Cannes celebrates creativity and this is one of the key parameters for judging, says Anupriya Acharya, CEO of Publicis Groupe-South Asia. This is Acharya’s first time at the festival, and we caught up with her to ask about her experiences and takeaways.

Excerpts from the conversation:

You're a media veteran, and this is the first time you've come to Cannes. How's the experience been for you?

The experience has been awesome - everything that I had expected and more. I've heard from people over years how it is – moving around Cannes, the sun, the beach and the cruise. A lot of great work has been showcased this year and great talks and sessions too. My initial days were filled with jury duties but I have attended a lot of sessions and seen a lot of work.

Any theme that has been dominant this year?

I have been on many juries – local, regional and global – and the one thing that really does stand out for Cannes is the creativity aspect. Cannes celebrates creativity and this is one of the key parameters for judging and I really enjoyed it a lot. From a jury point, what really stood out is the use of AI for solving real human problems and challenges, and solving for the future. That was very heartening. The use of AI, most of the time, was not just commercial in nature. There were many entries, which were solving problems for the homeless, for the differently abled and for women empowerment, using AI and tech. That was very heartening and those are the entries which went on to win because it's AI coupled with sharp audience understanding and coupled with brand purpose. The idea is to do good for the society.

How was your experience of being part of the jury?

The thing about awards is that everything doesn’t need to be over complicated. It's just the power of the idea and how well it is executed. What really stood out for me is that as marketers and communication people, we should increasingly marry insights with larger brand purpose and, of course, solve for the brand objective.

India has won 4 metals in the Media Lions category. Your take on the entries?

Unfortunately for the Indian entries, I had to go out. They were good entries but the use of media has to be upfront. One of the things the Media Jury definitely looked at is that if you remove the media from the idea does it stop working? And that's like an acid test, and in a lot of entries we found that the use of media was there, but it got lost somewhere in the narrative. I think the insights were really sharp. I would also love to see a lot more work coming from India that showcases the use of data and analytics because a lot of brilliant work is happening in our market.

Anupriya’s Top Picks:

Dove: #TURNYOURBACK (Ogilvy, London/David, Madrid)

This campaign was possibly discussed the most and was awarded the GRAND PRIX. The beauty of the campaign was that it is an extremely powerful idea, solving real societal challenges and being done at scale. Frankly, the simplicity of the idea and its execution was exceptional.

Partners Life: The Last Performance (Special, Auckland)

This entry was from the Life Insurance category and it showed a brilliant use of humour for a category, which is so far sold on scaring people. This was a very powerful entry.

Michelob Ultra: Dreamcaster (FCB New York)

This was an entry by a small brand and it was a brilliant piece of work. They had gone to extreme levels to use tech for solving problems for the differently-abled, to bring them to the mainstream. It powerfully tied up with their brand purpose, I liked it as it needs a lot of guts to really go out.

Skinny: Phone It In (PHD, Auckland)

I loved this campaign as did the jury, and this campaign was also discussed a lot.

Eletromidia: Guarded Bus Stop (Almapbbdo, Sao Paulo)

This campaign was an outstanding use of outdoor media to protect women travelling alone at night. Through the billboard, they provided security to women who are sometimes the last people remaining at bus stops and are lonely. If the detector sees that there is one single person at the bus stop, it immediately dials up and gets connected to the security and a camera. This ensures that you don't feel alone and provides the woman company. It was a fabulous use of outdoor, such a simple idea and extremely powerful.

Mondelez Europe: Oreo Cheat Cookies (Saatchi & Saatchi, Dusseldorf)

This campaign showed a very sharp understanding of the gaming community. It didn’t only solve a challenge but also integrated their product and everything else so well with cookies used as tokens, which can be used for gaming. It was brilliant.

Hinz&Kunzt/Hamburger Kunsthalle: The Homeless Gallery (Philipp Und Keuntje, Hamburg/ Mantikor, Hamburg)

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ITV x Calm: The Last Photo (adam&eveDDB, London)

A lot of entries were about creatively-raised awareness, about challenges such as homelessness, suicide etc. I thought brands and charities in their own way are trying to do a good job.