MUMBAI: It is a small-sized creative agency from India that has made it to the elite list of entries for the Titanium prize. Taproot is the sole Indian shortlisted entry at Cannes Lions 2012 in the Titanium and Integrated category.
The agency got shortlisted for its campaign ‘A Day in Life of India‘ for The Times of India newspaper.
The brief was to capture the unusual, the irreverent, the bizarre, the inspiring, the sense-boggling side of this crazy contrast in cultures, religion, food, language and more that goes by the name of India. It targeted every single Indian from across the length and breadth of the second most populated country in the world.
The strategy was to start the largest crowd-sourcing initiative this country has ever seen to amass the sights, smells and sounds that capture what is perhaps the most maverick, eccentric nation on earth and park them all at one place: www.day.in.
Thus, simply logging on would give the visitor a glimpse into A Day in the Life of India - the slogan of the English newspaper which, at over 175 years old, has been a fly on the wall of the largest democracy in the world. Not to mention, the most chaotic.
www.day.in, the main campaign website, received over 150,000 video, audio and audio-visual entries at the time of going to press. The contests had to result in the world‘s longest shortlist - over 5,000 nominations and by the time all the winners were chosen, the site became the go to place for everything that‘s quirkily yet quintessentially Indian.
The agency began a nationwide call to action - through a launch film to upload pictures, videos, cartoons, slogans, songs and more that best captured the chaotic reality of modern day India. The film captured the dramatic impact on social, political, moral, religious and civic life wreaked by an escaped circus elephant. Over the next few months, many campaigns targeted amateur and professional photographers and movie makers, cartoonists, musicians, poets, advertising agencies and most of all, the common man. It ended with the world‘s longest shortlist and prize winners that went on to win contests all over the world.
