Ajay has some concise notes on the campaign india blog and i am using them because it is Cannes, yes pronouned K-a-a-n. of course my trip to Cannes was neither blessed with the Film Festival invite or the Red Lion nominations, I just went on a whirlwind tour of the French Riviera after landing at Florence one weekend and crammed in a vespa/piaggio ride to pisa on the saturday morning as well. Mostly ran through the region by train and landed at Cannes just as twilight set in and walking the beach was fun. Of course, i might be mixing more than one trip into a single memory here. The Red Lion aspirants and the available few however are very much stationed at Cannes, in the auditorium ( I believe there is only one) and hopefully at least some waiting to go out to the beach at night.

And of course for all the effort India won 3 Bronzes and 2 Silvers in Radio, Media and Outdoor categories in the Red Lions

The list of sessions at Cannes 'advertising convention' of course shows a lot of depth in advertising know how that goes missing specially in digital execution. A lot of work needs to be done to get to that stable level in campaigns that car videos on the web do not feel like over powering innovation to last more than a year . JUST SAYING!Also I wondeer wh ere are all the revolutionary Out of Home guys! Really all this drivel is getting me down :D

• DraftFCB had promoted their session well, during the last 2 days. And therefore the attendance was good.The agency team reminded us that the marketing complexity had multiplied, in recent times – 26 times, to be precise, in recent years. And their formula to address this growing complexity is ‘reduction’. They believe that there is only a 6.5 second window of opportunity, when a consumer is open to the brand – in his attention swings from leaning in to leaning out. And if only you could catch his attention in this brief moment when he is ‘open’…

 

• Hill and Knowlton had a speaker who cited examples when ‘flash mobs’ worked/didn’t work. It’s only when you remain true to the brand and bring-in an ‘act’ in a public place will the message strike home, in a memorable way. A magnum opus, for the sake of it will not help.

 

• There was a session on independent agencies and Aggie’s presentation stood out, as could be evinced from the thunderous applause he received. He equated a global agency network to a clock that has all the parts moving to precision, with no scope for individuality or emotion. He believes that once you realize that you are a human with emotions and passion, you will automatically want your own space that nurtures and encourages thinking out of the ordinary and unpredictable ideas. The ‘Aman ki asha’ campaign got the crowds very excited.

 

• The most awaited session, so far, was the Yahoo session with Ben Stiller as their ‘show stopper’. The smart delegates made sure they attended the prior session to ensure a seat. And then just didn’t leave the auditorium. But this session was a real crowd puller. There was a very long queue of delegates aspiring to get in, with not a seat to spare. Compliments to the organizers, who sensed this swell and avoided any disappointment. They quickly provided alternate rooms with screens that played a live telecast of the panel discussion.Ben Stiller was the hero of the panel, all right, not leaving much for the Yahoo moderator and other panelist (Jeff Goodby) to say or do. Ben was there as himself, the comic actor – and not as a relevant panelist to the proposed agenda - “the role of creativity in shaping our world“. Can’t say that many came out of this session with any tangible learning or take-home messages.

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