Piyush Pandey

Piyush Pandey, one of the most well-known names in the Indian advertising arena, was accorded a rare honor at the 51st International Advertising Festival held in Cannes, France, last month. As president of the awards’ film and outdoor juries, he led a team that comprised 21 of the world’s top creative minds who were entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the year’s best commercial, according to news reports.

Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director of WPP Group PLC’s Indian subsidiary, Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) India, thus became the first Asian president of the Cannes jury.

Apart from Pandey assuming the hot chair at the event, Indian firms won three bronze Lion awards in the Print and Outdoor advertising sections. O&M won two of the bronzes, both in the outdoor category. One of them, released by Hutch in the Public Health and Safety category, warned against driving while using a mobile phone. The other winning O&M entry was a fund-raising appeal for Concern India Foundation, which focussed on the lives of street children.

The third bronze went to an ad created by Leo Burnett for the Senso Ristorante and Bar, promoting its Italian seafood festival. The same ad had earlier won honors at the Abby and the Asia-Pacific adfest. This year’s performance by Indian firms was not as impressive as at the previous edition of the Cannes event last year, when India bagged two gold and two silver Lions.

This year, 24 Indian entries were nominated in the race for the awards in the Press and Outdoor category. Of those, O&M led the pack with 11 finalists, followed by Saatchi with five, Ambience Publicis with three, McCann Erickson with two and Lowe, Leo Burnett and Mudra with one each.

(Compiled from news dispatches by Charles Isaac)