“Is it a Boo or a Hoo?” In his inimitable style, this was will.i.am on the subject of technology and creativity. A master of the ‘hook' - the bit of music you just can't get out of your head - this one was shorthand for using Twitter to check fan response to his music. Boo or Hoo?

Disaster or triumph? Perhaps the most underrated impact of technology on marketing is its ability to help us get closer to our customers. We are using technology to create a lot of noise, but are we using it to listen better? The founder of the world's hottest gaming company certainly does.

Peter Vesterbacka calls himself the Mighty Eagle. Really. I guess you can get away with that if your brand's called Angry Birds – and you're responsible for creating the most raging success in the history of gaming.

His killer app is that he knows his brand's fans intimately. He personally responds to every single message they send him. And no, it's not quite the same thing to have the guy in corporate communications do it “within 24-48 hours”.

What characters!

Interestingly, the Mighty Eagle believes that Angry Birds isn't a technology brand. It's an entertainment franchise built around compelling characters and stories. Something that Aaron Sorkin knows a thing or two about.

The writer of The Social Network and TheWest Wing was the star of a panel that included top-notch journalist David Simon; Chairman/CEO of Time Warner Jeff Bewkes; and was anchored by the irrepressible Piers Morgan.

They discussed the success of television over the last decade. It appears that stories and characters aren't going out of fashion in a hurry. While digital pundits have been reporting on TV's sorry death, the facts suggest otherwise. You do feel things have come full circle when Google advertises on the Superbowl and the company's chairman says it offered good return on his investment.

A return to basics

At Cannes this year, it's been a return to basics. We saw a lot of discussion around the demand for entertainment and utility. Stuff that comes from art and understanding. Stuff that people would want to share.

Stuff that advertising agencies are good at. Stuff that'll keep us in business. As long as we keep belting out the hits, like the winners of this year's Grand Prix for Print and Cyber.

You can't keep a good man down. But then he's not just any man, he's the man your man could smell like. Wieden+Kennedy and Old Spice were deserving winners of a cyber Grand Prix.

In a sign of things to come, they've brought quality writing to digital platforms, and blurred the lines between the TV and the Internet.

China won its first Grand Prix for JWT Shanghai's glorious print work for Samsonite. Powerful insight, masterful execution. A stunning work of art called Heaven and Hell .

Which brings me to a meditation on life and death, acclaimed Korean film-maker Park Chan-wook's Night Fishing .

In one of the more interesting events from the sidelines at Cannes, Innocean hosted a screening of the 30-minute film shot entirely on an iPhone 4. It's a remarkable piece of work and signals how technology unleashes creativity. The film was awarded the Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival.

As I watched the waters turn dark and reflected on the day, Patti Smith drifted into my thoughts.

Her life and work are a tribute to the raw, visceral appeal of art. She read us the last letter of love she wrote to her dying husband.

In that moment, frayed jeans, faded black jacket, scraggy hair, strange eyes, gummy mouth, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She moved us to tears with her words.

She reminded us of creativity's unique power to raise humanity and celebrate the best in us.

You don't need always need a tweet to know how you make people feel. This one's a Hoo.

(Aditya Kanthy is Senior V-P, Planning, DDB Mudra)

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