Okay. I owe you a post or two. I guess I just got caught up in the hoopla that is the Cannes Lions 2007 Festival, or the “ad prom” as I’ve decided to call it. The last couple of days have been…um…entertaining. The “Gutter Bar” (which is actually 72 Brasserie”) was jumping until at least 5am, filled with ad men (and a few women) drinking themselves stupid, making promises they can’t keep and pretending to be engaged in world-changing conversations. If you watch them from afar, you see back-slapping, hair-tossing and more bravado, pseudo gregarious laughter and champagne-induced lovefests than you can shake a baton at. It occurred to me as I passed them by that this was like a second bite at high school for many of them. The cool kids dutifully show up (never before midnight) and take their posts to model the expected behavior for the more junior lemmings. The freshmen are really cute actually. They show up at the cool-kids’ bar at approximately 12:01am (wouldn’t want to be too early else you’d seem to eager). Then, they hang out on the outskirts of the bar hoping to catch the attention of a sophomore or junior who knows a senior to whom they might be introduced. Then, it’s on!
So enough about the prom.
I have to mention that John Legend and James Blunt are in town. Tomorrow, John Legend is scheduled to participate in a seminar on the future of music marketing. The event is sponsored by Grey Worldwide and also features Donovan. The seminar is titled “Selling In, Not Selling Out-Music & Marketing“. Legend and Donovan will likely perform during or following the event.
Alright. Let’s talk lions. There was not an award ceremony last night (Thursday). But, there’s more to the Lions fest than awards; yesterday was packed with workshops, seminars and such, including Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Director’s Showcase which opened with a a Bunraku puppetry production. Attendees were treated to screenings of the works of the best of the the 500 reels submitted to Saatchi’s worldwide offices. Standouts included a short film from Trish Sie, the director of OK Go’s breakout Grammy award-winning treadmill video.  The goal of the event is to get the work of upstart directors in front of advertising execs who might use them to bring their ideas to life online, on TV or your mobile.
USA Today’s seminar, Consumer Generated Ads–The Debate, also made for interesting fair. Ultimately, the panelists, including Nike’s global director of digital and content, Stefan Olander and Frito-Lay’s VP, Marketing Ann Mukherjee, agreed that the obvious was true: “Consumer-generated ads are hear to stay”. They just need to figure out a way to control it and capitalize on it.
Today’s events did not disappoint. Al Gore brought his call to action to the ad world. The former VP spoke to a jam-packed room about the “influential role of advertisers in raising global awareness of climate change”. Conference attendees waiting in DMV-esque lines to get a seat. Everyone appeared to have gotten their money’s worth (though personally I’ve heard it, get it, believe it and don’t need to hear it again).
Moving on.
AKQA presented the work of the “World’s Most Forward-Thinking Students” and challenged attendees to “hire them before they steal your job”. The featured work was submitted via AKQA’s Future Lions Global Advertising Student Competition. The seminar featured the top five winning entries. The goal was to offer ad execs and agencies an opportunity to preview and recruit top ad student talent, a handsome offer given the relatively scarcity of creative talent (according to ad agencies).
Finally, there was an ambitious seminar by a group called IdeaManagement. The event promised to tell creatives and their bosses a bone-deep look at the structure of great ideas. In the end, they basically told the group what their research into the work of “top-creatives” has revealed. Basically, you need to be open to new ideas, plan, have a process, follow it, choose good people, get their best ideas and use them (I’m sure you guessed they are peddling workshops).
Well, that’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the winners of the following categories:
Film Lions, Titanium and Integrated Lions, Film Young Creatives, Network of the Year, Agency of the Year, Palme d’Or
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