Aha! I spied a Russian.
I couldn't miss him really (see below)
I only know anything very much about one Russian agency, IQ Marketing, run by the amazing
Natalia Stepanuk. So I was extremely keen to grab Stas Zhitsky (as he
turned out to be) for a quick chat.
It's his first time in Cannes and he's judging the Design Lions in his
capacity as founder of OPEN! Design + Concepts. He'd also judged the
Eurobest Festival in Stockholm last December, also run by Cannes Lions.
What was the main difference? That the Russians just don't enter Cannes. Don't really even know about it.
If only they did, the world would get a shock. "When you are not part
of the main thing, you have a fresh view that's interesting" he says.
He says Russians know that the eyes of the world are upon them as part
of the exciting BRIC axis and that they truly feel they are nurturing
innovation.
Now they just need to put it forward into a global awards festival.
Hmm....I wonder. Most of the work I've ever seen
created by a local Russian agency has been what you might generously call
"somewhat inaccessible" to an international audience.
IQ Marketing still remains the only Russian Cannes winner. Talking of which (yet again): How long before someone snaps that agency up?
