Cannes is all about throwing surprises: Santosh Padhi

Santosh Padhi, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India, leads the agency’s creative vision on some of India’s leading national and iconic international brands.

A highly creatively acclaimed professional, Padhi holds the record for the most number of Cannes Lions (12) and also the most number of One Show Pencils (4) by an individual India creative from India.

He has been a judge on various international advertising festivals like the Cannes Lions, Clio’s, Dubai Lynx, Adfest Pattaya, New York Festivals, London International Awards, Adstar Busan (Korea) award and many local award shows.

At the Cannes Lions, here’s Santosh Padhi in his own words on the experience, India’s performance and more…

Learnings in new age approach

I think the world is changing so fast, and because the world is become smaller, I think I have seen 70-80 per cent of the ideas that are being entered in Cannes. I will be looking forward to the other 20-30 per cent of the ideas. So those ideas, when you see it with a group of likeminded people from across the world, sitting together and discussing and debating and finding what’s good what’s bad in that idea, that really makes you like a student. I always go mostly to judgings also to get this perspective. Great guys from different parts of the world coming together and seeing through different lenses really makes you a better a student. As a nation we are little behind when it comes to the new age approach and I always look forward to learn that. We may not use that tomorrow, but it’s better to know how to use those weapons, because sooner or later you will be using those. So I go there and prepare myself for the coming days in advertising in India.

A big buffet of sessions to choose from

I think it’s a big buffet on the table. You will really have this amount of appetite. It’s up to each individual what you like, what is the thing that interests you; because if you look at the kind of speakers that they have, it’s more of larger audience – right from content to creative ideas to what’s socially happening across the world. It’s the widest spectrum, you have to choose what are the things that you’d like to learn. There’s everything for everyone, right from creative guys to media guys and everybody in between.

India’s performance at Cannes

I always feel that Cannes is all about throwing surprises, at times some of the greatest things that India has created never won that big or at times it never won and at times it had just surprised by giving us Golds and Silvers in some of the ads that you never thought they’ll convert. So it’s all about having some surprises from Cannes and I’m a little optimistic that this year also we’ll have lot many surprises; but having said that, from inside I don’t feel we have more than 3-4 pieces of work that I as a Jury member, I as a creative person feel pride about it. I think apart from those 3-4 pieces which make me feel I wish I could have done this, there aren’t much pieces that I can put my finger and say ‘This is one piece that’s going to rock, will bring lot of pride to India’.

Implement new age approach to engage the youth

Cannes is a platform where you learn what’s happening in the digital world and what’s happening in the new age approach to consumers; yes, we are using our traditional approach to engage with our consumers. But as I said, this is a platform where you consume a lot of things to prepare yourself in the coming days and coming years where lot of this new age approach has to be implemented to engage to get the youth on your side.