In 48 hours it will all be over.  For some, it will be a celebration, for others it will be  the sad realization that they didn’t win at Cannes. 

This fancy table will be one of the many places that agency CEOs and clients will discuss why they did (or didn’t) win.  I’m sure some of us judges may be questioned or congratulated about a decision to two.  While our responsibility was very demanding, I’m very proud of the decisions we all made. 

As you know, the media competition here has gotten very competitive.  After viewing much of the 2,600 submissions, I can say that great work is being done in large and small markets all over the world.  Big advertisers like P&G, Coke, Samsung and Target are keeping their reputations up while other, smaller marketers are using their agility to design and implement things that are just wonderful. 

What’s my tip for succeeding at Cannes?  Here it goes: make sure you develop your media ideas together with your creative partner, make sure your idea comes our of the brand’s positioning and strategy, make the idea big (or seem important), make sure the idea is new (first time is best), make the idea unusual and most importatnly, make sure you have real results that demonstrate the idea worked. 

Watch for the annoucement of our winners. 

Steve

Our table on the last day of culling down the submissions

Yesterday was the last day of our “culling down” process.  We saw another 110 submissions.

So now that that process is over I do have some observations.  Some agencies are very smart about submitting.  Once they’ve created their case, they seem to submit it to several categories.  We’ve seen cases sometimes as much as three times.

This could either be brilliant or a waste of money.  Only the outcome will prove either way.

There are several ‘jurys’.  Mine took the longest to finish.  While some people weren’t happy about that, I was quite proud.  If agencies around the world submitted their best work, the least we can do is give it strong consideration.

I know that each of my juries gave each submission its proper time.

Ok, I’ve got to go.  Today is the first day of group debate.

They say this is the hard one!

Steve

Day two of judging. Wow, we’re all tired.

Today my group viewed submissions in the Corporate Category and the Integrated Media Category.  Once again, close to 200 submissions with a short lunch break.  It was interesting to view and discuss work from Brazil, Argentina, India, France, Germany, the USA and more with other media and advertising professionals.

While it was sunny and hot outside, our group kept our cool as we pushed through all of our submissions.  Everything was judged on 1. Strategy/Idea, 2. Creativity and 3. Results.  Even though (I’m sure) everyone read the rules for submitting work, it was amazing to us that some entries didn’t have convincing results.  What we and clients look for is straight business results.  Lacking that, it’s nice to see brand health metrics rise.  Finally, if none of that’s available, give us something….anything.

At the end of the day, we felt really good about our decisions and closed the book on another day of judging.

On a softer side, I was able to enjoy fine French dining at a fabulous restaurant called “Restaurant De Bacon”.  No it didn’t specialize in bacon.  It served some of the best seafood in the area with great wine all topped of with a Napoleon…of course.

Day three tomorrow….more notes to follow.

Steve

The Yachts at Cannes: Not for us but nice to look at

So, they take us to this beautiful place, Cannes, France.  Introduce us to top media professionals from around the world. Show us the beach, the yachts and treat us to delicious food.  Then the work starts.

Today we spent 9 hours judging submissions for the best creative media work globally.  My team judged almost 200 submissions.  I hear that there are over 2,000 total submissions.  Wow!

It’s really nice to see how media work from many countries looks.  It’s a big world but, the media practice is fairly consistent.

200 more tomorrow.  We’re all getting ready.