Adland_ Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet - James P. Othmer [93]
Created by another non-agency, the production company Projector Tokyo, and without a thirty-second television spot to be found, “the Uniqlo work is viral-branded utility,” said the Titanium jury panelist Jean-Remy von Matt, founder and member of the board. “It’s so simple, smart, and beautiful. All over the world people have it on their desktops, giving them a brand presence in countries where their products don’t even exist.”
At the same press conference, Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide and jury judge of the Titanium and Integrated Lions, explained why, more than the film award, the Titanium Grand Prix has become the top honor in the industry. “It’s a glimpse into the future of what we do, the most prestigious and the new standard for what everyone should work for.”
As I left the press conference, I thought that if I were to write about much of the winning work this year at Cannes in a way that reflected the work, I would simply be providing clues, or provocative links to even more provocative clues, in chat rooms and phone books, on magic tickets, and I wouldn’t be the one writing it.
You would.
Story is king as never before in adland, being told in entirely new ways that would make William Gibson proud.
The Future of Advertising Only Comes Out After Midnight
If the future of the mega-agency is on its last legs, how do we account for big-agency triumphs like McCann Erickson’s breathtakingly imaginative, much-heralded work for Microsoft’s Halo 3 launch? Or BBDO’s genre-bending, Grand Prix–winning “Voyeur” campaign, not to mention Network of the Year honors at Cannes? Or why, night after night, the beach side of the Croisette was lined with agency-sponsored, no-expense-barred galas?
If times are so tough at agencies, why was Leo Burnett throwing a late-night beach extravaganza replete with a video wall, laser show, and Leo-branded, Disneyesque tram to shuttle guests to and from their hotels? If we’re entering the age of small and nimble “unvertising,” why did it seem as if a contingent from Y&R had co-opted no fewer than three tables per night on the ten-euro-a-Heineken veranda at the Carlton InterContinental? Why were my JFK-to-Nice flights filled with boldfaced-type mega-agency principals much better dressed and with much more interesting luggage than me?
Maybe no one wants to work at advertising agencies anymore, but we sure do like their parties.
In Cannes, nothing is subliminal. The seminars and workshops have titles such as “Tapping the Influencers” and “The Beauty of Big.” In Cannes, agendas are in-your-face, the mission statements of the sponsors are ubiquitous, and someone or something is being sold every second of the day. Brand attributes. Production company credentials. New-and-improved visions from eighty-three-year-old ad titans. Here are thousands of talented professionals from every corner of the capitalistic world who have chosen as their vocation the science of knowing what makes us tick, what makes us lean in, what we think we need, and what we don’t know we want. More than music, Hollywood, politics, or art: nothing influences, shapes, and reflects the state of the global psyche more than advertising. And nothing reflects the state of advertising at this particular nanosecond more than Cannes.
What’s fascinating is that in Cannes, the masters of the branded universe are more than happy to reveal all of it, all of their wisdom and secrets and heretofore proprietary insights. Especially after midnight. Especially when holding a glass of champagne.
Don’t believe me? Pick a night, any night.
Okay, on this particular night I followed up a one-on-one afternoon interview and intimate early-evening concert with Tony Bennett at the Majestic with a solitary walk along the Croisette.
There were no fewer than five agency-sponsored galas in action on the beach side of the street.