Cameron Hoelter’s Cannes Diary: Day One

Cameron Hoelter, creative director at DDB Sydney is Australia’s representative on the Cannes Lions Press jury. Hoelter, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is of course reporting exclusively for CB.

Day one was a long but enjoyable. Chaired by South American ‘ad giant’ Marcello Serpa. (I think he might actually be a giant)

The jury of eighteen were split into two groups. Each jury member by the end of the day had reviewed over 1700 print ads.

The only way to describe the experience is if you had to read every ‘Lurzer’s Archive’ ever printed, in one day.

The overall impression from day one is that print isn’t really evolving like most other mediums. It seems to be pretty static with just a few technological innovations but those really were novelty uses of tech rather than any seismic shift in the medium.

The freshest work stood out through powerful and sophisticated insights. Which it always has, but it is becoming more intellectual. Well the best work is. The medium might not be fundamentally changing but the great work is defining itself by finding really surprising and sophisticated ways to talk about age old products and benefits.

Unfortunately though, 98% of the work is trapped in formula and technique that has been around for decades. ‘The fastest this’, ‘The most powerful that’. Heavily crafted, intricate and often illustrated visual ideas that you look at and as an old ECD said to me once ‘you want to like’ but when you analyse the underlying idea you kind of feel disappointed. ‘Anticippointed’.

There was still the obligatory ‘strong flash light’ ads and ‘park assist’ still seems to be a hugely powerful selling point in the eyes of car manufacturers as well as ‘distance control’. And the number of exhaust fan ads would lead you to believe smelly kitchens are one of the globes greatest problems. The lesson here is – following last years trends is never going to cut it.

Having said that, and only having seen half the entries there are a few pieces that really shone. As there always is. Work that doesn’t necessarily reinvent the medium, but talks to the consumer in ways you’ve never seen before.

Now for day two.