Anthony Svirskis’ Cannes Diary #1
Anthony Svirskis (far right), chief executive officer at Tribe is representing Australia on the Cannes Social & Influencer Lions jury. Svirskis, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors writes for CB.
Bonjour de Cannes! It’s day three on the French Riviera and scorching (even for an Aussie). Outside of judging the inaugural Social & Influencer category, today was all about cake and crustaceans – although, not necessarily in that order.
There was cause of celebration, and not just because the task of pre-judging has come to an end. We in the jury had a birthday among our ranks, and the cake delivery from the Cannes Lions team was most welcome.
Facebook CCO (and more importantly, our Cannes Lions Jury President), Mark D’Arcy (centre), took us to Gaston & Gastounette, a classic French eatery overlooking the Med, serving fruit de mer – seafood, to you and me – for lunch. A convivial and typically French way to get to know our fellow jurors – thanks Mark!
Unsurprisingly, when
you spend three days on lock-down, smashing through 1,500 submissions, each worthy in their own right, bonding with your peers is paramount to smooth sailing. We’ve got a great bunch of guys and girls up here, and having sifted through 750 submissions each, I’d like to think we’ve grown quite close. Or at least as close as one can get with headphones planted in 
your ears for eight hours a day.
Considering it’s the first time this has been done, and given the hysteria over the drop in submissions this year, the content we’ve seen is exceptional: resplendent, diverse, and pushing the boundaries. I can’t wait to find out who will win.
We’ve seen submissions which really capture the potential diversity of the influencer medium. The channels we’ve seen utilised go beyond what one might expect – beyond Twitter,
Instagram and YouTube – and into using the social aspects of platforms as disparate as Uber, Tinder and gaming consoles to cross-promote causes, products and brands. The nous of these campaigns is extraordinary; brilliantly clever, eye-opening stuff. It will surely inspire some great work down the line, which is what this week is really all about.
Another thing my fellow jury members and I have noted is the evolution of diversity in output. The medium today goes beyond photo posts. The format itself has evolved rapidly. From GIFs to chatbots and harnessing user generated content to hit the message home, we’ve seen an impressive array of submissions from around the globe – which only makes picking the shortlist all the more challenging.