Dave Bowman’s Cannes Diary: Day One and Two
Dave Bowman, joint ECD of Whybin\TBWA Sydney, is Australia’s representative on the Cannes Lions Direct jury. Bowman, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is reporting exclusively for CB.
So, first things first. Traditionally this is the bit where people in my shoes have previously complained about being inside under fluoro lights in front of a telly while it’s 23 degrees and sunny directly outside on the Riviera. I won’t be complaining about that because it’s still awesome. An overused descriptor, but in this case blindingly accurate. This city knows how to accept an overnight dump of 12,000 egos, most of whom haven’t had a day (or night) out of their office in months. I’ve been put up at a strange hotel with a Moroccan theme. Some jurors are moaning about it already. Some find it amusing. I’m with the latter.
On the Direct Lions Jury this year we’ve got 2528 pieces of work from 67 categories to get through over the next three days in five groups of five judges. So, at best, in the first three days I’ll see around 500 pieces of work.
We get off to a quick start and after brief introductions are right into it. The quality is disappointing at the very beginning, but there are flashes of brilliance that truly humble everyone in the room and let us know immediately where the standard will sit at the pointy end of proceedings. The quality stands out from the word ‘go.’
A couple of early observations; I have never seen so many vending machine ideas in one advertising show and about 85% of the entries in the flat mail category now come with a case study video. In fairness we give the entries that purely had a board accompanying them a generous amount of time and observation and in some cases, they stand up more than those with elaborate hype tapes to sell the idea. Reassuring, really.
We finish up after about 12 hours and get an early night.
Day two starts earlier and with more intensity. Some jurors were still in the room close to midnight last night and we’re under instruction to maintain a pace for this first stage, as we will see all the work that survives again in the coming days. Sounds good, more time to discuss the ideas when we’re down to a more manageable number of a higher quality.
But if I type any more, I’ll be making it up, as it’s now day three.