Cannes Contenders 2021: McCann Worldgroup India

Campaign India will be showcasing all of India's entries to the festival through our 'Cannes Contenders' series.   

They say Cannes jurors don’t get enough time to scrutinise and deliberate on a piece of work they haven’t really come across before. This series is a way of acquainting them with the good work from India and South Asia before their judging stint. And of course, to acquaint the rest of the industry with which work from this region is competing at Cannes Lions this year.

 

McCann Worldgroup India has nine such entries.

The goal was to deliver safety and sanitization protocols to every neighbourhood and locality in these remote parts of affected states. And in turn decrease the overall no. of cases.

 

The idea came from this unique tradition followed by Indian vegetable vendors who advertise their arrival in neighbourhoods with an unusually loud and clear, sing-song call. As a result, people are accustomed to hearing and responding to these calls twice a day, every day. We partnered with major vegetable vendor associations across states and with their cooperation embedded sanitisation and safety protocols in every hawker’s call. Using the hawker's call to deliver sanitisation and safety protocols in a safe, clear, and memorable way twice a day.

 

Tickets From Aarey

Save Aarey

 

Aarey Forest cleans Mumbai’s polluted air. It’s home to hundreds of species of birds, animals and insects. 

 

But on 4 October 2019, the Bombay High Court ordered the cutting down of a section of the Aarey forest, to free up land for the metro III car shed. Even though there are other options available. Despite public outcry, late at night, the felling of trees began. The Aarey Conservation Group Wanted to turn their protest Into a movement to force government to move metro III car shed to another location.

 

How do you show the true cost of cutting down an entire forest for a new metro line? By showing people what they’re paying for it. We did this by painstakingly carving out proposed new station names onto dead leaves from the Aarey forest. Each leaf was painstakingly etched with love and care. And were then individually mailed to influential figures and uploaded to social media as posts, to show people just how important Aarey forest is to the city.

 

Our Tickets From Aarey helped change perceptions by generating massive conversations both online and offline. With thousands of shares, the #SaveAareyForest trending on social media and massive anti-deforestation protests on-ground, the response from the public was overwhelming. The story was covered on mainstream media, news channels and social media - turning the tide in favour of the Aarey forest. 

 

On 7 October, 2019, the supreme court of India issued a stay order on further clearance. The State Government followed suit and ordered relocation of the Metro III Car Shed. Declaring Aarey, a reserve forest. Environment minister awarded our campaign. While our tickets didn't cost anything they made people realise the price they would have had to pay.

 

WWF 

Freedom

 

A few months of lockdown taught us the value of freedom. But not just ours. With the amazing wildlife coming out to our streets, we got to know how they’ve been missing their freedom, all this while. To convey this message, we put together footages of these animals roaming freely in our neighbourhoods, and juxtaposed it with shots of us, humans, locked down in our houses. Almost like in zoos. This role reversal helped people look at the concept of ‘freedom for animals’ from a different point of view.

 

Parinaam Foundation
Touch me not 

 

In India, majority of the sexual abuse crimes against children go unreported. One of the biggest reasons is that the child is unable to recognize when such crimes occur. Because in the innocent minds of children, it is hard to differentiate between acts of love and acts of abuse. So, how do we educate our children about safe and unsafe forms of physical contact, while engaging their easily-distracted minds?

 

Touch me not: the first natural and interactive educational tool that aids in teaching children about sexual abuse. 

 

We created topiaries of a boy and a girl made from real and life-like replicas of touch-me-not plants. The body parts that represented Unsafe Touch were made from real touch-me-nots whose leaves instantly closed down when touched. The rest of the body that represented Safe Touch were made from touch-me-nots replicas.

 

These topiaries were introduced to children during sexual abuse awareness workshops at schools. They interacted with topiaries by running their hands over them, and when the leaves of the real touch-me-nots instantly closed down, the children were able to easily translate that this form of physical contact should not be allowed.

