Cannes Lions 2022: Indian contingent eyes big wins in Digital & Social

The Indian adland is once again preparing to stun the French Riveria at the upcoming Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, and this time the bets are high on purpose-led and digital campaigns, the industry opines. Leading creative heads from the industry are expecting a jump in entries in the digital, creative commerce, and social influencer categories, along with a keen interest in the very popular Film and Direct Lions.

According to DDB Mudra Group Chief Creative Officer Rahul Mathew, “Over the last few years, the work India has been entering has been more purpose-led and social. Even last year, the Gold that we won for Stayfree Free Period had a purpose at its heart and the only other Gold that India won was for social good. And while I yearn to see a shift back towards the brand and product-led work, I do feel a big chunk of the winning entries for India will be purpose-led and social in nature.”

On the other hand, categories like Print and Outdoor might continue seeing a decline because of the pandemic-induced setbacks and a general decline in the movement in the sector.

A senior creative director at one of the leading agencies confirmed this, on the condition of anonymity. “Print used to be one of India’s strongholds at Cannes in the initial years but with the growth of alternative media, the medium has suffered. I won’t say that the advertisers are not there, but we do not see the same level of creativity in most print ads as we used to see a few years ago. Every now and then, some sporadic creative emerges which has a competitive edge and that’s about it.”

It will be interesting to note here that India had sent a total of 21 entries to Cannes Lions 2021, which had entries from 2019 and 2020 combined. Out of that, only two were shortlisted and none managed to win.

Speaking about the Outdoor category, Taproot denstu and isobar India Chief Creative Officer Aalap Desai shared, “Outdoor, I feel, will experience a decline since the movement has been mostly restricted in the past year.”

However, he is expecting digital and social categories to see more entries as “categories with New Realities and Voice have increased significantly with the advent of the Metaverse.”

VMLY&R Chief Creative Officer Mukund Olety adds, “India will definitely have a lot of Film and Direct Lion entries. I am hoping we will have a lot more Innovation, Creative Commerce, Social and Digital entries. I also want us to have Titanium worthy stuff. I don’t think we have a Titanium Lion yet.”

During a conversation with e4m last year, after India had a no-show in Titanium Lions shortlists (India had sent two entries), Mathew had noted that winning metals in Titanium and Innovation wasn't exactly a cakewalk. These categories mostly don't see a huge representation from the Indian region.

Reminiscing about a time when the agency did manage to secure these Lions, Mathew remarked: “I remember the year we got shortlisted in Titanium for Stayfree Project Free Period. We were the only shortlist from the whole of Asia. These are tough categories to get into.”

Logicserve Digital Senior Vice President-Creative and Social Manesh Swamy further said, “Apart from the regular Favourites, Film and Direct, I also anticipate Digital entries. As it was a challenging year globally and many brands did good work in the health and the CSR segment, Glass Lion For Change and Health & Wellness categories might also see some participation.”

Historically, India has been quite bullish on sending entries to the Direct and Film categories along with Media and Glass Lions being close favourites. In 2021, the maximum entries were sent to Media Lions (92), Direct (72), Social & Influencer (72), Film Craft Lions (44), Health & Wellness (44), and Creative Strategy Lions (43). On the other hand, the highest number of entries from India in 2019 was entered in the categories of Media (87), Outdoor (82), Brand Experience and Activation (82), PR (78), Direct (73) and Industry Craft (74).