mannes in cannes – Page 3

June 22, 2012June 22, 2012

Mannes in Cannes // Part 5 // Another one

It is Friday morning in Cannes and the sun is shining. This would normally be great if I weren’t so bleary eyed from yet another late night. I am too tired even to make that same Malteser joke I have been making in this blog throughout the week. Last night was party night at Cannes. The Ogilvy party, the Shots party, the Velocity party. It was a heaving, thumping mess of groaning plates of canapés, women in strappy heals and hipster Swedes in full beards with slick side partings. If you were wondering where all the mirror balls went, well I can tell you most of them ended up in Cannes. Remember strobe lights, those grim reminders of 80’s matric dances? Well, they’re all here too. Last night was not a good night to be an epileptic in Cannes. I spoke to a lot of interesting people at these parties, intermittently running into unpleasant fast-talking production people from New York trying to tell you why you really should be producing your animatics with them. I can’t think of many more bizarre scenarios than discussing the intricacies of big budget animatic production with feisty, pushy New York production people to the sound of ghastly eurobeat, while strobe lights beat up on your eyes. So I left.

This morning is different. There is a new cruise ship in the harbour. Little boats shuttle back and forth ferrying the passengers and their credit cards to the nearest branch of Dolce and Gabbana so they can spend 100 000 bucks on another white linen jacket. These people are all deeply tanned, as wealthy people normally are. This is because really rich people generally choose not to experience winter. Instead they inhabit summer, wherever it may be, striding around in their green leather deck shoes and Hermes kaftans like they own the place, which they normally do. Today’s cruise ship is white, of course, and is called “The Epic”, which seems a pretty unimaginative name, even for a cruise ship.

Yesterday was Bill Clinton day at Cannes. I was going to make a few cigar jokes but after seeing him speak I was left too admiring to do that. He spoke for an hour or so about the state of the world and what we need to do to fix it. He has to be one of the most brilliant and inspiring people I have ever had the privilege of hearing. One particularly cool thing he said – we are all 99,9 percent the same, yet the world seems to spend all of its time concentrating its energy on the 0,1 percent that makes us different to each other. Now that may sound trite but he backed it up with some facts about mutual cooperation that really made sense. He left me feeling optimistic and inspired, which was really the point.

Smoky Robinson also talked yesterday, about social media. Now, I never really thought Smoky Robinson and social media belonged in the same sentence, but he made a good fist of it. He didn’t sing, which I was relieved about, not being a huge Smoky Robinson fan. Turns out he has been working with Crispin Porter and Bogusky (yes, I know, that is weird) on a causal marketing social media movement thingy they are going to call Smoke Alarm ( get it?). Good luck to them.

Today we see the film Shortlist. It is my favourite day at Cannes. Holed up in a dark air-conditioned room, I will watch the 500 or so best commercials and films of the year, as decided by the film jury. Also out today is the Branded content and Entertainment Shortlist, Carling Black Label’s last chance at some extra glory. I will keep you all posted. (Editors note, Carling got the shortlist, so are in for a shot for 1 more Lion).

From my balcony I can see a flag fluttering in the breeze with a Google logo on it. This is the Google HQ, a lovely section of beach where ad people can go to drink free smoothies and ride on various strange watercraft and also hear about how Google will shortly be taking over the world in a kind of benevolent autocracy that will include free smoothies and free wifi everywhere where we will all be governed by Swedish web designers with full beards and slick side partings. Jokes aside, I wonder if that Google flag fluttering over us is not a sign of things as they really might be one day. Could be worse, it already is.

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June 21, 2012

Mannes in Cannes // Part 4 // Inspiration days

It’s really kicking off here in Cannes now. I know this because Peri van Papendorp did “the worm” at Tuesday night’s opening gala. And so he should. Ogilvy Cape Town upped it’s Lion count to 5, with 2 Silver Lions for Volkswagen “Bluemotion Label” and Carling Black Label “Be the Coach”. We also got South Africa’s first ever Mobile Lion. There was much ululating and downing of tequila shots and yeeehaaaaing. South Africa also picked up 2 Silvers in Outdoor for Y&R’s Landrover “Eyes” work and the Hunt Lascaris Campaign for Enterprise meats “Thicker slices“.

