Day three at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival (IAF) 2007 began with the announcement of the Radio Lions. The Indian advertising fraternity has some reasons to cheer, as unlike last year where India drew a blank in this category, this year, we have two Silver Lions.

Ambience Publicis won the Silver for Bullzi, and Leo Burnett won it for Cehat. Jurors informed that Cehat was close to winning a Gold Lion, but fell short because the production standards were not at par with those of the other Gold winners.

India had entered 46 works for Radio, of which five made it to the shortlist. The jury team had 16 members, including Jury President David Guerrero, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Guerrero Ortego. There were no Indian professionals on this jury.

Speaking on what worked for these Indian entries, Guerrero said that the ideas were simple and executed very well. For Ambience Publicis’ Bullzi, he said, “This entry was written very well and that is what clinched it for this. For Leo Burnett, the topic of female foeticide itself is emotion provoking and the manner in which this work was done, really touched a lot of jurors. It fell short of just a few votes for winning the Gold.”

Guerrero also said that in comparison to the other Asian countries, India had done well. He said, “From nothing last year to two this year surely indicates that the country is on the right track. My advice to Indian creatives is just to keep on writing great stuff.”