The Hindu Business Line : What Cannes can do

Cannes Lions 2007, the 54th edition of the international advertising festival rolled on like a Rolling Stones song. But this one sure had many more licks than forty. Unlike most adfests that only open with a bang, this one unravelled itself day after day after day keeping the high note of inspiration.

With back-to-back workshops and seminars (anywhere between six to seven), which discussed cutting edge stuff and ran till about six in the evening, the days at Cannes dovetailed into parties hosted across the length of the Rue Croisette along the Cannes Bay.

As Calvin would have observed, the days were just packed. There was more than what a smart human mind could possibly ponder over like the Y&R and Al Gore session. The former US Vice President and Green crusader was invited by the Hamish McLennan, Global CEO of Y&R, to explore how the advertising industry can help the cause.

While Cannes was going green, a suitably high David Droga, of Droga5 agency was wondering if Global Warming was not a figment of someone’s imagination. I suspect, however, that Droga and his audience at the Gutter Bar, pitchers in hand secretly knew that Al Gore’s passion was sure to melt such theories down.

But then the Gutter Bar is not a place to win your debates. It is the preferred spot of the French Riviera for the entire advertising fraternity of the world. Close to the fancy Hotel Martinez, the Gutter Bar is where you can catch all the action; beer seeped conversation, light and serious, goes on till wee hours of the morning here.

The more serious stuff was reserved for the Palais des Festivals; there were sessions from Nike, Black Bag, Saatchi& Saatchi, to name a few. Stefan Olander, Nike’s global director of digital media, argument on Nike being a sports device was apparently rather convincing.

Tribal DDB’s Matt Dyke, Worldwide Planning Director’s ’Connecting the physical and the digital worlds’ was fascinating. The sessions looked at ways in which physical objects are coming alive with the help of technology, how retail experience is being enhanced.

Clothes tagged with radio frequency identifications - so the store knows exactly how many jeans are left on the racks, and whether shoppers also tend to pick up a T-shirt with the jeans they are buying. If that isn’t smart enough, how about digital mirrors in trial rooms that show you a deferred reflection.

A ten second grace period, for you to turn around and check out exactly what you would look like from behind. No more straining of your neck or imagination for that matter.

What I wouldn’t have missed for anything was hearing the legendary Sir Bobby Charlton speak about brand ’Manchester United’. The Satchi and Satchi ’New Directors Showcase’ is another ritual at Cannes that had the auditorium packed. The hour-and-a-half long event showcased the most awe-inspiring talent The seminars certainly had their stars and high moments. But walking down the gallery scanning the shortlisted entries on display I got the impression that the overall quality of work seems to have dipped a bit. This despite the fact that the entries across categories were significantly up this year. The judging nonetheless seemed to have been quite fair. Ideas were big this year and the deserving were rewarded.

On last count, (excluding television commercials) O&M was leading the tally of Lions, followed by JWT and McCann Erickson. Lions trickled in every day, JWT started the count bagging a PromoLion for its ‘Nodding Bull’ entry, Everest and O&M bagged a Bronze each for the ‘Scratch CD’ and ‘Hutch Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival’ in the Direct Lions category. Ambience Publicis, Leo Burnett struck silver in Radio... We took two Bronzes in the press category for Cocco’c Café and Nerolac Quick dry. However, all hopes for a Gold for India were hanging on the ’Happydent White Palace’ commercial as I write this.

(The writer is Creative Director, McCann Erickson)