Countdown to Cannes 2012: Whirlpool, Tata Motors, All Out among Draftfcb Ulka's bets

Among Draftfcb Ulka's entries for Cannes Lions this year, the agency is pinning its hopes on campaigns for Whirlpool, All Out, Tata Motors, Mumbai Traffic Police and Choko La Cosmic Kitchens.

Press, Outdoor, Design and Activation are where Draftfcb Ulka is hopeful most to bring home Lions at Cannes this year. The agency will ride high on its work for Tata Motors, Mumbai Traffic Police, All Out, Choko La Cosmic Kitchens and Whirpool at the festival of creativity in the South of France.

Entered in the Press Lions - Other Vehicles, Auto Products & Services category is the agency's insightful work for Tata Motors. To communicate the benefits of the company's 24x7 on-road assistance, Draftfcb Ulka Mumbai used a common problem of a newspaper as a medium. With regional newspapers usually being printed on cheaper quality newsprint, often dark colours bleed off the page, staining readers' fingers.

The campaign featured two sides of a newspaper completely black and as the reader turned the page, the colour bled off it. Of course, the brand message was conveyed with the line 'Don't Get Your Hands Dirty'.

The agency's work for Mumbai Traffic Police was a public awareness campaign advocating the usage of seat belts, titled 'Falling Hoarding'. The work has been entered in the Outdoor Lions - Fundraising, Charities, Appeals, Non-Profit Organisations, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages category. This outdoor campaign was based on a simple insight. At a busy traffic junction, a full-sized billboard was made to lean forward at a precarious angle, held back only by a giant seat belt. The message was simple - 'Seat belts save'.

Entered in the Calendar/Graphic Design & Craft category, 'Khajuraho' for mosquito repellent brand All Out also features among the agency's hopefuls. With the brand wanting to make its presence felt in consumers' homes throughout the year, it was looking at an innovative approach to send out the message of being protected from mosquitoes on a daily basis.

The team at the agency created a 12-page calendar featuring the pictures of the Khajuraho temple carvings, each attributed to a mosquito.

While the Khajuraho carvings are famous for their erotic depiction, 'khaj' also might mean 'itch' in Hindi. Each carving was hence visualised differently with the purpose of an exotic pose also being seen as something to deal with the itch caused by mosquito bites. The consumer was thus subliminally reminded that All Out is the best bet to avoid the 'itch'.

For Delhi-based premier chocolate chain Choko La, Draftfcb Ulka designed business cards as a candy wrapper. One had to simply open it up to see all the essential information inside the wrapper and enjoy a chocolate as well. The business cards put forward the brand essence innovatively, while staying true to the brand. This work by the agency has been submitted in the Design Lions category.

Finally, among the agency's bets at Cannes this year is its work for Whirlpool titled 'Ek Jodi Kapda, Skin Shirt'. Entered in the Best Use of Guerrilla Marketing in Promo & Activation category, the agency fabricated a T-shirt design that looked as if was carved out of the human skin. Volunteers clad in the T-shirt approached shoppers buying clothes at shopping arcades, reminding them that their discarded clothes could make a difference to the less fortunate who have nothing to wear. The T-shirt was also placed in apparel shops. Stumbling upon them, shoppers could scan the QR tag to reach www.ekjodikapda.com.

The activity was spread across 80 cities and 200 towns with over 1,700 schools and colleges participating as well as 400 corporate entities. At the end of the activity, 175 tonnes of clothes were collected.