Continuing its magnificent performance at the ongoing Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2022, the Indian contingent added three more lions on Day 2, taking the metal tally to 10. The metals came under the digital craft (1 Gold), industry craft (1 Silver), and entertainment lions (1 Silver). India had a total of 20 shortlists in these categories.

Additionally, the shortlist tally rose to 57 with 20 more shortlists across Brand Experience & Activation (10), Creative Business Transformation (1), Creative Commerce (4), Mobile (4), and Creative Effectiveness (1).

The only shortlist from India in the category, BYJU’S ‘Master Ji’, won a silver lion in the Talent: Film, Series & Audio subcategory. The campaign was created in-house by the brand and produced by Dora Digs for Teacher’s Day last year. It featured actors Raghubir Yadav and Anjuman Saxena.

The film was a tribute to every teacher who kept the wheels of education turning, even when the world came to a standstill during the pandemic and portrays the flipside of how educators had to unlearn their age-old teaching traditions and learn new, intimidating technology, becoming a student themselves.

Digital Craft Winner

The star campaign of the year, Vice Media’s ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ created by Dentsu Creative added a Gold Lion to its kitty, in the Personalised Storytelling & Experience subcategory.

VICE Media’s The Unfiltered History Tour, created by Dentsu Webchutney (now Dentsu Creative) powerfully narrates the story behind the British Museum’s most disputed artefacts through immersive Instagram filters. Designed to be experienced in or outside the Museum, it puts under the spotlight the perspectives of the communities that these aretfacts were removed from. Some of these artefacts include the Rosetta Stone, the Hoa Hakananai, the Amravati Marbles, the Gweagal Shield, and the Parthenon Marbles.

Speaking about the campaign, Digital Craft Lions Jury President Luciana Haguiara (ECD MediaMonks, Brazil) said, “They have made the use of technology in a way that very few production companies (could) have and put the power in the hands of the people to scan into any place and environment. It is amazing because the campaign tells us that culture is the identity of people and it can be destroyed. That’s why we love this piece so much.”

Industry Craft Winner

DDB Mudra picked a Silver Lion for ‘A Silent Frown’ – a book on the untold story of Charlie Chaplin – created for the Charlie Chaplin Foundation. The win came under the Print & Publishing subcategory.

The book, launched on Chaplin’s 133rd birthday,  is dedicated to his life and philosophy. Each page of the book depicts Chaplin’s life in illustrations on a transparent section. When stacked by closing the book, the illustrations come together to form the visage of the great entertainer.

Reacting to the win, DDB Mudra Group Chief Creative Officer Rahul Mathew said, “A Slient Frown is a tribute to the man who regaled us all with his craft. And to be awarded for the craft of the book is quite poetic.” 

India, however, could not score a win in the Design Lions, where it had six shortlists, and Film Craft Lions, where it had eight shortlists.

On winning Gold, Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer India, Dentsu Creative, “After the Grand Prix yesterday, the Gold today comes as yet another validation of the quality of the Unfiltered History Tour campaign. Winning against fantastic campaigns from around the world is a great feeling. While we are extremely grateful for the recognition that our campaign has received so far at the Cannes Lions, we are hungry for more!”

Amit Wadhwa, CEO India, Dentsu Creative said, “It has been a fantabulous Day 2 at Cannes Lions. After an exciting start with a Grand Prix, 1 Silver, and 2 Bronze, we are ecstatic to add a Gold to our kitty. This is indeed a mesmerizing experience. A big, big thank you to all our ex and present teammates for making this happen. It has indeed been a breathtaking miracle. Also, my deepest gratitude to everyone who has held their faith in our teams and work. Thank you!"

Shortlists

India got twenty more shortlists on day two of Festival of Creativity.

‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ got six more shortlists – three in Mobile Lions (Activation by Location, Mobile-led Creativity, and Social Purpose) and three in Brand Experience & Activation (Use of Mobile & Devices, New Realities & Voice Activation, and Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility).

The campaign for Vice Media has been created by Dentsu Creative and has already won a Grand Prix, one gold, one silver, and two bronze metals.

Further, VMLY&R Commerce’s ‘Smart Fill’ for Unilever has got three shortlists in the Creative Commerce Lions (Consumer Goods, Sustainable Commerce, and In-store Experience), one in Creative Business Transformation (Brand Purpose & Impact) and one in Brand Experience and Activation Category (Customer Retail / In-store Experience).

The Brand Experience and Activation category got three more shortlists in the form of ‘The Nominate Me Selfie’. The shortlists came in Use of Mobile & Devices, Guerrilla Marketing & Stunts, and Breakthrough on a Budget subcategories.

A campaign created by FCB, it was esigned for Political Shakti - a non-partisan women's collective passionate about female leaders in politics, and appeared in The Times of India. The campaign teamed up with 140 NGOs that reached 45000 villages to mobilize female party workers to use the ubiquitous WhatsApp to send their “Nominate-me-selfies” to their local party leaders, urging them for a ticket to contest elections. As hundreds of selfies started to pour in, women’s representation was amplified into a national issue that made front pages, garnering panel discussions and widespread coverage. 

Two more shortlists in the category came for Cadbury Celebrations ‘Shah Rukh Khan My Ad’. The campaign created by Ogilvy got shortlisted in Tech-led Brand Experience and Market Disruption sub categories.

An extension of the ‘Not A Cadbury Ad’ campaign, ‘Shah Rukh Khan My Ad’ campaign used machine learning to create advertisements that doubled as ads for Cadbury and thousands of local businesses—featuring Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. It was an effort to lend a helping hand to small shops struggling during the pandemic.

VMLY&R’s ‘Adeli’ for Unipads, which has already won a Silver Health and Wellness Lion, got shortlisted for Brand Experience & Activation Lions in Social Behaviour subcategory.

The campaign was created on the back of the core idea to put mestruating women, also known as Adeli in certain parts of the country, in the kitchen. As a first step, Unipads launched a limited pop-up restaurant with the name Adeli and collaborated with women chefs, helpers, and servers going through their menstruation days to run it. Unipads invited influential community members, change-makers, activists, and other prominent names to dine at Adeli and become a part of the change. Unipads also invited hotels, restaurant chains, schools, and temples to become a part of the movement by committing to support women having their periods.

Ogilvy got another shortlist in Mobile Lions (mCommerce) for its Cadbury 5 Star #NothingCoin campaign. 

Taking the brand proposition ahead, Cadbury 5 Star launched  NothingCoin, a new form of currency that gets mined while you do nothing. As part of the outdoor activation, the brand took a spin on traditional bank setups and built a branch at Nariman Point in Mumbai wherein consumers can visit this bank, grab a Cadbury 5Star, sit, and do nothing to mine more Nothing Coins on the brand website. These coins could then be traded for goods on a virtual mall and several partner commerce platforms including Swiggy and Jio Mart.

Further, Shagun Ka Lifafa’ created by McCann India for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank got one shortlist in Creative Commerce Lions. 

Multiple-lion winning campaign over the years, ‘Stayfree Project Free Period’ became the only shortlist from India in Creative Effectiveness Lions under the Creative Effectiveness for Good subcategory. 

To combat the sex trade in India, Stayfree launched a campaign, dubbed #ProjectFreePeriod, to help women in the sex trade cultivate the skills to break out of prostitution. The campaign, by DDB Mudra Group, shares that woman in the sex trade cherish periods as a time off work. Thus, contrary to the dismay women usually express towards periods, sex workers look forward to them.

However, there were no shortlists for India in Creative Strategy Lions.