has taken Ogilvy’s individual metal tally to three with one silver and two bronze metals. Other winning campaigns from the house of Ogilvy include ‘The Impossible Choice’ and ‘Taj Mahal Megh Santoor.’
Taking the baton ahead, VML won a bronze metal under Entertainment Lions For Music’s diversity & inclusion in music subcategory. The award was picked for Coca Cola’s ‘Sing to Remember’ campaign, an effort aimed at preserving India’s linguistic diversity. To launch Coke Studio, a beloved music platform in India after an eight year’s gap, Coca Cola collaborated with up-and-coming Gujarati language artists, Aditya Gadhvi and Achint Thakkar, to create ‘Khalasi’ - a song that not only entertained but also served as a cultural statement. The campaign, using influencers, choreographers and singers along with the topicality of Navratri, got a billion people to dance, sing and celebrate in Gujarati – a language otherwise not in focus.
Showing immense pride over the win, Mukund Olety, CCO, VML India quipped, “This is the kind of work that makes a dent in culture. Super proud of the team for getting this recognition for real brand building work. This is the result of months of sweat and blood. And ever grateful to our clients for dreaming hard, pushing hard and making big things happen.”
It is India’s only second metal in the category since its addition to Lions in 2016. The first lion in the category, a silver, was won by Grey India in the inaugural year for P&G's Gillette 'The Barber Shop Girls – Shaving Stereotypes' campaign.
The final win for the evening came for Leo Burnett which picked a bronze in the Entertainment for Sports category under Sports Live Experience subcategory. The campaign is a tech-based intervention in partnership with Google Maps to provide open playing spaces to people staying in crowded cities of India. The app analyses 20 years’ worth of historic traffic data and real-time insights to predict when roads go empty, turning them into playgrounds.
The on-ground turfs used in the campaign were modular, configured to be assembled and dismantled within 20 mins to ensure maximum play time and give the roads back in time for traffic. These turfs became urban community playgrounds, reimagining open spaces for play unlike anything before in the world.
Reacting to the glorious win, Rajdeepak Das, CCO, Leo Burnett said, “In Leo Burnett, we believe in creativity solving human problems with technology being at the centre of it. It feels good when the biggest piece of work wins for the biggest brand on the biggest stage!”
Incidentally, like music lions, this is only the second time that India has won a metal in the sports category since its addition to Cannes Lions in 2019. However, it was Leo Burnett that had picked a silver metal for the Airtel 175 Replayed campaign.
On Tuesday, the awards for eight categories were declared at the festival including Entertainment, Entertainment for Gaming, Entertainment for Music, Entertainment for Sports, Design, Design craft, Film craft and Industry Craft. No Indian campaigns were competing in the Digital Craft and Entertainment for Gaming categories. No wins were registered in the Design and Industry Craft categories, though two campaigns from India had been shortlisted in both.
This is how India’s metal tally looks at the end of day o2 at Cannes Lions 2024:
For tonight’s award gala, India is running with 12 shortlists including the winning Gatorade ‘Turf Finder’ (Leo Burnett), Buckaroo’s ‘Fit My Feet’ (McCann Worldgroup), Coca Cola’s ‘Sing To Remember’ (VML), and Taj Mahal’s ‘Megh Santoor’ (Ogilvy). Other campaigns in the competition are Motorola’s ‘Deep Connect’ (Dentsu Creative), Mc Donald’s ‘Cosplay’ (DDB Mudra Group Mumbai/ Wieden + Kennedy, New York), and HDFC Bank’s ‘Lulumelon EOSS’ (FCB Kinnect).
