Jindal’s ‘Steel of India’ campaign—whose idea is it anyway?

livemint.com:

Jindal Steel’s capacity expansion will fuel growth, but beware the China factor Despite the settlement, the controversy resurfaced when Earlyman Films and Kondurkar Studio, which claimed credit for the campaign, entered it in the Cannes Lions awards and the Kyoorius Creative Awards 2024. While the Kyoorius committee, after reviewing the case with industry juries and a legal team, decided to disqualify all entries from Kondurkar Studio and Earlyman Films across categories, the campaign went on to win a Silver Lion and a Bronze Lion at the 2024 Cannes Lions in the Film Craft category. This was despite the ongoing legal and ethical questions about its origin, rekindling the debate over who rightfully owns the idea behind the campaign.

Piyush Pandey, legendary adman and adviser at Ogilvy (former executive chairman), called this a sad incident for the industry. “While it’s a difficult interpretation, my theory is simple: the idea belongs to the one who created the idea," he told Mint. “If the entire concept is under suspicion, then everything about it is invalid.

Which is how Kyoorius looked at it. Cannes decided to look at it another way and awarded the campaign in the Film Craft category and not for the idea. The way I look at it is, if there is a relay race and the third runner drops the baton, but the fourth runs it best, the team can’t claim victory.