Hey there, I’m back again with another update from my trip to Cannes and the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity!
A little photo op with Ali Phalen (phalenincannes.wordpress.com) another member of the #NewhouseIDSM group at the beginning of our second day!
We started the day a little early this morning to attend a mini tour of the Cannes Festival, otherwise known as How to Cannes, and got to meet a Cannes Lions vet Fernanda Romano, a Creative Director from Brazil, who had tons of great advice for us! So grateful, many thanks to her! Here’s two little pictures with her and the #NewhouseIDSM group:
Photo taken by DR4WARD
Shortly after the tour, it was time to explore a few more seminars, workshops, tech talks and other amazing exhibitions on display at the festival. For the first two hours, I explored the exhibitions on display in the PR Lions, Outdoor Lions, Print Lions and Direct Lions sections – all just a few of the categories of work up on the short list for Cannes Lions awards this year! Some of my favorites were: McCann Erickson’s American ROM Campaign , Droga5′s Help Campaign, and Ogilvy Brasil’s Forbes Brasil Magazine Campaign; check them out if you get a chance!
After that, I attended an amazing Tech Talk held by Paul Price, CEO of Creative Realities, called “Creativity 3.0: Bridging the Virtual and Physical Worlds“. During his talk he touched on the near and new technologies making big differences to consumers’ experience of brands, particularly in retail. With Moore’s Law in mind, technology is bound to only get more and more advanced in years to come, and just a few of the fantastic developing technologies he mentioned were various robotics (from a barista robot to a palm reader by Toshiba), and improved user experiences, using things like voice recognition and data visualization (just imagine vending machines with Siri/iPhone like features and touch screens). Overall, Price stressed the need to adjust our collective way of thinking and acting into the 21st century, by focusing on human behavior to create valued consumer experiences. His final and most important point though was that “Dreams Grow Brands;” to Price, brands that fulfill our dreams are the brands we ultimately love and I couldn’t agree more.
The next seminar I attended was called “Can Your Idea Change the World?” presented by Tom Scott from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In the session he discussed the foundation’s newest initiative: Grand Challenges Explorations programme, which essentially puts out a world problem and asks for solutions from anyone willing; the person who’s idea is chosen will receive $100,000 to make their ideas a reality and ultimately create positive world change. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also, like many nonprofits, had trouble approaching advertising in the past and began recently using creative marketing tactics to change the way nonprofits create and instill their message in the public. Overall, the talk was inspiring – anyone can change the world, all it takes is a great idea.
Then, I attended my favorite seminar of the day – “The Making of a Global Olympics Marketing Campaign – Right Approach, Right Message, Right Time” presented by two Olympian athletes, Visa and TBWA speakers who discussed their campaign for the 2008 and London 2012 Olympics (Go World) and the 25 year partnership between Visa and the Olympic Games. I can’t say enough about how amazing this seminar was so I’ll just sum it up with this storify and the voice of God (I think you may have an idea of who I’m referring to…).
Right after that, we attended our final master class of the day – Droga5′s “Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Advertising But Were Afraid to Ask,” presented by Ted Royer. This was also a favorite of mine from today, and I definitely got a few great tips worth sharing with all of you!
1. There is no formula to produce great work, just go with your gut and what feels right.
2. Keep it simple; if you can’t define your idea in one sentence it still needs work and refinement.
3. Look for the truth, sometimes it’s right in front of you. In other words, find the daily truths of life and put a creative spin on them – let people think: “That’s so true,” about your idea.
4. Assume your audience is lazy, don’t make them do work with your ad. They won’t do it.
5. Instead of restating the problem, be the solution. Use your ad campaign to create a solution, rather than just talk about the problem.
6. Harness real passion.
7. Be generous with your time and talent, it will come back to you. People will begin to trust you and want to help you succeed.
8. And my favorite…Cynicism is the enemy. It’s a waste of time and “bullshit”. Be positive or someone will take your place.
And finally, we ended our night by attending the first round of awards – the Promo, Activation and PR Award Ceremony in the Grand Théâtre Lumière (which you have to walk up a red carpet to get to…) Oh and guess who made an appearance besides the heavy hitters in the ad/pr industry? Don Draper, AKA John Hamm! Ahh!
Sooo overall it was a pretty fantastic day, but I am officially beat.
Until tomorrow!
- C.
