Cannes Diary – Day Four

Varun Arora, ECD, Cheil Worldwide Asia, reports from Cannes

June 21, 2012

Since yesterday a number of journalists have asked why India's performance at Cannes has been below par. “Are we technologically not advanced enough? Are we not good enough? Are we not investing enough in creative talent?"

The answers are no, no and no.

India is lagging in the Cannes tally not because we are not good, but because a lot of other folks, including our dear Indian customers, are getting better and smarter.

Take this Red Tomato Pizza case study, for instance: http://tinyurl.com/conxrae

An agency turns inventor. How do you compete with that?

How do you compete with the storm coming? No, not the global competition, but the one closer home.

Today almost EVERYTHING an ad agency does, can be done by ONE person who has no office, no overheads, no big machinery and just a Rs 25,000 mobile device.

Think about it.

Writing and editing copy…check.

Hi-res photography...check.

Photo editing...check.

Hi-def, broadcast quality video recording...check.

Video editing...check.

Sound recording...check.

Sound engineering...check.

Music composing...check.

Video upload...check.

Website creation...check

Video conferencing...check.

Bill submission...check.

See? Everything. Done.

So what do we do? How do we keep our mega offices, or even ourselves, relevant?

Simple. We do more...in a smarter, more engaging way.

That's the biggest (and the most pertinent) headline from Cannes 2012.

For all those doubting the impending mega shift, look at it this way. India has a greater number of smart devices that people carry than Australia has people. And I'm writing and composing this blog using one such device.

Goodbye from France.

Au revoir.

Also read:

Cannes Dairy – Day Three

Cannes Diary – Day Two

Cannes Diary – Day One

Cannes Diary – On way

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