He beauty of the La Croisette waterfront, with its picturesque cafes and sandy beaches may have been lost on many of India’s leading ad men. This is the nation’s worst ever performance in five years at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The festival is the advertising industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. This year, the golden arclights are not on us, but on arch rival China which has won the coveted Grand Prix for its outdoor work ‘Coke Hands’ created for Coca Cola. The Grand Prix is the best of show and is awarded in each of the categories. This isn’t the first time China has bagged a Grand Prix at Cannes; last year it won the same award in the press category for Samsonite.

While Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai opens the bubbly to celebrate its Grand Prix win, the festival cheer has clearly eluded Ogilvy & Mather India. Seen by many as one of the leading creative agencies of India, the agency has managed to score just three bronze metals for press and direct categories. ?You win some and you lose some,? said a defensive Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy & Mather India and South Asia. ?Last year, we bagged a silver and a gold. This year, it’s three bronzes. One vote (or lack of it) can change the colour of the metal.? Pandey adds that the agency will continue to do good work for its clients. ?If we win at Cannes, it’s an added bonus.? he said.

The dearth of metals is across Indian agencies. India has bagged 14 Lions this year, its lowest score in five years. In 2011 India won 24 Lions, while in 2010, the score was 17 Lions. In 2009, it brought home 25 Lions, and in 2008, it got 23 Lions including a Grand Prix. This year, categories such as film, public relations (PR), promo and activation, creative effectiveness, cyber, mobile, titanium and integrated categories have been blind spots for Indian ad agencies. These categories have not seen a single win. Out of a total of 1182 entries submitted from India, 90 entries got shortlisted.

Country head of WPP, India, and Bates India chairman Ranjan Kapur said that this year’s bad crop was definitely a matter of concern, but not as much, as the larger malaise of scam work, created year on year, for awards. ?Agencies need to do some soul searching,? he admits.

The dark horses of Cannes Lions 2012 were JWT India, Grey Worldwide, Creativeland Asia and Ogilvy &Mather India. ?I think that these were the agencies that advertising people had most expectations from,? said Ashish Khazanchi, national creative director and vice chairman of Publicis Ambience. He added that people also expected more wins from Taproot, given that one of its founding partners Agnello Dias brought home the Grand Prix in year 2008 for the Lead India campaign for The Times Of India. This was the only time India won a Grand Prix. Khazanchi adds that he is extremely uncomfortable with the performance of his own agency. ?The trouble with most Indian agencies is that we send in too many entries, hoping that one or the other will hit the jackpot. We layer ourselves too thick instead of focusing on that one outstanding piece of work that has a sure shot chance at winning.?

Identity crisis

Agencies in India have always been in a quandary ? should they go for the local touch or bet on a global outlook. Pandey of O&M points out that Indian agencies are desperately fishing for formulas — the kind of work that tends to win at festivals. ?We are busy trying to ape what Brazil is doing. So much so that we have lost track of what we are all about,? he said. Pandey thinks that Indian agencies should first think about their Indian consumers, instead of looking the China, Brazil or Japan way. ?The awards will follow,? he said.

BBDO India chairman Josy Paul, however, thinks that many agencies use Indian nuances as a crutch. The Indian-ness could be an overkill. ?I don’t think we should use Indian nuances as a crutch. My suggestion is, let’s have a big universal idea and then use Indian nuances. Look at where this year’s big ideas came from. The winners were from the most unexpected places. From Tunisia and Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and Lebanon,? says Paul.

Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and CEO, McCann Worldgroup India and president, South Asia added that memorable campaigns from India are few and far between. Most of them are are intrinsically Indian, whether its ?Dil Roshan? for HappyDent White or ?Thanda Matlab …? for Coca Cola.

Santosh Padhi, chief creative officer and co-founder of Taproot India, which won a gold in the film craft category for its Mumbai Mirror ad, however, has a different take. ?Indian representatives in the jury need to tell the cultural/local nuances to the international jury, otherwise it doesn?t cut the ice,? he said. ?Also, the films that won in the film category are for much bigger brands. Mumbai Mirror is not a big brand, The Times of India is. So we fell short on comparison to BBC, Guardian, etc.?

Changing media landscape

It is near impossible for India to make it in categories other than traditional media. Part of the problem is the scale of budgets in areas such as digital, mobile, integrated, cyber, promo and activation, etc., which don?t lead to cutting-edge work. Alok Agrawal, chief operating officer of Cheil Worldwide, South West Asia says that nearly the whole system needs a reboot. ?The Indian ad industry is still stuck in a time warp. Most of our entries were in print categories, the rest in television, and the few (leftovers) in ambient media.?

Others feel that that the outside world is just moving just too fast. Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, national creative director, Bates Asia, points out that countries that tend to win in the digital and mobile sector are those where the media environment is far more evolved.

Around 80% of the direct, PR, activation, outdoor work, etc., in the international markets is linked to social media. If 10 people see the actual billboard, 1000 people see the billboard or the activation online. And thus they look much bigger. ?Our ideas are, unfortunately, standalone, as they are not linked to social media. We also need to strengthen our presentations,? says Padhi.

National creative director of Leo Burnett India, KV Sridhar, says that some of the categories were absolute blind spots. ?Direct, for instance, did not get any metal in 2011 and 2010. Creative effectiveness is also a tough category to figure out. In fact in 2008, we received the country ?s first cyber Lion for Luxor Writing Instruments. After that, no one in the Indian advertising business has been able to bag a cyber Lion,? he says.

Paul of BBDO disagrees that Indian agencies are struggling with many of the categories. ?Our work for Gillette has won three silver Lions in PR in the past two years. So you can win in PR. Mobile is a new category. I?m sure we have interesting cases. It?s just a matter of time before we identify and package it right for the jury at Cannes.?

Another important area is execution, points out Taproot?s Padhi. ?Once we have an idea, execution is far more important. It makes the film look authentic. At Goafest, our ideas or execution look good because we are comparing them to other Indian entries. But at Cannes, when we compare them to international entries, we realise that their execution is far better and always linked to social media.?

The silver lining

While most ad agencies are figuring out why they missed the bus at Cannes, Lowe India chairman R Balakrishnan is a cheerful man.?India hasn?t been able to sweep Cannes this year and that is indeed, good news. It means that we are finally producing genuine work, that deliver the goods in the market place. Instead of ideas that are just packaged beautifully for the purpose of winning awards. We are finally delivering ideas for our (Indian) people and the clients that we represent,? he says. Lowe has not participated in any awards for nearly a decade. Any pieces of work by Lowe Lintas, found in international ad festivals is entered by Lowe?s global offices. ?We do good work for our clients. If it does well in the market place, that?s our award,? Balakrishnan quips.

Kapur of Bates says that it?s a fine line that Indian agencies need to tread. ?Global awards are good because it gives you benchmarks on advertising. But if awards alone turn out to be the end motive, as is the case with most agencies, then it?s a problem,? he said referring to the innumerable scam ads churned out in India every year.