Cannes 2012: The Practice: The first PR agency from India to make it to the shortlist

The PR agency's work on HP is the sole nomination from India in the PR Lions category this year.

The PR Lions was introduced at Cannes Lions in 2009. Since then, India has won four metals in this category - one in 2010 and three in 2011. However, only advertising agencies have so far entered and won in this category.

This is the first time that an Indian public relation (PR) agency has been nominated in this category. The Indian PR agency, The Practice Porter, Novelli, Bengaluru has won a nomination for its work on HP Home Printing Device.

The PR agency organised workshops and a contest with children to nurture creative writing talent in them. It used this platform to showcase the HP Printer brand as well. The idea was to ignite positive conversations around brand HP. The creative writings were published in a book and the sales proceeds from the book were donated to underprivileged children. The activity has now been adopted by HP in other countries as well.

There were some 19 entries from India this year, as compared to last year's 14. In the first two years (2009 and 2010), there were 12 entries each year.