Earlier in the evening we had taken in some of the best work yet in the Outdoor, Mobile and Media Lions ceremony. Once again one of the big themes for the year emerged, shiny new tech embedded in really good ideas, like the fabulous “Invisible drive” for Merecedes Benz from the geniuses at Jung Von Matt in Hamburg. It won one of 2 Grand Prix’s in Outdoor last night. The Germans really seem to be ahead in the application of all the new digital tech and platforms, probably because they are developing and perfecting most of them. Provided it’s only there they keep striving for world domination then we’ll all be safe. The other Grand Prix went to our very own Ogilvy China. Fabulous story behind this one. The Art Director who did the work, Jonathan Mak Long, is 20 years old. It is his first year in advertising. This is one of the first pieces of work he has ever done. So it’s all falling into place quite nicely for him.

The big story of the night was the first ever Mobile Lions Ceremony. The words Mobile Creativity generally do not inspire stratospheric levels of goose-bumpy possibility in your average creative person, but they should now. The work was top class. Some of my favourite pieces of the whole bloody over-priced circus that is Cannes were on show last night. The Mobile Grand Prix went to the incredible “Hilltop Re-imagined” work for Coke, all part of Google’s project:rebrief. More about that later. The “Fake Ad” for Bradesco Seguros by Almap BBDO Brasil was the first piece of truly great work created specifically for iPad, we’ll be kicking ourselves for ages that we didn’t think of it first. And then another of my favourites won Gold, the genius “Backseat Driver” idea for Toyota by Party in Tokyo (remember the small Japanese man who told us we were all shit, well this was his work, clearly he is not shit).

And on to Media Lions, which also threw up some great stuff. Predictably the Carlsberg “Bikers” were in there by Belgian agency Duvall Guillaume Modem, a viral that everybody watched loads of times. This familiarity has been a feature of the work this year, a lot of it is already very well known because of the viral nature of really good, absorbing content, I suppose that gives it extra momentum coming in to Cannes. Finally there were 2 Golds for absolutely beautiful ideas. The first, by Saatchi’s Milan, was “Integration Day” a piece done for World Down’s Syndrome Day. It is remarkable, please watch it. Then there was the “Stumbling Stones” from Jung Von Matt Hamburg, a piece done to remind young Germans of the horrors of the Holocaust. Apparently over 50 percent of them are blissfully unaware it ever happened.

Today I saw a presentation on Google’s landmark work, :project rebrief. Seated at the front of the room were some of the greatest creatives of all time, heroes of the ad revolution of the sixties. They presided, in their careers, over the advent of television, the last great technology transformation in advertising. It was fascinating to hear their thoughts on the digital transformation we are undergoing now, you could feel history shifting around you, goose bumpy stuff. I sat a few feet away from Helmut Krone’s writer Paula Green, responsible for “We’re number 2, that’s why we try harder.”

Amil Gargano was there too, creator of “Drive it like you hate it” for Volvo. And also Harvey Gabor, the man who did the most famous Coke commercial of all time

“Hilltop”. Harvey is in his 80’s, has had a stroke, and struggles to talk, but he was profound and feisty and inspiring about how creative people should go about their business. The google : rebrief project has inspired a full length documentary feature, which will be premiering at Cannes on Friday. Can’t wait.

From there it was on to a Workshop with Geoff Goodby of Goodby Silverstein, the man who gave us pieces of ad history like Budweiser Lizards and Got Milk. The title of his talk was “Why aren’t they buying my brilliant fucking idea? This is a question I frequently ask myself. Geoff answered it very well. I will try to remember what he said and let you all know when I get home. It may come in handy one day, possibly as early as next week.

Tonight (Wednesday night, although you will probably be reading this on Thursday, stay with me here) we have the Radio Lions, Press, Cyber and Design. South Africa has a veritable light brigade of Shortlists which are sure to come lolloping home with Lions. Well, hopefully anyway. We are “traditionally strong” in Radio and Print, whatever that means (It would be a good thing if we became “traditionally strong” in digital and mobile pretty smartly). As a country we are heading for the biggest haul of Lions we have ever had at Cannes. As an agency we at Ogilvy Cape Town are already having our best year ever at Cannes. I am so proud of everything that has happened this week. Here’s hoping we are in for a few more surprises. If anything it would give me a superb reason to have a celebratory bag of Maltesers.

