Inside L&K Saatchi and Saatchi’s Cannes Lions entry: Zepto - Stretchable Time

This year, the Indian advertising industry is looking at acing itself after last year's big win at Cannes Lions. Every agency is putting their best foot forward and placing their best campaigns ahead as entries for Cannes. We reached out to L&K Saatchi & Saatchi is also sending one of their most quirky and creayve work done for Zepto - Stretchable Time.

The 3-film campaign conveys a message of the notorious habits of Indians to stretch time in order to get anything done. The campaigns features singers Usha Uthup, Shankar Mahadevan, and Kailash Kher giving a melodious gimmick while stretching time to get the thing done asked by the audience.

Speaking to e4m about the campaign, Kartik Smetacek, Joint National Creative Director at L&K Saatchi and Saatchi, said the campaign was getting loved by audiences and has been winning in other awards as well. “The Zepto – Indian Stretchable Time campaign was one our most popular and successful campaigns that ran during last year’s IPL. It’s already doing well at the award shows, picking up metals at Spikes and Adfest Asia, as well as 3 shortlists at the One Show. Hopefully the good form continues at Cannes.”

He said the brief was simple - to create awareness about the brand. When asked about the challenges that the campaign faced, Smetacek said, ”Probably, the biggest challenge facing us was to stand out in the IPL clutter, particularly against heavy hitters like Swiggy, Cred and Spotify. The campaign has achieved its key objectives – featuring among the top 3 IPL campaigns in most polls and making Zepto a household name in the process.”

Smetacek believes this will be the year of AI and applications and that is what he expects from Cannes Lion 2023. “I think this year is going to be the year of AI and its applications. So I look forward to being blown away by what AI in the hands of HI (human intelligence) can achieve,” he added.