Like other sectors of the economy, the Indian advertising industry too faced a major setback during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many brands cut their marketing budgets, some paused communications altogether, people worked remotely and mostly in isolation. To make matters worse, agencies witnessed massive churning at the top level. 

However, creativity was not affected. The proof is India’s spectacular show at Cannes Lions this year. Indian agencies together brought home the maximum number of Cannes Lions medals, one amongst them being FCB Ulka India. 

Three gold, five silvers and six bronze - FCB Ulka Group’s Cannes Lions tally is a matter of pride, not only for the agency, but for the whole advertising industry. 

The Nominate me selfie:The Times of India (1 gold, 2 silver) 

Unbox Me: UNAIDS (3 bronze)

Chatpat: SOS Children’s Villages India (2 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze, created by FCB India, FCB Chicago and Kinnect ) 

We caught up with FCB India’s Group Chairman and CEO Rohit Ohri along with Rohan Mehta, CEO of Kinnect, the agency that was acquired by FCB a year ago. 

Excerpts: 

What does the Cannes Lions success mean to you? 

Ohri: This is the largest medal tally for the group at Cannes Lions so far. The agency embarked on a creative transformation journey around 2016. We developed a creative culture in the organization which started bearing fruits by 2018 when we started getting Cannes Lions awards. 

The essence of creative culture is to maintain momentum and consistency. Now people understand and recognise our work. Creative culture is a big nebulous thing. Cannes Lions is the Oscar of advertising. This enormous success is a huge motivation for agency people to continue to thrive for the better and stick to the old mantra - ‘Never Finished’. 

What worked in the favour of these campaigns? 

Ohri: In the Chatpat campaign, both FCB and Kinnect - acquired last year - worked in an integrated manner. Through this amazing piece of work, we have demonstrated that this match was made in heaven. Our synergies worked in our favour. 

The SOS village came to us saying they were struggling to get donations. It was not an easy feat to get corporates to loosen their purse strings for the SOS village as they are pre-committed for the causes. For instance, PepsiCo would work for the farmers’ community, some others would do for health. The Chatpat campaign was a breakthrough. The children of SOS village were chosen as brand ambassadors and ads for various brands were created around them. The idea clicked and the brands donated to the SOS village. 

Mehta: The FCB and Kinnect match was indeed made in heaven. FCB has many years of experience to create great brands through their powerful campaigns. Kinnect wanted that. 

We wanted to create multiple campaigns that are remembered for a long time. Chatpat was coined to give a face to the SOS village. A number of times, corporates have CSR funds but they don’t get back as much as they give. Our campaign was unique as it gave them back. 

How has the criteria to judge creativity at Cannes Lions evolved over the years?  

Ohri: From cleverness to authenticity, creativity has come a long way over the years. Earlier, Cannes Lions used to celebrate campaigns that were cleverly designed. Now they select campaigns that demonstrate authenticity; the ones that create a larger impact on humanity or support a cause and have statistics to prove that. Judges now look for campaigns that work for the society, community or country. They look at campaigns that create an impact for the next few years. It's a major shift. 

And it's not because of the pandemic, it's an evolution of creativity. As an agency, we aim to create impactful ads that stay for a longer period of time. 

You partnered with XP&D and Networkbay about a year ago. How have these partnerships delivered so far?

Ohri: These are strategic partnerships through which we fill in a lot of capability gaps in the experiential, the space that was destroyed during the pandemic. These agencies are helping us to create the same brand experience online that is available offline. Some of these experiential platforms can be seen at the auto expo that is coming up next year. 

Are more alliances or acquisitions on cards? 

Ohri: My focus at present is to make sure that we connect well with all our existing partners and provide solutions. 

You have said a year ago that Kinnect aimed to become India’s number 1 agency. How far are you away from your goal now?

Mehta: This is our vision for every day. The vision is not achievable and that is the beauty of it. Besides, one can be Number 1 on many grounds such as revenue, number of clients, size of teams, etc. What always worked for us is the underdog approach. 

What’s next for Kinnect?

Mehta: We have been in the industry for 10 years now. Winning Cannes is a milestone and now, as Rohit says, we have to maintain the culture of creativity, and keep doing pathbreaking work that brings awards and gets businesses for the clients. 

Secondly, digital agencies have bigger responsibilities to help companies to navigate through their digital journey. We would focus on that. Third, we are a hungry agency, and hence we would keep growing and strengthening our technology division. We are setting up a CX lab too.