Cannes Lions 2011: ‘Speakers talk about things for tomorrow, today at the festival’

In an exclusive conversation with Campaign India, Terry Savage, chairman, Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity shares his thoughts on this year’s festival, and the Indian participation at Cannes. 

Pointing out the increased participation from India, Savage said, “From India, we have 179 delegates which is a very strong number, and India is an increasingly important part of what happens in Cannes. There are about 1,173 Indian entries, which is an increase of 9%.”

“One of the things we’re seeing right across the region, in fact, is that whereas India performs well in Press and Outdoor and has history in the traditional media, some of the newer mediums like Cyber haven’t done so well. I think that they need to benchmark because more and more and more of the industries are heading into a digital world and they’re going to have to step up the game in relation to that particular sector going forward,” he added.

Observing that having seven entries in creative effectiveness is encouraging, Savage added, “Well the fact that they’ve got seven entries is pleasing because in reality there are only 142 entries in creative effectiveness. We didn’t expect a lot of entries and we don’t want a lot of entries. It’s a high quality category and we’ll see how they go. One thing you know for sure at Cannes is that you can never pre-judge the judges and you don’t know how you perform.”

In the following video interview, watch Savage sharing what’s new at this year’s festival: