From what could have had been the worst Cannes Lions year for India, it appears that barring the absence of a Grand Prix, this would be the best year for India. The winners for Films, Integrated & Titanium Lions are yet to be announced, but India has already scored 23 Lions, which is the same as last year. Ogilvy is leading the metal count but missing a Gold. Publicis follows. JWT in the race too with one Gold and one Bronze.

On a pure metal count, Ogilvy India is ahead with five Cannes Lions. Ogilvy has two Silver Lions – one each in Press and Outdoor. The agency has three Bronze Lions – one each in Design, Outdoor and Media.

The Publicis Group has Four Lions already. Publicis Communication has a Silver in Outdoor Lions and Publicis Red Lions has one in Design. Publicis Communication has a Bronze in Outdoor Lions and Publicis India has one Bronze in Media Lions.

Leo Burnett has three Lions – Silver in Design Lions, Bronze in Promo, and also one in Outdoor Lions.

Mediacom has two Lions – one Gold and one Silver in Media Lions

JWT India too has two Lions – one Gold and one Bronze in Design Lions

Rediffusion Y&R has two Lions – one Bronze Lion each in Radio and Press Lions.

Maxus has two Bronze Lions in the Media category.

DDB Mudra has picked up at Silver in Outdoor.

Madison Media and Lodestar Universal finally have one Bronze each in Media Lions.

India@Cannes

The mood at the event has lightened considerably with India bagging 23 metals. The Times of India party had one of the lowest numbers of attendees but it was fun time for those who made it to the party. IPG’s Steve Gatfield was spotted on the day, along with Prime Focus’ Michale Constantine. The entire International Advertising Festival team was there at the party too. Apart from that, most of the regular faces, along with Indian jurors made it to India party on June 24, 2009.

Indian delegates were seen attending sessions too --- BCCL’s Dr Bhaskar Das, MCCS’ Avinash Pandey, DDB Mudra’s Nilanjan Dasgupta, Stratum’s Avinash Shankar and JWT India’s Rajiv Agarwal were amongst some of the faces seen.