Seven Indian shortlists in Direct and four in Promo at Cannes

India has seven shortlists in the Direct category and four shortlists in the Promo Lions category at the 2009 Cannes Lions festival.

Direct: In the category ‘Direct Response Broadcast’ (TV, radio and Infomercials), BBC World Service has been shortlisted for their campaign ‘Condom.’ Rediffusion Y&R is shortlisted in the same category for ‘Vandana’ for American India Foundation. Leo Burnett has been shortlisted for Tide’s ‘Stainbroidery’ in the FMCG category while O&M’s shortlist is for Vodafone’s 'Mousepad' in the Other Consumer Products category.
Contract has been shortlisted for their entry ‘Donkey thrashes Tiger’ for Santuary Asia. McCann Erickson has a shortlist with ‘Let our paths cross’ for Bombay City Red Cross. JWT India’s 'Teach India' campaign has been shortlisted in the Best Integrated campaign led by Direct Marketing category.

Promo: Publicis Ambience has a shortlist in the Event and Field Marketing category for 'Wespro Digital'. Leo Burnett has two shortlists in Promo Lions, one for ‘Pumping Heart’ for Rotary International’s Blood Bank and another for Tide Detergent’s ‘Stainbroidery’. Publicis India has a shortlist for ‘Let Gandhi Talk’ for In Gandhi’s Shoes, an NGO. 

India has no shortlists in the PR Lions category at the 2009 Cannes Lions festival. This is the first year that PR has been introduced as a category at the festival.

India’s disappointing performance is a letdown as far as the PR industry in the country is concerned. One would have expected  at least a few shortlists in the PR Lions category. This year, Genesis Burson-Marsteller's Prema Sagar is part of the PR jury from India.  

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