Mixed show at Cannes

Record score, but quality of digital ads is still the missing link

The 64th edition of the Cannes Ad Fest, which concluded in the French resort town on Saturday, turned out to be India’s best outing at the global advertising festival. At 39 metals and a Grand Prix, it was a sterling performance and exceeded the previous highest tally in 2013 by a large enough margin. Some of the metal-winning works showed how advertising creativity has come of age in India. Take McCann's ‘Immunity Charm’, Leo Burnett’s ‘Roads that Honk’, Taproot’s ‘Adidas Odds’ and JWT's ‘#MyDaughterWill’. They showed the sheer quality and strength of the ideas that were at their core. More than craft and execution, these stood out for cause-related advertising and marketing and were worthy winners of Lions, recognised the world over as the ultimate creative accolade and a shining symbol of industry-shaping work.

For example, the Adidas Odds campaign promoted a special product — a pair of shoes for the same foot dedicated to the needs of para-athletes, primarily blade-runners. The film featured a Kargil war veteran who lost his leg, but not his determination to start walking again. It talked about his journey as India’s first blade-runner, and one of the first Indians to run a marathon with an artificial limb. Notably, there was no blatant product-selling here. Similarly, 'Roads That Honk' talked about a radar-based collision warning system, designed mainly for hairpin bends, and showcased how brands were becoming a part of people's lives.

But it was certainly not roses all the way for the Indian ad fraternity. Categories that clicked for the Indian contingent included health care, outdoor, glass, public relations, promo and activation, design, innovation, direct marketing, and media. But there were many misses, too, including cyber, mobile, digital craft, and entertainment, where India did not have any shortlists. This is disappointing, specially at a time when the conversation in advertising all over the world has been about the advent of digital, which has thrown up a huge opportunity to communicate not just through words and pictures, as advertising has always done, but through the use of technology and data. Indian agencies’ inability to make a mark in digital on the global stage is in sharp contrast with the ground reality visible everywhere at Cannes. Every single tech firm is trying to make consumers spend more time on smart devices and wearable gadgets. But digital ad spending in India still stands at just 15 per cent of the advertising pie, unlike the over 40 per cent share in evolved markets. It’s time media agencies as well as advertisers took definitive steps to make such a potent medium effective. The point is that no amount of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, or virtual reality would work if there is no great story to engage end-users. After all, if people are spending most of their time on digital, it is strange why for Indian creative teams, it still is print first, then outdoor, and mobile is often just added in the last. Indian ad agencies can’t quite ignore what Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg famously called ‘thumb-stopping creativity’, which communicates the brand very quickly and you measure results, not seconds.