'Lot of good work & great talent are coming out of India'

Sonali Krishna of ET NOW caught up with David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO, who is chairman of the press and film juries at Cannes Lions 2009.

Do you think Cannes is representative of the work produced globally?

I think Cannes and the other famous shows have to evolve continuously. Everything is changing so much... Of course, they have the Titanium and the integrated and cyber -so they���re going in the right direction. But today, it���s not about analysing the pieces -it���s the big packages that surround and delight consumers and that has to be celebrated more.

How does this year���s body of work compare with last year?

There���s less work this year. There are 20% less people compared to last year. I think that what got passed this year is the borderline and frankly the weak- so the really great work is the same kind of stuff that we saw last year.

Are you���re essentially saying that this time is just fantastic?

No, there���s bad work, but less bad work. And it���s an interesting thing because most of the work will be bad. Out of 22,000 entries, I think that only 200-300 will win!

India had a great innings last year. How will it perform this year?

It���s too early to tell. I have not yet divided the entries by countries. There���s a lot of good work and great talent coming out of India. So, it���s not just a fluke!

There have been scams and block voting in the history of Cannes. Has that surfaced this year?

People are people! I will not deny that in times flush with money, there���s a lot of jealousy and competition. But people this year are kind of putting all this stuff aside because of the economy. They just want to make this a great show and keep it relevant. And the best way is to try and raise the game, award the best stuff, the universal stuff and make this show an important tool for the clients.