India roars at Cannes, but global creative dominance still eludes us

Mint

23-06-2025

MUMBAI: India has never looked more confident on the global creative stage. With a rich haul of 32 Lions at this year's Cannes Lions International Festival, including a Grand Prix, nine Golds, nine Silvers, and 13 Bronzes, this was India's best outing since 2022. But behind the celebration lies a more sobering question: while Indian ad agencies are solving real-world problems and building culturally powerful narratives, are we still falling short of creating globally scaled, exportable creative intellectual property (IP)?
The wins spanned newer, impact-led categories like PR, creative data, social and influencer, creative strategy and brand experience—marking a clear departure from the era when India's strength lay in print or radio.
Among the most celebrated campaigns this year were FCB India's Lucky Yatra, which gamified Indian Railways' unreserved ticketing system to reward underserved travellers; Leo Burnett's Tailor Test, which used neighbourhood tailors to push men toward preventive health check-ups; and Ogilvy's Erase Valentine's Day, which continued 5Star's irreverent tone and won Gold for its culturally subversive social play.
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'India's performance at Cannes this year has been nothing short of inspiring, and I think it is the result of a steady evolution and not a sudden breakthrough," said Rana Barua, group chief executive officer, Havas India, SEA and North Asia (Japan and South Korea). 'We've been sharpening our strategic thinking while staying rooted in culture and elevating the craft to meet global standards. What's really working in our favour now is our ability to tell stories that are both deeply local but also hold universal relevance."
Havas India picked up metals for Ink of Democracy, which turned a newspaper front page purple—the colour of India's voting ink—to nudge readers to vote. The campaign was high on cultural resonance and symbolic weight and reflected the kind of idea Cannes increasingly rewards.
'We're witnessing a definitive shift toward 'purpose with proof'. It's no longer enough for a campaign to simply say something meaningful; it also has to do with the right messaging and effective impact," Barua said. 'The work that wins today is emotionally compelling, but also measurable, actionable, and anchored in truth."
Even traditional advertisers are leaning into this shift. Mondelez India's 5Star was again among the Cannes winners for its quirky, anti-Valentine's Day campaign.
'Winning Gold at Cannes is a moment of immense pride for us," said Nitin Saini, vice-president—marketing, Mondelez India. 'We aim to deliver bold, clutter-breaking work that drives both brand love and business impact."
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Saini underlined that the brand doesn't create work just to win awards. 'Our briefs are always anchored on winning with consumers, keeping in mind our key brand objectives and with a laser focus on consumer impact," he said. 'But when the work is insightful, disruptive, and hits the right cultural nerve, it often earns recognition."
He also pointed out that risk-taking is less about timing and more about internal culture. 'At Mondelez, we encourage our teams to deeply understand the consumer, the cultural context and our brands and from that foundation, we give them the freedom to experiment."
But despite the optimism, some remain unconvinced that this success marks a permanent shift.
Karthik Srinivasan, independent communications consultant, said, 'There is good work coming out of India, most definitely, but we could do a lot better in terms of scale and ambition."
Srinivasan noted that many of the wins came from purpose-led interventions, where there's greater creative flexibility than in product-led advertising.
'Purpose-led activations have always been the well of creative thought, unshackled from the need to sell, which is the traditional bedrock of advertising. So it's no wonder that they offer better width for agencies to unleash creativity. But the real magic would be in producing such creativity in service of selling traditional products, using traditional brand storytelling."
He also raised a deeper issue: India still hasn't created a globally exportable brand idea.
'We still lack the ambition to create ideas that can be scaled globally. For instance, Surf Excel's Daag Achche Hain, Snickers' You're Not You When You're Hungry, or Pepsi's No Lays, No Game were all successfully adapted in India and not originated. While we go hard on local relevance, when we create ideas that can work locally and can be successfully imported to other markets, that would signal something very different about Indian creativity."
Some of this year's top winners weren't without controversy. Lucky Yatra drew criticism over execution claims, while a Britannia film raised concerns about exaggerated outcomes—rekindling debates around the line between case study storytelling and fact-based results.
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'Creativity, on its own, does matter," Srinivasan said. 'But when in advertising, there's a subsequent question: 'Did it work?' That depends on other factors—whether there was enough money and appropriate media vehicles used in service of the idea, and whether the intended audience gained from it. Awards matter when they are defined sharply."
Barua believes that Indian agencies are moving in the right direction—investing in system-level change, not just in campaign flash.
'Great work doesn't happen by accident. It takes intent, collaboration, and a culture that champions both excellence and empathy," he said. 'Our Village model brings together creative, media, CX (consumer experience), design, PR, tech and health under one roof. We're not just making ads, we're solving complex business problems."
This year's Cannes wins weren't dominated by any single holding company or city. FCB, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, Havas, Dentsu Creative, Godrej Creative Lab and BBH all contributed, suggesting a broader base of ambition and capability across the ecosystem.
But the question of consistency remains.
'We're absolutely capable of becoming consistent global forces," Barua said. 'What's holding us back is a mix of scale, mindset, and opportunity. We're often operating in a value-conscious, risk-averse environment, but that's changing."
What's encouraging is that Indian creatives are no longer thinking in just 30-second TVCs or radio spots. They're thinking in platforms, formats and ecosystems. And this year's winners prove India can deliver culturally rooted, globally relevant storytelling.
The challenge now is whether we can build on this momentum and create ideas that don't just win, but endure.
India may not have had its Droga5 moment yet. But Cannes 2025 suggests we're no longer chasing others. We're finally beginning to lead.