Indian agencies at Cannes: Who's on top?

Anant Rangaswami • December 21, 2014, 09:48:24 IST

When there is so much clarity on the issue, there cannot be any logic to creating a table that simply tots up the metals and ignores the weightage and the shortlisted entries.

There’s no argument about that. JWT India is.

Which agency comes in second? Well, there is an argument about that. Business Standard says that McCann is second, The Economic Times agrees with BS, the trade publication Exchange4media didn’t take a position , afaqs ducked the issue as well.

At Firstbiz , we categorically stated that O&M was second, with McCann coming in third.

All the publications named seem to believe that only the number of metals won count, not the quality of metals. In addition, they do not see the need to include shortlisted entries in the tally.

This is fine if the organizers at Cannes are ambiguous about the value and worth of various metals and the value of shortlisted entries - which they are not. The organizers make it clear that each gold is worth 7 points, silver is worth 5 points and a bronze is worth 3 points. In addition, each shortlisted entry that does win a metal is rewarded with a point.

When there is so much clarity on the issue, there cannot be any logic to creating a table that simply tots up the metals and ignores the weightage and the shortlisted entries.

For those who haven’t clicked on the link to the Firstbiz article, here we go again .

JWT tops the table with 35 points, O&M comes in second with 34, McCann follows with 32.

That’s not the Firstbiz interpretation of the table - that’s the Cannes interpretation of the table.

Written by Anant Rangaswami

Anant Rangaswami was, until recently, the editor of Campaign India magazine, of which Anant was also the founding editor. Campaign India is now arguably India's most respected publication in the advertising and media space. Anant has over 20 years experience in media and advertising. He began in Madras, for STAR TV, moving on as Regional Manager, South for Sony’s SET and finally as Chief Manager at BCCL’s Times Television and Times FM. He then moved to advertising, rising to the post of Associate Vice President at TBWA India. Anant then made the leap into journalism, taking over as editor of what is now Campaign India's competitive publication, Impact. Anant teaches regularly and is a prolific blogger and author of Watching from the sidelines. see more