India@Cannes2012: Ogilvy strikes first metal for India, wins a Bronze Direct Lion

India opened its tally at Cannes 2012 with a Bronze in the Direct Lions competition. Ogilvy & Mather's 'iFOLD Vodafone India Saving Paper' entry for client Vodafone India won the metal in the 'Best Low Budget Campaign' sub-category.

Winners were also announced in the PR and Promo and Activation Lions categories, where Indian agencies drew a blank.

Watch Ogilvy & Mather's Bronze-winning entry here:

Promo and Activation Lions

In the Promo and Activation category, four Indian entries had been shortlisted, of which none earned metal. A total of 86 metals were awarded in the category, including one Grand Prix, 17 Gold, 26 Silver and 42 Bronze Lions.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky Boulder won the Grand Prix for its entry 'Small Business Gets An Official Day' for American Express. View the entry here:

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Direct Lions

Eight Indian entries from seven agencies were in the running for metal in the Direct Lions category. In all, 85 metals were awarded in the category, including one Grand Prix, 15 Gold, 25 Silver and 44 Bronze Lions.

Asked about Indian entries and the lone winner, Manish Bhatt,founder director, Scarecrow Communications, and jury member for Direct Lions 2012, said, “I think there was some amount of 'smallness' in the Indian entries.'

He added, "Among the entries, on one side there are some large brands doing large things or small brands with great ideas as well as some which have very clever large technologically innovative breakthroughs. In the case of Ogilvy’s winning entry for Vodafone,it had a large brand supporting a very simple idea. The CSR connect for the initiative also helped its cause.”

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The lone Indian shortlist in the PR Lions category too didn't win metal. Sixty nine metals were awarded in the PR Lions category, including a Grand Prix, 20 Gold, 22 Silver and 26 Bronze Lions.

The entry 'The Most Popular Song' entered by JWT San Juan for Banco Popular De Puerto Rico bagged the Grand Prix. View the entry here:

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Commenting on the entries from India in the category, Sunil Gautam, founder, HanmerMSL and jury member, PR Lions 2012, said, "India had 19 entries in this category, and many of them came up for lively discussion. Of these, one entry was short listed. Unfortunately, this entry did not get any metal. But the overall effort by the Indian agencies was excellent.”