The Hindu Business Line : Why India won big

If creative awards had to have a sense of purpose, they need to be more inclusive. They have to include clients, client partners, consumers, large corporates, mega entrepreneurs and society at large.

Josy Paul, Chairman & NCD, BBDO India.

Josy Paul

Something big happened at Cannes. Suddenly, the rules changed. Creativity was no longer about a quick fix one-off ad, film or poster. It had to achieve giant proportions. Look at the Grand Prix winners across categories and you’ll see what I me an. Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’, Xbox’s ‘Halo’, HBO’s ‘Voyeur’ and The Times Of India’s ‘Lead India’. The signs are all there. The Cannes international advertising festival wants big numbers, big effective campaigns, creativity with a larger purpose … the next big thing! The world’s most popular advertising award show is now looking for real work with large-scale transformational possibilities. That seems to be the new mantra. “It’s the box office, stupid!”

The reasons are obvious. Creative awards are becoming too inward-driven, too incestuous – ‘For creatives only, everybody else keep out’ kind of thing. Added to which scams are on the rise - quickie brilliance that comes and vanishes into the blue with a dazzle of gold.

In many developing markets, cynicism was setting in about ‘creativity’ and ‘effectiveness’. If creative awards had to have a sense of purpose, they need to be more inclusive. The target audience cannot be just some guys in the creative department. The appeal had to be more ambitious. It has to include clients, client partners, consumers, large corporates, mega entrepreneurs and society at large.

The first signs of the creative shift were visible last year when the work for Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ won two Grand Prix for Unilever. It was big transformational stuff with huge worldwide impact - through viral, travelling exhibitions, debates and television programming.

This year the big just got bigger. Maybe this shift wasn’t a collective jury call. Even though Mark Tutssell, the Titanium and Integrated jury chairman, was quoted saying: “Hope the brands we choose will inspire not only creatives but also brands to work harder to serve a purpose in people’s lives.” Maybe it was not by design or some carefully thought out strategy. It may have just been an instinctive reaction to all that came before.

In a sense, it is about Cannes trying to redeem itself. In the winners for Grand Prix, we can see that creativity and effectiveness are merging. Don’t be surprised if all these works go on to win big at the Effies. Clearly creativity is moving on.

India is best poised to take advantage of this new sentiment at Cannes. Many of our brands have giant influence. And many of our marketing and communication approaches are unique to the world. Even our effectiveness numbers are staggering. The important thing is to get the diverse members in the jury to understand.

Lead India is a great example of this transfer of vision and impact. The entry was well crafted and packaged with figures and emotions to capture the true impact … how a whole nation was truly touched. It was a total transfer of aura and daring. The judges got it!

One can argue that the ‘pug’ campaign for Hutch created by Ogilvy in 2004 could have got there as well. But it was ahead of its time. Cannes wasn’t ready for it then. And the idea wasn’t as well packaged.

The learning here is that at Cannes you are talking to a wide and varied audience in the jury panel. And the only way to touch them is to present the idea with all its emotional halo and results.

What gives me joy about the Grand Prix for ‘Lead India’ is that the growing debate and divide between creativity and effectiveness will cease. Hopefully, young creatives will not lead double lives trying to do parallel work that’s strictly for awards. Hopefully this will reduce the double-portfolio syndrome which we tend to see these days – “Sir, this is my award work and this is for clients …” Ouch!

Lead India gives everybody hope. Clients too realise that ‘creativity’ is not a bad word but with the right consumer connect, it can push the news value of campaigns and make them part of the conversation on the streets and in the hallways of agencies and award shows. The PR that it generates is impossible to measure. The brand gets instant international fame.

This year, the biggest winner at Cannes was India. No other country had doubled last year’s efforts and awards. India had 103 pieces in the shortlist (last year was 60) and we won 23 metals (compared to last year’s 12) The buzz about India is rising around the world. At BBDO India, we have already begun to get calls from foreign nationals wanting an exchange programme. India is the next big thing!

(The writer is Chairman and National Creative Director, BBDO India.)

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