 

Parinaam Foundation

Suraksha ke Mukhote 

 

With India entering a strict lockdown, most households were dependent on couriers and delivery personnel to receive essential commodities. While these personnel moved freely from door to door, oftentimes they forgot to wear their face masks. Because of which there was a risk of the virus spreading even faster.

 

It was essential to catch them at crucial touchpoints and create an unforgettable reminder that would help them make wearing a face mask, an everyday habit.

In India, cultural traditions and rituals hold a place of high esteem across all strata of society. So much so, that people tend to pay more heed to it than to science. 

 

One such tradition that has been followed over centuries, is the act of hanging the mask of Asura – the evil-eye demon outside the home. It is believed that this mask wards off evil and keeps the residents of that home safe from all external threats.

 

By simply making the evil mask wear a face mask, this cultural icon reminded delivery personnel to adopt one of the most essential preventive measures against COVID-19.

 

Headless Humans 

 

India has the highest number of two-wheelers in the world. Unfortunately, India also has the highest number of two-wheeler accidents and fatalities in the world. 

 

These deaths could have been prevented if the riders wore a helmet. Authorities have mandated that riders wear helmets, but many don’t. Since it’s a punishable offence, riders carry a helmet and wear it only when they spot a police officer.  

 

The rest of the time the riders keep the helmet dangling from their arms or their bikes. 

 

How could we get these motorists to always wear their helmet, and not just use it as an accessory for their bike? Traditional methods and safety campaigns fell on deaf ears. 

 

Which is why we created the Headless Human. A rider who showed motorists what exactly could happen to them if they continued riding without wearing a helmet and let it dangle from their handlebars. 

 

The live stunt was carried out on Puducherry’s roads, where motorists witnessed the bizarre sight. When they saw the headless rider with a prosthetic severed head dangling from the handlebars, they got the point. If they didn’t use their helmet, they could lose their head.

 

The headless human also had a message at the back of his riding jacket ‘Use your head. Use your Helmet.’ To drive home the message.

 

Happydent

Bus

This film portrays reality in India: ‘A woman denied a seat reserved for women by some miscreants.’ But this is when two young men decide that they won’t be mere spectators. The lyrics complement this perfectly by capturing this bold move made by the guys. In fact, the lyrics also motivate the people at large to stand up and act when they encounter a similar situation. The usage of a famous, age-old Hindi idiom, ‘Laaton ke bhoot jab kaabu na aayein’, (Those who don’t fall in line, got to be taught a lesson), makes it very relatable and likeable for the masses. In the subsequent lines, ‘thodi si light maaro sachhi si’, ‘dikha bateesi, kar baat achhi si’. (Flash your white, make things right), the lyrics also integrate the product promise and the intended message seamlessly. The music echoes the light-hearted mood of the film, leaving behind a hummable tune. 

 

Delhi Police

Wounded Cops

 

 

The cases of domestic violence were high in India during the lockdown. However, we noticed reduced calls reporting such cases as the victims thought that policemen would be busy dealing with the pandemic and their voices won’t be heard. 

 

World of Wardi - an initiative by a Deputy Commissioner, Delhi centers around police personnel. ‘Wardi’ is a Hindi word that simply means, ‘the uniform of police personal’. Our brief was to lower the rising cases of domestic abuse by communicating a hard-hitting message.

 

Moov

Pauseless Play

 

 

Moov, the Instant Pain Relief spray from Reckitt Benckiser, wanted to expand the market share in the 18 to 40 age group as a rapid-action pain-killer. In a much noisy market of topicals, estimated around Rs 2,800 crore, the challenge for Moov was to provocatively demonstrate its efficacy as well as be relevant to the target audience.  

 

The idea was to show the speed of pain relief. Which is why to communicate it, we chose a field where the speed of pain relief is super critical – Sports. So that it would automatically have a rub off, even in the everyday activities.  

 

Also showing sports makes it more relevant with the growing awareness of an active lifestyle in the Indian youth.  

 

Moov

Half Blessings