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June 19, 2012

Mannes in Cannes // Part 3 // Lessons in fragility

If day one was all about discovering shitness then day 2 was all about my sense of fragility.

This may partly be because I am trying to survive on very little sleep and occasional mouthfuls of Maltesers. Slugs of ice cold Perrier provide only partial and temporary relief. Arianna Huffington, she of the Huffington post, spoke about lack of sleep in her wonderful seminar yesterday. She says it is the central malaise of modern society and the cause of many of our ills. She also said that lack of sleep has somehow strangely become associated with male virility. In other words men who have had 3 hours sleep will comment “I only had 3 hours sleep and 2 handfuls of Maltesers but here I am battling through the day like a champion“. Women do not do this because they are, on the whole, more sensible and sentient beings. She also said lots of other stuff and identified a few megatrends.

The other great talk yesterday was Contagious magazine’s annual trend summary of where the world is going, and what the work is telling us about the present and the future. Truly fascinating stuff. My proudest moment at Cannes so far (apart from boasting in a virile way about having has no sleep and living on mouthfuls of Maltesers) was when they played the Carling Be the Coach case study as an example of truly engaging, social work. You get quite a kick when 5000 ad people are listening to the most influential trend spotters in communications flag your work as terribly important. Yeeee bloody haaaaa.

And so on to last night’s awards, where I wore smart black leather shoes instead of trainers (I thought they would bring me luck, more formal y’know). This turned out to be a mistake, as Steve Back, Aussie Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Singapore launched into a tirade of derogatory comment about my footwear, “did your wife buy you those mate”, cue raucous harharharing from gathered creatives, all wearing trainers to formal evening. Anyhow, they turned out to be a bit in the lucky side, as Ogilvy Cape Town went on to win 3 Lions. Two for Carling Be the Coach and one for Volkswagen Bluemotion Label. It is so bloody wonderful to be on the scoreboard here folks, I cannot tell you enough about the quality of the work we are up against. I will, however, try. Please look at it, it is truly a reflection of the way we should all be thinking at the moment.

Take a look at the brilliant “Beauty of a second” piece by Leo Burnett Milan. Truly beautiful little one second short films that really make you feel better about life. It is so good when advertising improves the world a little bit, and that was a recurring theme last night, brands doing their bit for people, for places, for society in general. I suppose digital conversation platforms and social media have made brands super sensitive about the people they are talking to, and the people who are talking about them, so in order to be liked, to guide positive and inspiring conversations about themselves, they do positive, inspiring, altruistic work. Which is making our industry pretty much the greatest it has ever been. Either that or I am just sleep deprived and on a chocolate high.

Check out “Bring your own cup day” for 711 Slurpees from Leo Burnett Melbourne, for just the coolest, feelgoodest promotion. “The return of the dictator Ben Ali” by our very own Ogilvy Tunisia is totally, wonderfully powerful and inspiring, it is work that changes a country. Then the Hellman’s “Mayonnaise recipe receipt” is a little piece of genius from Ogilvy Sao Paulo, once again unexpectedly rewarding people with a cool, smart brand experience. South Africa’s Metropolitan Republic won big with a Gold and Silver Lion for Wimpy “Braille burgers“, a truly popular piece that went crazy on the web, good on yer boys. The big, big winner on the night was “Small business gets an official day” for American Express from Crispin Porter Bogusky, Boulder. Once again a brand acting for the better good of all, this time doing it’s bit for small businesses. Deservedly it won 2 Grand Prix’s.

And so day 2 came to a subdued close. All that remains is for me to shout out an unashamed plug for my twitter handle @MrChristiffa, where I try and keep an irreverent and watchful up to the minute eye in things. Although it has been pointed out to me that for the past 2 days I have been hash tagging a bar in Amsterdam instead of the Cannes Lions Festival, i am a bit of a digital immigrant I am afraid. If you want an altogether more reliable and comprehensive view on things then @OgilvyCT and of course @ididthatad are probably the better follows, with our very own Kate Desmarais and Julie Maunder at the controls. Until tomorrow then. Day 3 beckons. And that bag of Maltesers is calling me.

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