Cannes Diary: Day 1.
Cannes, incredible.
It's hard to describe the energy of this place. An advertising Olympic village, is probably closest to the mark. But in this instance you can't pick the winners from their enviable physiques, more their enviable bodies of work. And there is a truckload. We spent all yesterday walking through rows and rows of finalists, until our heads spun off. Trends? Be different, be fresh, be as simple as possible. The Gatorade Replay campaign has been picking up metal based on those insights and it deserves to. It's brilliant. Goosebumps. From Australia, the Toyota Nothing Soft Gets In campaign scored really well because it was all those things, plus funny. Never underestimate the power of humour with the judges!!
So far, we've had just one finalist. Obviously conspiracy theories abound. We drowned our sorrows on behalf of everyone from our agency who entered. And then we ate a kebab. Possibly the best one in the world. Every dark cloud eh? They have great sessions here to soak up. Some are blatant sales pitches, others are more thought provoking. I'm really looking forward to the RG/A workshop today on future digital creative depts. Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday, Ben Stiller takes on Jeff Goodby Thursday, and Yoko Ono is here Friday. And stacks more.
Awards? Well there's still design, cyber, film and integrated to come, so who knows? 26,000 entries makes for some stiff competition.
What I do know is that I'm totally re-inspired to create goosebump delivering work, so I can get back to this advertising Olympic village. And find that kebab place.
