iCannes

Attended the Cannes 09 Show Reel screening at ITC Grand Central, Parel, last evening.

Terry Savage, Chairman, Cannes Adfest, had a few interesting insights on how India has turned into an emerging creative powerhouse over the last 5 years.

From 4 Jury Members in 2004 to 11 Jury Members in 2009, India has come a long way.

Terry pointed out the direct correlation between the appointment of Jury members and the performance of their country at the awards in the recent years. "To be nominated as a Jury member at Cannes, his/ her agency should have won at least one award in the last three years in the respective category. Alternately, if the Jury member's Agency has entered work in a particular category for the last three years, he/ she becomes eligble for a nomination", he said.

[Not surprisingly, India stands at #4 in the number of entries made this year (read 4000 nos).]

The recent awards tally clearly reflects the enthusiasm that the Jury members are breathing into their agencies now. From 4 Lions in 2004 to 23 Lions in 2009, India is clearly on a roll. (However, Terry pointed out that India is cleary invisible in the Digital space at the awards.)

Moving on, he opined "The increase in number of Clients and Media Agencies attending Cannes is further proof that there is tremendous enthusiasm around creating groundbreaking creative work"

Introducing Spikes Asia 09, Terry informed the audience that Times of India will be felicitated as the Advertiser of the Year at the festival. He credited TOI for setting new standards of creative excellence. While doing so, Terry also drew similarities between TOI's Lead India initiative (2008 Grand Prix Direct Winner) and the Obama Campaign (2009 Titanium and Integrated winner), pointing out how both campiagns mobilised a nation to adopt change (for good).

Of course, the much awaited Cannes 09 Show Reel followed.

Here's a hyperlinked list of all the films that caught my eye: Miller High Life '1 second Ad' | Adidas 'Break-up Service' | Citroen C3 | Washington's Lottery 'Every bird should get to fly' | Boag's Draught 'From the pure waters of Tasmania' | Volkswagen SpaceFox 'DogFish' | British Army 'You're an accident waiting to happen' | MTV 'Choose or Lose' | Adidas 'Basketball is a Brotherhood' | Nokia N96 'Bruce Lee Ping Pong' | Nokia N96 'Bruce Lee Lighting Matches' | Thuis 'Changed Opening Credits' | TOI ' Chennai Times - Naaka Mukka' | Philips 'Carousel' |

Puli Kali

I worked on an Indian biscuit brand a couple of years ago in Sri Lanka.

The brand in discussion here was formulating a strategy to enter the Sri Lankan market.

A qualitative research agency was contracted by them to gauge consumer reactions to campaigns that were successful in the Indian market in the past.

Since testing the Hindi-led campagins wouldn't get the desired reactions, the Client instructed it's Ad Agency to get in touch with their Colombo office arrange for Sinhala translations.

In the following days, a number of print ads and TVCs made their way to my desk from India. Working overtime and encouraging the copywriters to do the same, the Agency was practically drowning in a sea of cookies and biscuits.

Time was our biggest enemy with the Research Agency and the Indian office of the Ad Agency constantly on our case. We concentrated all our efforts on delivering quality despite the constraints.

At the end of the 2 weeks, after working on a multitude of translations, the 'cracker' arrived.

The Account Manager based in the Indian office of the Ad Agency frantically called me up and said "One last request. There's one more brand you need to work on! URGENTLY!"

Curious to know more, I prodded him to share the details.

AM: "I will mail you all that, yaar!"

Me: "That's fine. At least tell me which sub-brand this one is!"

AM: "Tiger"

Me: "What?!?!? Are you kidding? You can't bring that sub-brand to Sri Lanka!"

AM: "We will definitely bring the sub-brand to SL. Who are you to stop us?"

Over the next 10 minutes, I tried all I could to convince the AM that his idea would 'bomb' for sure, in vain!

Relentless in his pursuit to 'impress' his Client/ Superiors, he mailed me the 'details' later in the day instructing us to 'immediately arrange translations for Tiger Biscuits' communication'.

With no life/medical insurance against my name and a practically non-existent bank balance, I feared the consequences I would have to face if a Sri Lankan colleague came across the communication that needed to be translated.

Since the AM was obviously ignorant of 'current affairs' and 'general knowledge', I knew there was nothing left to discuss with him. I then took the liberty of mailing the Branch Head of his office with an explanation as to why 'Tiger Biscuits' should be kept away from Sri Lanka.

If you haven't guessed by now (or if you are uninitiated), the tagline of the sub-brand in question read "X khao, Tiger ban jao!" or "Eat X and Become a Tiger!".

Handing Over

A few million frail hands outstretched skyward.

While some folded hands symbolize a prayer for an end to their ilk's misery,
the others send warning signals to their near and dear ones, to help them live this wretched life just a little longer.

"If we could tide over this for 26 years, we can definitely survive a few days more", say the mothers.

Ducking artillery and maneuvering mines, the innocent clasp each others' hands tightly and defy the cruel fate before them.

Pain and suffering are eerily omnipresent; but the near of it all is imminent.

Uncertainty looms its head large over the optimists, and the pessimists begin to see the light.

Hands that snatched babies away from cradles and conscripted them to a world of agony,
are now six feet under or charred beyond recognition.

Aged mothers, scarred inside and bruised outside,
stop beating their chests in despair and tend the survivors' wounds.

Erased forever from their minds are thoughts of ethnicity, native tongue and color of skin.

Reaching out for help, they tap the shoulders of the ever-smiling lion-hearted soldiers.

Triumphant troops, with hands that once stayed folded in the quest for peace but had to reluctantly shower bullets, now, lay down their ammunition and join hands with the mothers.

Hand in hand, they stand, make a smiling pact and take a vow to protect their motherland.