Spotlight Shines on India's Footcandles
Two business channels in India named Footcandles Film spots (including work for Havell's, at right) as among the best of 2010. Where do they go from here? We ask MD Anand Menon.
Two of the top business channels in India named its
campaigns as among the best of 2010. Where do
they go from here? We ask MD Anand Menon.
By Anthony Vagnoni
The Super Bowl has its ad watchers, for sure, but beyond that there really isn't a ranking of the top TV spots that come out of countries like the US or the UK every year. Not so in India, where both of the English-language business news channels, CNBC and NDTV Profit, pick their favorite ad campaigns of the year. And in those rankings, the spotlight shined brightly on Footcandles Film.
"Both channels picked our work to be amongst the best to come out of India in 2010," says Footcandles Managing Director Anand Menon.
NDTV Profit, the 24-hour business news channel that's part of the New Delhi Television Limited network, named four TVCs produced by Footcandles as among the year's best, citing their work for Tanishq jewelry stores, automotive brand Maruti Suzuki, Havell's Geysers hot water heaters, and MP Tourism. (For a look at the channel's picks, click here.)
In the CNBC rankings of top work, Footcandles placed three of the top four: the network picked its campaigns for MP Tourism, Tanishq and Maruti Suzuki as among the best. In addition, says Menon, MP Tourism was voted the best film of the year, and Footcandles was judged as the Production House of the Year for 2010. (For a more in-depth look at what's made Footcandles so successful, check out their profile story in our upcoming Special Feature on India, which publishes 4 April, 2011.)
The company was founded in the southern Indian city of Chennai by Director Manav Menon in 1993. Several years later he was joined by Anand, his brother, who had graduated from one of India's top business schools in 1995 and felt that the advertising industry was primed to take off. Besides, he adds, "I didn't want to wear a suit."
Since joining forces they've built up a formidable team of directors and producers, and have produced for a range of agencies and brands, not just in India, but also in the Middle East and the US, while also providing production services for production houses based in Europe and Asia.
Footcandles now works out of offices in both Chennai and Mumbai, from which it balances a mix of original work produced for agencies and production service work. Menon says he's interested in growing both segments of the company's business, in addition to extending the Footcandles brand to ad markets overseas.
"I think we have a lot to offer agencies from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa," he tells SourceEcreative. "Traditionally, these are the markets that have looked to produce commercials in India with directors like ours." But Menon is looking to go even farther than that, aiming at agencies pretty much wherever there's an advertising market. He's also looking to connect with specialist agencies that market brands to South Asian and Indian communities located around the world. For example, he points out, "We've done a fair bit of work with agencies like the New York-based A Partnership and the L.A.-based IW Group."
Another area the Footcandles team is looking to expand on is its ability to import award-winning directorial talent to the Indian marketplace. "When you look at the creative we have here, you can see why a lot of top directors and production companies are interested in finding either a base from which they can co-produce jobs or a company that can provide them with representation in the Indian market. We're well positioned to do both."
The Footcandles' spots that earned it such kudos represents a mix of styles, with an emphasis on things like comedy and emotional storytelling. The work for Maruti Suzuki, for example, shows off the brand's fuel savings by comparing it to things like yachts and tanks; the Havell's work shows people in comic situations having to make do with appliances that don't have enough power to work properly, such as a guy who pops his own microwave popcorn by making funny noises from his mouth.
Its spot for MP Tourism, on the other hand, is both highly visual and strongly evocative, showing off the wonders of the province via hand shadows projected on a wall that form images of India in silhouette.
The director mix at the company includes both Indian directors who are exclusive to the company and several foreign directors whom they represent exclusively in India. We feel this is the best way to work, since it's allowed us to build long-term relationships," says Menon. Growing the amount of work they do with overseas talents is a goal of his for the coming year, he adds.
The company has just come off a frantically busy period, Menon adds, getting ready for the Indian Premiere League 2011 cricket matches. "It's our Super Bowl," he says, with what must be a wink. Given the way the work of his production company has scored lately in India, he seems to know what that's all about.
Published 13 March, 2011
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