India finds representation on Cannes jury in four categories

Cyber Lions is the only awards segment where the jury does not comprise an Indian. The Films and Outdoor & Press categories has Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather India, as President, while Media Lions has Divya Gupta, President, The Mediaedge, India as a jury member. Lions Direct jury has not one but two representatives from India-- Ramesh Iyengar, Managing Director, Select Direct Marketing Communications, and Vivek Basrur, Managing Director, DIREM Marketing Services.

Pandey’s message as President of Films and Outdoor & Press jury is indeed a reflection not only of the awards but also Pandey’s own personality. His message on the Cannes website reads, “Participating at Cannes is like competing in world cup football”.

‘It doesn’t matter how big a star you are in your part of the world, your past reputation counts for little. Anyone can upset you. And probably will. The size of your country is not an advantage, or, for that matter, a disadvantage. You compete with the best and take back learning in the form of Lions and sometimes in the form of tears.

“However, unlike world cup football, you can’t bask in the glory of your success for four years. You have to go back next year.”

Equally interesting is the way Neil French describes Pandey on the Cannes website, "The guy is responsible for filling up the India office with a bunch of lunatics who produce the best work by so far that it is embarrassing. They also make the most embarrassing profits."

Moving on, for Gupta it is the second opportunity to be on the Cannes media jury – first one being in year 2002. And she is pretty excited about it, for it is one of the important milestones in her professional life. Data analysis blended with high level of creativity is what makes Gupta a force to reckon with. Her client list includes Colgate-Palmolive, the Tata Group, AT&T, Canon, Citibank, Paramount Pictures and Godfrey Phillips (Philip Morris).

Iyengar and Basrur are part of the Lions Direct jury. Iyengar is a microbiologist and a foodie. He started out in advertising 23 years ago at Lintas. After spending ten years in advertising, he realised that direct marketing is where he belongs. He then set up Trikaya Grey Direct. He started his own agency Select Direct in 1991. He has developed a robust model called Select Relationships for Direct Marketing.

In 2000, he received his first Gold EMVIE for Media Invention for ‘Locator’.

Basrur, as is known, founded Direm Marketing Services in 1989. He now has fifteen years experience in direct marketing and has spent more than a quarter century in sales and marketing. Basrur is keenly interested in Direct Response Creative led by Customer Analytics.