Who will roar at Cannes?

As we near the Cannes Lions creativity festival dates (June 17 to 21), Leo Burnett Worldwide has come out with its annual predictions — a list that forecasts who will roar at the ad industry’s most prestigious awards. Its top five picks are Nike’s Dream Crazy campaign created by Wieden Kennedy, US Pernod Ricard’s Time we have left created by Leo Burnett Madrid, Spain, John Lewis & Partners’ The Boy and the Piano by Adam&eveDDB London, Bahay Tuluyan’s Disgusting Stories by TBWA Philippines, and Mars Wrigley Confectionary’s Broadway the Rainbow by DDB, US. The four trends that Leo Burnett has picked out shaping these choices are:

1) Brand Bravery: Taking risks to say something with conviction as Nike did by using Colin Kaepernick as its face of its “Dream Crazy” campaign

2) Mixed Realities: Use of technologies like AR and VR as in Microsoft Xbox’s Football Decoded

3) Acts, Not Ads, Reign: Picking up what’s happening on the streets and participating in it. For instance, IKEA challenging the public to find its modern furniture surreptitiously placed in “Museum of Romanticism”.

4) Data That Moves: Data coupled with creativity can become a formidable force as shown in Pernod Ricard’s “The Time We Have Left,” which created an algorithm to calculate the amount of time we have left to spend with our loved ones.

In the Glass category: The Lion for Change, the only entry from India to be shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2019 is Ogilvy’s work for Unilever’s Hamam soap. Ogilvy created a waterproof saree campaign #GoSafeOutside for HUL at the Kumbh Mela. The concept was to create waterproof sarees for women devotees who wished to take a dip in the Ganges without worrying about prying eyes. Other notable Indian contenders in different categories are Tata Motors’ PhotoOk campaign created by Havas and Rage communications, where it invited truck drivers to post pictures of incredible india and created huge engagement, Tonic Worldwide’s plantable tag for fashion fabric Liva Eco, FCB India’s stories of strength for Horlicks, and Cheil India’s Samsung Bixby Voice Forever, among others. Indian agencies have stepped up on digital, but one has to wait and see if the work is innovative enough to get the awards home.

Sugar-free products are a growing demand in an increasingly health-conscious India. Southern brand Cavin’s, the dairy arm of CavinKare, has just launched a milkshake without sugar called Cavin’s milkshake lite. It is a ready-to-serve drink in a carton aimed at the increasing dietary and calorie-conscious consumer and will be available in three flavours — vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. The claim is that it has 23 per cent fewer calories compared to other milkshakes. The milkshake is priced at ₹40. To support the launch, Cavin’s rolled out an innovative marketing campaign to bring the product closer to its consumers through a specially designed beverages-truck. Located outside of IT Parks in metro cities, the beverages-truck aims to introduce Cavin’s Lite to its consumers and also get instant feedback on the product.

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