Havas sends Mortein and Mamaearth campaigns to Cannes Lions 2024

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2024 is just around the corner, and the advertising industry is busy preparing its best campaigns for the prestigious awards. As the event approaches, professionals are carefully selecting their most impactful work to showcase on this global stage.

This year, Havas Worldwide India has decided to send two campaigns for the Cannes Lions 2024 — Mortein Raksha Jyoti and Mamaearth’s Nava Shringar for Nava Durga. These campaigns are set to compete in various categories, reflecting their cultural relevance and creative execution.

Mortein Raksha Jyoti Campaign

The Raksha Jyoti campaign, developed in collaboration with Mortein during the Diwali season, addresses a common issue faced by Indian households. Diwali, a festival where homes are lit with diyas to welcome Goddess Lakshmi, inadvertently also invites disease-carrying mosquitoes. To tackle this, Havas Worldwide India created Raksha Jyoti, a special diya that guides the goddess and protects against mosquitoes.

Speaking to Social Samosa, Anupama Ramaswamy, Chief Creative Officer & Joint Managing Director, Havas Worldwide India, explains the rationale behind the campaign, “We believe this campaign deserves to be on a global platform as it demonstrates how a household brand can innovate to directly enhance consumers' quality of life, making the brand an integral part of their household experience.”

The campaign will compete in several categories, including:

• Brand Experience & Activation: 
  • Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight 
• Direct
  • Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight 
• Health & Wellness: 
  • Brand Led Education & Awareness - Brand Experience & Activation 
  • Brand Led Education & Awareness - Direct 
  • Brand Led Education & Awareness - Outdoor Ambient  
• Innovation: 
  • Societal Innovation  
• Media: 
  • Small Scale Media   
• Outdoor: 
  • Promotional Items & Printed Idea  

The creative brief for the campaign focused on addressing mosquito-borne diseases in India without compromising cultural traditions. The campaign involved developing a mosquito-repellent diya and conducting a comprehensive outdoor campaign to educate and distribute the product.

The campaign further garnered 51 million impressions, a 43% increase in search volume, and a significant boost in brand perception. Mortein's approach received overwhelming positive feedback, with 96% of engaged residents expressing a desire for the product in future Diwalis.

Mamaearth’s Nava Shringar for Nava Durga Campaign

Mamaearth’s Nava Shringar for Nava Durga campaign is another entry by Havas. Rooted in India's cultural heritage, the campaign celebrates the nine avatars of Goddess Durga during the festival of Durga Puja. Using only Mamaearth makeup products, artists created stunning representations of the goddess, which were displayed across various touchpoints, including social media, digital billboards, and art exhibitions.

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Ramaswamy shares the campaign’s impact, “The campaign not only reinforced Mamaearth's existing image but also created new avenues for engagement, cultural relevance, and brand recall for their makeup range.”

The campaign will be entered in the following categories:

• E03: Single-Market Campaign: 
  • Brand Experience & Activation 
• 2. A03: Design-Driven Effectiveness: 
  • Design 
• 3. D02: Use of Events & Stunts 
  • PR  

The campaign, which went on for a month in October 2023, led to a 3X increase in sales and a 40% increase in awareness of Mamaearth’s makeup range.

Reflecting on how far the advertising industry has come and speaking about creativity and the future of advertising, Ramaswamy adds, “The future will go back a full circle to storytelling very soon. People are bored of functional advertising and switch channels. To engage them, storytelling needs to come back. And social media is anyway the new television."  

"I think we are investing big in international awards. India is shining overall and if an Indian agency can be agency of the year, we have come a really long way,” says Ramaswamy.