Cannes Lions: Leo Burnett bags solo Promo Lions Bronze

Leo Burnett India has won a Bronze at the 2009 Promo Lions awards show at the Cannes Lions festival. The agency won the award for their campaign ‘Stainbroidery’ for Tide Detergents (see picture).
 

Talking about the win, KV Sridhar (Pops), NCD, Leo Burnett said, "The win is fantastic. Even a bronze at Cannes is no easy task.
It's stupid to compare one year to another. Last year was an extraordinary year with very good work from India, and a lot of the work was better than work from elsewhere.  At any given point, anyone can have a better idea than your's --it's not about an agency or a country.
Overall, India has produced very good work which is comparable to work from any country especially in the traditional media. We are also making good inroads into mediums like promo, direct, design, radio, cyber and media. The best thing about our country is that we have been consistent. This year, print is a little disappointing but overall we have a good number of entries in the shortlist."

The Grand Prix in the category went to Japanese company Beacon Communications’ Yubari Resorts campaign. The campaign revolved around the city of Yubari which was running huge financial losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The brief was to turn around the perception of the city and encourage a higher influx of visitors. The team found out that the city had the lowest number of divorces in the country and set about focusing on projecting the town as a place that was best suited for love. The city issued Happily Married Certificates for couples residing in the city. The campaign managed to bring on a 10% year on year hike in visitor influx to the city and the agency has said that till date, they have received 3000 couples coming into the city consulate to collect their Happily Married Certificates.

Talking to press earlier in the day, William Rosen, the jury head for the Promo Lions category said that the Grand Prix entry had got a unanimous vote from the jury, “which in itself is a strong statement for the work.” Dwelling on the Indian entry, Rosen said that the jury had liked the piece “because of the beuty of the entry’s execution.”

There have been a higher number of bronze metals awarded this year. Reacting to the figures, Rosen said, “It is a fact that the metal count is lower this year. It’s hard to pinpoint a reason. There can be various factors. It is possible that agencies are finding it hard to get approvals for provocative work by clients in a difficult economic scenario. Also, it is possible that agencies have sent in lower number of entries in this particular category, as agencies have been cautious about the number of entries that they have sent this year.”

Rosen was also of the view that there were many campaigns they saw which didn’t seem to have been entered in the right category, it would have had a better chance at winning in another category. He felt some thought should have been put into the categories while entering.