I’m writing from Cannes, France, the site of my working vacation. I’m here for the Cannes Lions 2007 Festival, the advertising world’s equivalent of the famed film festival. No Angelina Jolie’s here though; just Colleen DeCoursey’s, John Wren’s and lots of tragically cool folks (at least this week) who work for little ad shops with names like Milk, Tequila and Propaganda. The whole scene is a bit of high school graduation, 20-year reunion (look at me!) and frat kegger, all in one. Oh, yeah. Don’t forget to add the a side of couples night at the beachside version of the Shady Pines nursing home (The locals here are mostly the rich ancestors of Parisians past).
I’ve been here two days and they’ve been filled with bland seminars with supposedly provocative titles. Most of the content you or I could’ve cobbled together. For example, “Radio in the iPod Era” and “How to Engage the Customer in the Age of Ad Aversion”. The only thing saving most of these seminars is cheeky video clips and pretty PowerPoint slides.
Needless to say, I’m not that thrilled with the seminar offerings, but the spectacle is much more entertaining. La Croisette, the main promenade here, is crawling with young, White guys with gooey hair and their best I-just-threw-this-on outfit, old White guys with big guts and fitted pants smoking cigars, old White ladies with sun-eaten skin and mountains of jewelry, and youngish White and Asian women clinging to their men or eye-balling someone else’s.
Everyone is here to hopefully win a golden lion’s head (which they cheesily carry with them from party to party, up and down the street) and the adoration of all of their competitors. But, if that fails, there’s still the opportunity to party like a rockstar on the Cote d’Azur. Partygoers drift between the Martinez (my hotel), the Carlton and the Majestic drinking, making bad jokes and struggling to communicate (These advertising folks hail from Denmark to Russia to the USA). The beachside and bar-based parties are invite-only and open only to Cannes Lions delegates. And, to the uninvited onlooker, they are pretty hot tickets. However, once inside, it’s back to the 20-year reunion–a bunch of nerdy folks who used to get beat up but are now FINALLY popular.
Well, I’m done partying and ranting for one night, but stay tuned for more info on the goings on at the Cannes Film (oops!) Lions Advertising Festival.
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