Cannes Lions 2025 brought a dose of electricity—quite literally—to its stage with Gabach Singh’s energizing session on how curiosity fused with creative technology has propelled India’s innovation journey. Representing Dentsu Creative, Singh unraveled the story of how his team built one of India’s most groundbreaking creative tech labs, one experiment (and electric shock) at a time.
From Basement Hacks to Cannes Glory
What began in the scrappy basement of digital agency WebChutney with a ping pong table as a workbench, evolved into a national R&D powerhouse. The spark? A secondhand $12 IoT rabbit toy. The motivation? Unstoppable curiosity.
Singh emphasized that early creative tech ideas were often dismissed by clients, pushing the team to prototype instead of just pitch. This maker-mindset led to boundary-pushing projects like:
- A website that only loaded when users unplugged their internet, as a tribute to Indian superstar Rajinikanth.
- A harmonium played by tilting your laptop screen, blending physical interaction with digital play.
- A bar installation that let patrons “rewind time” during happy hours, igniting organic online buzz.
Innovation Amid Constraints
India’s creative tech boom, Singh explained, grew not despite limitations—but because of them. With small budgets and scarce resources, the team embraced “Jugaad”—India’s spirit of resourceful innovation.
During the pandemic, Dentsu Creative remotely developed The Unfiltered History Tour, a viral AR experience that challenged the British Museum’s colonial-era collections. Built without ever setting foot in the museum, the project became one of India’s most awarded campaigns at Cannes Lions.
Real-World Impact and DIY Spirit
Another standout case, Motorola Deep Connect, solved a real-world problem: allowing coal miners, who work deep underground without phone signals, to message loved ones using hacked walkie-talkie systems.
Dentsu Creative’s success is grounded in hiring from unconventional places—engineering dropouts, makerspaces, and hackers—along with a belief in self-initiated work. “Sometimes becoming your own client is the best way to prove you can do it,” Singh said, referencing how they once hacked their own office to develop a location-based restroom occupancy tool.
Lessons for the Future
Gabach Singh closed with powerful lessons for marketers and creatives worldwide:
- Don’t wait for the brief—build continuously.
- Prototype early. Talk less, demo more.
- Failures are milestones.
- Innovation needs time to ferment—let the beer brew.
- Curiosity is the catalyst. Celebrate it.
In a session where the audience could literally shock the speaker with a tap on their phones (yes, he built that too), Dentsu Creative didn’t just talk about curiosity and tech—they embodied it.
