WELCOME TO CANNES LIONS 2009

The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival was a global meeting place for professionals in the communications industry. During the seven days (June 21-27, 2009), thousands of delegates from 90 countries gathered in Cannes to listen to speakers such as Sir Martin Sorrell, Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof, whilst around 250 jury members judged over 22,000 pieces of the most creative advertising from across the world. This year a new edition on the award list was the PR Lions which goes to prove that PR is soon turning out to be as looked forward to.

In the Press Lions category the grand prix was awarded to WRANGLER (agency: FRED & FARID Paris). The Gold Lion was bagged by MILLER BREWING COMPANY a beer brand (agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI, New York). In the Silver category it was an Indian creative that took the award - it was the creative by O&M Mumbai for SOUR MARBLES CANDIES . The Bronze was won by the famous commercial by JWT Shanghai for global warming .

In the Outdoor Lions category, the Grand Prix was awarded to THE ZIMBABWEAN NEWSPAPER, THEZIMBABWEAN.CO.UK by TBWA South Africa. In the Gold Lions category Ikea Storage solution's creative from DDB Germany took the award. The Indian creative for Sour Marble Candies won Silver in this category and the Bronze was awarded to NIKON S60 CAMERA by EURO RSCG SINGAPORE.

The Grand Prix in the Cyber Category went to THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD by CUMMINSNITRO Brisbane. The creative also won in other categories, making it the most spoken about creative at Cannes Lions this year. But the creative for JEWISH COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH by DROGA5 New York was not too far behind and won a gold in this category. The Silver in this category was awarded to Polar bears - the creative for Environmental Defense Fund by OGILVY, New York.

THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD by CUMMINSNITRO Brisbane won a Grand Prix again in the Direct Lions category. But the Gold went to Let it Ring, OVK/PARENTS OF CHILD ROAD VICTIMS by HAPPINESS, BRUSSELS. The Silver was bagged by this another famous creative by TBWA South Africa called the TRILLION DOLLAR CAMPAIGN. And the Bronze was awarded to CLEMENGER BBDO MELBOURNE for the MAGIC SALAD PLATE.

Since the emergence of media as one of the most sought after categories at any award function now, this category saw some great creatives too and did not leave the jury disappointed. The Grand Prix went to KIT KAT MAIL 2009 by JWT JAPAN Tokyo. After a win at Goa fest this year this media property by MEDIACOM MEDIA INDIA for GILLETTE PROCTER & GAMBLE won a Gold in this category. In the Bronze category Tata Sky, 20 million experiences by MAXUS Mumbai won.

Heading the Jury for Cannes Lions 2009 in the Film and Press categories was David Lubars , Chairman, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO North America. For the Press Lions category, David Sable , Vice Chairman, Chief Operating Officer, Wunderman was also another judge.

For Outdoor Lions, it was Akira Kagami, Executive Officer, Global Executive Creative Director, Dentsu, and for Media Lions it was Nick Brien , President, Chief Executive Officer, Mediabrands.

Lars Bastholm, Chief Digital Creative Officer, Ogilvy North America headed the Cyber Lions category. For Radio Lions, it was Matthew Bull, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Worldwide.

The Jury included William Rosen , President, Chief Creative Officer, North America, Arc Worldwide (Promo Lions), David Droga , Founder, Creative Chairman, Droga5 (Titanium and Integrated Lions), Sylvia Vitale Rotta , Chief Executive Officer, Team Créatif (Design Lions) and Lord Tim Bell , Chairman, Chime Communications (PR Lions).

Indians too were part of the grand Jury on Canneslions 2009. The list included Agnello Dias , Chief Creative Officer, TapRoot India, Mumbai (FILM LIONS), Abhijit Avasthi , Executive Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai (PRESS LIONS), K S Chax , National Creative Director, Draftfcb+Ulka, Mumbai (OUTDOOR LIONS), Leena Basrur , Executive Chairman, Direxions Marketing Solutions, Mumbai (DIRECT LIONS), Lynn De Souza , Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Lintas Media Group, Mumbai (MEDIA LIONS), Meera Sharath Chandra , President, National Creative Director, RMG Connect, Mumbai (CYBER LIONS), Ashish Khazanchi, National Creative Director, Publicis Ambience, Mumbai, INDIA (RADIO LIONS), Atul Nath, Managing Director, Candid Marketing, Mumbai, INDIA (PROMO LIONS), Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, Regional ECD Asia Pacific, McCann Erickson, Mumbai (TITANIUM AND INTEGRATED LIONS) and Sujata Keshavan Guha, Managing Director, Executive Creative Director, Ray+Keshavan, Bangalore (DESIGN LIONS).