The Hindu Business Line : Can Indian ad agencies cage the Cannes Lion?

Ms Nishi Suri, Head of the Bombay Branch, at O&M, which has bagged the maximum entries, says, "Although we have bagged 12 nominations, we would not like to talk about them."

Some of the nominations include Fevicol, Hutch, IBM Thinkpad. Incidentally, O&M's tally stood at 14 nominations last year. Close on the heels of O&M comes Saatchi & Saatchi with five nominations. The agency could bag just a single nomination last year.

With the hike in its nominations this year, Mr Kamal Basu, Executive Vice-President, Saatchi & Saatchi, says, "This year looks promising since we have been nominated for four outdoor ads and one press ad. Having won at Clio and Ad Asia, we are hoping to increase our tally at Cannes."

Their kitty includes nominations for Santro Zing in the press category and four nominations for Bharat Petroleum and Ariel in the outdoor category.

There was a surprise in store for Leo Burnett. Unlike the previous years, there was just a single nomination for its Italian Sea Food Festival ad for the Senso restaurant brand, created by Leo Burnett's New Delhi branch. The agency was hopeful of getting more nominations this year. According to Mr Aniruddha Banerjee, Executive Director, Leo Burnett, "There is greater competition and the standards have gone higher. We were hoping to have more than one nomination this year."

Even for Ambience Publicis, which had bagged six nominations last year, the number has dwindled to three this year. The nominations this year includes Marico's Sil sauce, an NGO (People Health Organisation) and a Web site on impotence in the outdoor category.

Mr Nakul Chopra, Group President, Ambience Publicis, says: "Our experience has shown us that there is no doubt that the bars get raised every year. However we feel our chances are good and there is a change in the perception of Indian advertising. This is reflective in the number of Indians who are being nominated on the jury."

Having stayed out of Cannes ad festival in the past, Lowe has also bagged a nomination for the Luxor brand. "We believe we have struck a chord with our ad. Indian ads are being noticed and are no longer perceived to be old in their context," observes Mr Pranesh Misra, President and COO, Lowe Lintas & Partners.