Campaign

Not seen on the party scene

It must be seriously bad out there.

It’s normal for our camera to be literally licked at several points during the Cannes week, as shy and retiring ad folk keenly show a Campaign audience just how refreshed they are by a week of seminar-going.

But this year, several have turned positively coy, asking not to be featured in our photo gallery (more of which later), and declaring emphatically: “I am NOT in Cannes.” If you say so, guv.
 

the fireflies burn

*** me those fireflies are mental. 60-odd hours of uphill, sorry, mountain. Bless em. One told me he started hearing voices in his head. There were a lot of tired legs and white hats (worm rightly as a badge of pride) banging around the Croisette last night still giving it large despite the burning muscles and sore, well, muscles. A worthy charity supported by the hardy members of the ad fraternity.

Not Rush-ian to Cannes

 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?

En-jurying Love

A couple of months ago a few whispers wisped out of Kensington Olympia that the D&AD judging had become a bit of a stand-off because of the High School-esq cliquey-ness of the jurors and their predilection to sticking to their relevant continents in a paranoia-based fit of clannish-ness not seen since England first invaded Scotland.

But not in Cannes. No siree Bob. It’s seriously like the summer of love has hit over here (the 60’s one, not the pill-fuelled Madchester one) because all of the juries absolutely love each other. Almost every press conference has started with the president gushing about his fellow jurors (nothing unusual so far) but the camaraderie that has been on display cannot be faked without some form of mood enhancer – oh, maybe its more like Madchester than I first thought.

But, seriously, at the Radio Lions press conference Ewan Paterson could barely hide his admiration for his jury-mates. Then, if that wasn’t enough, half of the press jury turned up sporting eye-catching and matching green t-shirts with a picture of Dave Lubars, the jury president, on them and the phrase “I like Lubie”. Awwwwwww.

No home goals so far for France's most awarded agency

Bad news for France's most awarded agency and a usual multi-winner at Cannes: BETC Euro RSCG has landed just two shortlist places so far.

Its Petit Bateau campaign "The months" which promotes the retailer's new adult range and describes the adult models' ages in months rather than years, won France's biggest press prize in April but has not troubled the judges at Cannes.

Nor have any of its entries in the outdoor or media categories. The agency's two shortlisted ads are press executions for furniture store Rochebubois.

The agency will now be pinning its hopes on the film awards,  in which it has entered the well-received Canal Plus spots "Versailles" and "Mafia" as well as work for Le Parisien, Numico baby foods and McDonald's.

It is also still in with a chance in the Titaniums, for which its own creative  head Remi Babinet is a judge. Its "Solidarite SIDA" Aids awareness campaign is up for contention.  

White linen, not hair, for Jupiter Drawing Room shirts

 Not much evidence that the small matter of a global recession is affecting the fortunes or lifestyle choices of the Jupiter Drawing Room, South Africa.

The two-agency brand, which became part of WPP this year, and is headed by the fastidious and fiercely English Graham Warsop, has brought an 18-strong contingent to Cannes for the entire week.

And as part of the "reward" that Warsop unashamedly admits the Cannes trip is, the group went en masse for a day trip to Picasso's castle near Aix-en-Provence the other day.

The castle has been closed for 35 years and remained just as the artist left it but has been opened by his daughter for three months this year.
"It was just amazing," the white linen-clad Warsop told me at thenetworkone party.

With no pretence of having to cut his cloth to suit more subdued times, Warsop is delightfully upbeat.  The recession has been good for his group, he claims, because clients are looking for agencies with case studies of work that works.

The death of the award show category

So “The best job in the world” for Queensland Tourism has followed the likes of UniQlo’s “UniQclock” last year and scooped more than one Grand Prix - and its still only Tuesday. This achievement is leading to a lot of talk about the campaign picking up the Titanium and Integrated awards as well.

At the same time pretty much every jury has proclaimed that their Grand Prix winners could take the Titanium top prize (well, apart from radio) and you know what? They may be right.

The continued convergence of media and the inexorable move to integration is leading to an ever-diminishing distance between categories, which is like a sniper putting his crosshairs right on the forehead of that dying idea that “one campaign wins one category" before pulling the trigger.

Integration has put it out of its misery. Will the next step be to place the sights on all the categories, like some award show firing squad, and kill them all, leaving just the Titanium? It may not be as far off as you think. (I had a lot of time to think about that last night, as the air-con in the hotel sounds like a jet fighter hitting the speed of sound several times a minute.)

And so it starts all over again

Bonjour Hot, sweaty, over-crowded, cramped and quite possibly a death trap. No, it’s not my Aer Lingus flight over here (which was actually very enjoyable thanks to iPod technology, The Inbetweeners and Dinosaur Jr) but the hotel where the cream of Campaign’s Cannes reporters are entrenched. Welcome to the recession-fuelled coverage of Adland’s, historically, most extravagant awards do. However, as all good reporters do, we’ll make the most of the opportunity to bring you up-to-date stories on the awards, talks, seminars and parties as well as a whole host of interesting and entertaining video footage – well, if the hotel’s wifi holds up we will.

Start the week...

Well, I've started the week in true Cannes style - I caught two and a half hours' sleep last night.

Sadly, it wasn't due to partying but a part-functioning air-con system whose spluttering on and off caught me each time I dared to drift off.

This is Campaign doing Cannes as never before. Yes, we're all wearing hair shirts this year.

An indicator of the grade of hotel we're in is the lack of a bathmat in the tiny shower room. But this morning I realised there was no problem: the trickle from the shower barely covered me and showed little danger of reaching the floor beyond.

Here we are looking shattered already, waiting to register outside the Palais at 8am. Promise the pics will get more glam...(they'd better)

Are advertising agencies protesting too much?

Methinks all this talk of cancelled parties and an empty Croisette may turn out to be a case of agencies which doth protest too much.

In a year of mass redundancies, most have been keen to show that they are acting with sobriety and cutting back on the expense of jetting a whole load of people out to Cannes and keeping them fuelled with a continuous supply of drink, parties and, less importantly, food.

 The only party I know of is the Massive Music "No Party" on Noga Beach on Wednesday night and it's true that, while our Cannes Week diaries at Campaign are usually rammed with invitations before June has begun, this year we have been quite concerned that we might actually have to buy dinner for ourselves at some point.

 But I just wonder if there may be a rush on last minute flights to Nice later this week. All of a sudden, up will pop the chance to meet with a client or a prospect out here or - hope upon hope - the possibility of picking up a prize, and execs will find themselves supplied with an entirely plausible justification for a trip down to the Cote d'Azur after all.

And, yes, our diaries are now full to overflowing, with late invitations still coming in this week-end.

So, sitting in my credit-crunch bedroom tonight, having seen nothing yet of Cannes except the rain,  I predict a quiet start to the week and a pretty packed finale. I hope I'm right.