MAM
Three metals for India in Media Lions
MUMBAI: In the Media Lions category, day three at Cannes brought India good news as Leo Burnett bagged the Silver metal for its Ink Pad campaign for Door Step School along with Cheil Worldwide for Samsung Printers’ Minus One Project.
Joining the metals bandwagon, BBDO and Mediacom secured a Bronze for Gillete’s You Shave. I Shave. campaign.
India‘s performance in the Mobile category was bleak as it had no shortlisted entries. In the Creative Effectiveness category, it also scored a blank. Being the only shortlisted entry, Creativeland Asia failed to pick up any metal in the category.
BBH London’s work for Axe titled ‘Even Angels will Fall’ won the Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness category. Manning Gottlieb OMD (Google Voice Search) and Grow Interactive (Google) won the Media and Mobile Grand Prix respectively.
Of a total 3,200 entries, 303 were shortlisted and in the end 113 campaigns were awarded with only 12 receiving Gold. The art of storytelling and use of technology were some of the criteria used for adjudging the winners.
Leo Burnett’s Ink Pad campaign for Door Step School 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.
In order to bring illiterate adults, Leo Burnett placed a transparent sheet with cut-outs of the alphabets of Hindi (Devanagari script) on top of a regular ink pad which allowed illiterate individuals to print their name. A door to door activation was conducted with the help of local volunteers using the ink pad and thus turning the symbol of illiteracy – the thumb imprint – into a tool to write and encourage people to enroll for the adult literacy programme.
The target of Cheil Worldwide’s campaign for Samsung Printers, titled Minus One Project, 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.
As a part of the campaign Hindi author Premchand’s classic ‘Gaban‘ re-printed in one size less than in the original copy, having around 25,000 copies in the first print run saving more than 3,50,000 paper sheets. In all, a total of 73 organisations, schools and colleges adopted the idea and took the ‘Minus One Pledge‘.
BBDO’s campaign for Gillete took the unconventional route and showed women shave their legs in public to egg on their male counterparts to shave as well. Thus the name ‘You Shave. I Shave‘. The campaign roped in actors Neha Dhupia and Arbaaz Khan for the exercise where the former shaved her legs in public to get Khan to do so as well.
Brands
Axis Bank named Official Banking Partner of DP World PGTI
Partnership supports all tournaments this season to grow professional golf in India.
MUMBAI: Axis Bank just teed up a hole-in-one partnership because when a bank sponsors golf’s biggest swing in India, even the fairways feel more financially secure. Axis Bank has been appointed Official Banking Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India (DP World PGTI), strengthening its commitment to sporting excellence and community engagement while backing the growth of professional golf across the country.
Under the partnership, Axis Bank will support all DP World PGTI tournaments this season, contributing to talent development, enhanced tournament experiences and wider fan engagement. The collaboration aligns the bank’s values of precision, discipline and trust with the Tour’s focus on performance and opportunity.
Axis Bank executive director Munish Sharda said, “We are pleased to partner with DP World PGTI as its Official Banking Partner. Golf embodies precision, discipline, and a pursuit of excellence qualities that strongly reflect who we are at Axis Bank. This association also strengthens our engagement with India’s growing premium customer segments, where the sport has a deep and enduring connect.”
Professional Golf Tour of India president Kapil Dev said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Axis Bank as a Tour Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India. Partnerships of this stature play a vital role in strengthening the foundation of the Tour, enhancing opportunities for our players, and expanding the sport’s reach across the country.”
Professional Golf Tour of India CEO Amandeep Johl added, “Axis Bank’s strong legacy of excellence, innovation, and nationwide reach aligns perfectly with DP World PGTI’s goal to elevate professional golf in India and provide greater opportunities for our players.”
In a sport where every stroke counts and every partnership drives distance, Axis Bank isn’t just backing golfers, it’s investing in the fairway to future, turning India’s greens into a stage where precision meets passion and every drive has the power to inspire.
