On day three of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Gurbaksh Singh, chief creative officer and chief innovation officer, Dentsu India, listed out how innovations can truly be unlocked with examples.

He opened his session by stating that great ideas come from making the impossible happen.

“The biggest reason for innovation to be unlocked is curiosity. Advertising is all about making us curious,” he stated.

Going down memory lane, he spoke about the Nabaztag toy and labelled it one of the ‘first IoT toys’.

“It was a eureka moment. It was a random toy which cost USD 12. It could read news from the internet. This was enough to send shockwaves into our brain and we knew had to start pitching such ideas to clients,” he said.

“We reached out to many clients, but no one entertained us. They told us to stop wasting time with such innovations,” they said. 

That’s when Dentsu launched Webchutney Labs.

“It was a launchpad. We got a R&D corner. When one fuses creative technology with curiosity, one can unlock crazy experiences. We moved from being unconventional creative directors to creative technologists. Back then, we had a small budget of overall advertising and creative technology was almost unheard of,” he said.

He then listed how as technology improved, how the ideas from Webchutney improved over time. 

Desktop

On the desktop, the agency created a website which loaded without the internet wire being plugged in to celebrate Rajnikanth’s birthday in 2012. 

Singh stated that it became the first-ever viral website. 

Laptop 

Moving from the desktop to the laptop, working on the principle of engaging people with creative technology and curiosity, the agency created a harmonium which played when the laptop screen moved.

IoT

Then, in the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) phase, the agency rolled out a campaign on Twitter (now X) to help consumers extend ‘happy hours’. Singh labelled it an idea emerging from ‘hacking with curiosity’.

Lab shutdown 

The lab, which worked on a tight budget had to then shut down because of the Covid pandemic. However, working remotely made it stronger, said Singh.

“Working from home made us more effective at that time and we pulled off India’s biggest creative tech programme,” he said.

The resultant work helped Dentsu India win the ‘Creative Agency of the Year’ at Cannes in 2022.

Mobile

The last piece of work was the recent ‘Deep Connect’ piece for Motorola.

“Before boarding a flight we send texts to our loved ones. In an era where we can connect with people anywhere, few places don’t have network. Coal mines are one of them. Mobile phones are prohibited because they can cause explosions,” he stated, before revealing that the main module is cheaper than a pair of sneakers.

Singh stated that onboarding talent remains the biggest challenge for the agency.

His piece of advice for those looking for innovations is to look for talent in the ‘most unusual spaces’.

“Finding creatives with expertise in technology is difficult. Most unusual talent hides in the most unusual places. One needs to expand the point-of-view and bring people from outside the industry,” he said.

He added, “Every market has its own opportunity. One has to make it happen. We started working with smaller brands who were ready to take risks. Later on, we executed our ideas for liquor brands – they can’t advertise in India so had extra budgets for advertising.”

He also urged agencies to promote themselves and called it a ‘good thing’.

“Sometimes being your client is a game-changing move. We hacked our own office building just to prove it,” he said, before listing how.

He ended his talk with some pieces of advice.

“Investing time in research is a key. You can’t do a typical cycle of advertising for a year. Don’t wait for a brief and keep the R&D on. Failures are the biggest milestone in success. There are 100 ways they can go wrong and when you succeed it’s the best feeling. Embrace failure, it’s part of the success. Things evolve every 90 days and one needs to be on their toes. Don’t rush when dealing with innovation. Let it ferment to something remarkable.  Foster and celebrate the culture of creativity and turn it into a mindset,” he surmised.