Creative Showdown: Jindal Steel’s Cannes Lions Win Sparks Major Credit Controversy

A campaign by Jindal Steel & Power (JSP) that won a silver and bronze at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on June 18 has sparked a creative controversy.

Wieden+Kennedy India (W+K) claims they were unfairly left out of the credits for the creative idea behind the campaign.

The winning entry in the ‘film craft’ category was submitted by Early Man Film, crediting Kondurkar Studio for the creative concept of ‘The Steel of India’ campaign.

The dispute began in March 2024 when W+K India went to the Delhi High Court, seeking to stop JSP from distributing and publishing the video. They argued that the creative execution was very similar to what they had originally presented to JSP.

“The Delhi High Court stated that the campaign was clearly similar to what we had shown Jindal Steel. The matter was later settled out of court to the satisfaction of both parties,” W+K India executives told ET.

However, JSP’s statement insisted that all creative credits go to Kondurkar Studio and Early Man Film, and the HC ruling did not recognize W+K as the originator of the concept.

W+K executives feel wronged by this situation. “It’s standard industry practice that copyright transfers to the client after payment, but the agency remains the creator of the idea,” one executive said.

“We can only credit those we worked with during the project, which in this case is Kondurkar Studio,” said Ayappa KM, co-founder of Early Man Film, to ET.

“It’s not up to a production house to decide who owns the idea, even if they’re entering it for awards,” countered W+K India executives.

Amrish Kondurkar, founder and creative director of Kondurkar Studio and a former W+K India employee, said he had left the agency “months before” the ad was commissioned. “We designed an original concept and commissioned Early Man to work on it,” he told ET.