MAM
Seven Indian entries make it to Direct Lions shortlist
MUMBAI: Seven Indian entries have been shortlisted in the Direct Lions category at Cannes Lions 2012. While BBDO India has got two entries shortlisted, McCann World Group, Leo Burnett, O&M, DDB Mudra Group and Cheil Worldwide have gained themselves one spot each.
BBDO India‘s entries were shortlisted in sub categories – ‘Dimensional Mailing‘ and ‘Direct Response Digital: Email Marketing‘ for its campaigns for Johnson‘s Baby and Child Welfare Fund respectively.
The campaign for Johnson‘s Baby, titled India‘s First D.I.Y. Calendar for Babies, was targeted at new and first-time mothers with the key objective being to design a piece that would not just be a calendar, but engage mothers and help increase their play time with their baby.
The D.I.Y. calendar was designed to showcase the different stages of the first 12 months of the baby‘s life, leading to his/her first birthday. Each month represented a different piece of baby article that instructed the mother about the new things she should introduce to her baby.
Its second entry, titled World‘s Youngest Job Applicant, was targeted towards senior executives in corporations to help fund the education of underprivileged children. Using the insight that most senior executives normally do not delete an email job application, BBDO created job applications with attached CVs of underprivileged children and e-mailed them to these executives. The CVs detailed the hardships these kids went through in an effort to get a basic education for themselves, and went on to tell the reader that with his help these children could one day apply for the same job.
Earning it the second nomination at this year‘s Cannes Lions, Leo Burnett‘s Ink Pad campaign for Door Step School has been shortlisted in the sub category Ambient Media & Print Collateral, Non-Mail (Small Scale). The initiative was an effort towards increasing awareness and participation in the client‘s adult literacy drive. The objective of the promotion was to give uninterested adults the first taste of how much fun learning could be.
DDB Mudra Group‘s second shortlist came in the form of its campaign Growing Trees for Prism Papyrus Private / Fedrigoni in the sub category Business Products and Services. The objective was to create awareness about Fedrigoni‘s new range of recycled papers and subsequently increase sales. The target audience, drawn from both existing and new customers, was corporate print buyers and sellers in Mumbai.
In order to drive the point home, the DDB Mudra Group used a design innovation instead of using a conventional poster. Making the exercise more appropriate to the brand that is fiercely eco-friendly, these posters were printed on Fedrigoni‘s recycled papers. Thus, rather than preach about the benefits of using recycling paper, the innovation demonstrated the same in a visually-engaging manner.
McCann Worldgroup has been shortlisted in the sub category of Dimensional Mailing for its work for SaReGaMa India titled Keeping The Legend Alive. The objective of the campaign was to maintain interest in the Sawai Gandharva music festival after the passing away of its founder Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
To grab eyeballs, McCann used SaReGaMa‘s tapes of the late Panditji‘s recordings to create his musical portraits where each portrait was intricately weaved using over 1,100 meters of tape. Five musical portraits were created and each was brought to life with the legend‘s voice, using the audio CD on the canvas.
O&M‘s shortlisted entry this year is its campaign named iFold for Vodafone India in the sub category Best Low Budget Campaign. The aim of the campaign was to spread awareness about saving paper. The idea was to encourage people to fold their bills and other correspondence extra in order to use smaller envelopes thus saving paper.
Cheil Worldwide‘s Minus One Project, which it conceptualised for Samsung Printers, has been shortlisted in the Corporate Image and Information sub category. The target of the campaign was to encourage sustainable printing practices and was targeted at existing and new customers.
The Minus One Project encouraged people to print documents after reducing the font size by just one unit. This reduced the number of pages required to print the document by up to 50 per cent and people could save trees even while taking printouts. Hence they found a solution relevant for the brand as well as nature. Minus One was adopted by many corporate organisations, schools, colleges and other institutes and presented Samsung Printers as a brand that comes up with smart solutions for complex problems.
Brands
Wipro hires 7,500 freshers, withholds FY27 hiring outlook
Profit rises to Rs 3,522 crore, Rs 15,000 crore buyback announced.
MUMBAI- Hiring may be on, but visibility is off, Wipro is adding talent even as it pauses the crystal ball. The company hired 7,500 freshers in FY26 but stopped short of offering any hiring outlook for FY27, underscoring the uncertainty gripping the IT services sector as it pivots towards an AI-led operating model.
The disclosure came alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, where management flagged volatile demand conditions and refrained from committing to future workforce expansion. Chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil noted that over 3,000 of the total hires were onboarded in the March quarter alone, signalling continued intake despite a lack of clarity on deployment pipelines.
This divergence active hiring without forward guidance reflects a broader industry pattern where talent acquisition continues even as deal conversions remain uneven and client spending cycles stretch. Wipro expects its IT services revenue for the June quarter to range between a decline of 2 per cent and flat growth sequentially in constant currency terms, reinforcing near-term caution.
Chief executive officer Srini Pallia pointed to artificial intelligence as both a disruptor and an opportunity. He said evolving client priorities are pushing the company towards outcome-driven engagements, with Wipro increasingly focusing on a services-as-software model through its AI Native Business and Platforms unit. The shift marks a structural change from traditional headcount-led growth to AI-enabled delivery frameworks.
The company has already committed over $1 billion to its AI ecosystem, with investors closely watching how these investments translate into revenue. For now, the numbers present a mixed picture. Net profit rose sequentially to Rs 3,522 crore, while revenue grew 3 per cent to Rs 24,236 crore. However, core IT services performance remained under pressure, with full-year revenue declining 0.3 per cent in dollar terms and 1.6 per cent in constant currency.
Large deal bookings offered a counterpoint, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.8 billion, highlighting a widening gap between deal wins and actual revenue realisation. On a quarterly basis, IT services revenue slipped 1.2 per cent sequentially, signalling continued softness in execution.
Margins, however, told a more optimistic story. Operating margins expanded to 17.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting improved cost discipline. That said, the company cautioned that upcoming wage hikes and the ramp-up of large deals could exert pressure going forward.
Attrition stood at 13.8 per cent in the March quarter, indicating stabilisation after periods of elevated churn. Alongside its earnings, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback, reinforcing its focus on shareholder returns, with a payout ratio of 88 per cent over the past three years.
Taken together, the numbers capture a company in transition investing in AI, maintaining hiring momentum, but navigating a demand environment where growth is uneven and visibility remains limited.
