Ralph van Dijk’s Cannes Diary: Day One

Ralph va Dijk, founding creative director of Eardrum, Sydney is president of the Cannes Lions Radio jury. van Dijk, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is reporting exclusively for Campaign Brief.

Day ‘Juan’: Juan was my driver from Nice to Cannes. A smart, opinionated Spaniard who spends his days listening to the radio. I figured he was very well qualified to contribute some words of advice to my jury before diving into our 1500 spot adbreak. You can hear them here: Juan 3 1.mp3.

It was as intense day, but the Radio Roof Garden (which is the envy of every other jury) helped keep us inspired.

As is normally the case after Day 1, I feel overwhelmed by the chaff and fear there’s a paucity of wheat. The parking assist ads are driving us all nuts as are the verbose 60 sec streams of consciousness with little or no connection to the brand let alone its benefit. We have to sit through them, Juan would have changed stations.