Cannes Lions 2006: JWT bags Gold Lion in Press category; Silver for O&M, Bronze for Leo Burnett
June 21, 06
Noor Fathima Warsia

Day Four at the Cannes Lions 2006 brought further good tidings for India, especially in the Press category. JWT India has won a Gold Lion for its popular work for Levi Strauss called ‘Slim Jeans’. O&M India has won a Silver Lion for its client Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, while Leo Burnett India has won a Bronze Lion for Maneland Jungle Lodge. Jury President David Droga, Creative Chairman, Drogafive, Australia, informed that JWT India’s Levi’s campaign had missed out on the Grand Prix by a whisker.

According to delegates at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, a Gold Lion for a campaign was equivalent to a Gold Lion awarded to an individual entry. Correspondingly, the three Lions bagged by the Indian agencies on June 21, 2006, have taken the country’s metal count to 12 so far, and hopefully counting.

JWT India’s Levi Strauss campaign was shortlisted in the sub-category Clothing, Footwear and Accessories. Though the campaign had five entries and the entire campaign has been awarded with one Gold Lion. The Grand Prix winner in the Press category is FCB Johannesburg for their work for Lego. Droga said, “Towards the end, we were choosing between Levi and Lego, and I can’t emphasise enough on how close the competition was. I am not taking anything away from Lego, it is a worthy Grand Prix winner, but Levi’s was an equally worthy contender for the Grand Prix.”

Replying as to why Levi’s didn’t win, Droga said, “What stood out about both Lego and Levi’s was that they were brilliant and simple ideas. Lego, however, had a depth to it and for every jury member the entry had a different summary, which really was the objective of the campaign. That said, Levi’s was great creative work too. It was brutally simple, refreshing and relevant. Even in a market like India, where I don’t think people are choosing just between brands, but probably between something like a saree and other kinds of clothing, the ad made tremendous sense and had a different angle.”

O&M’s Silver-winning work for Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare was in the Public Awareness Messages sub-category. The campaign, too, had two entries, but received one Silver Lion. Similarly, Leo Burnett bagged the Bronze Lion for its campaign for Maneland Jungle Lodge in the Travel and Tourism sub-category. This campaign, too, comprised two entries.

In all, India had 24 shortlisted entries in the press category. O&M India and JWT were leading the charge with six entries each. The other agencies making it to the Press shortlist included Ambience Publicis, McCann Erickson, Grey WorldWide and Contract Advertising.

Meanwhile, the only other award announced on Day Four was the Cyber Lions, where India’s Tribal DDB had made it to the shortlist, but didn’t bag any metals.