Toby Talbot’s Cannes Diary #3

Toby Talbot (left), chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, is representing New Zealand on the Cannes Radio + Audio Lions jury. Talbot, along with most of the other NZ and Australian jurors writes exclusively for CB.

They said the last day of judging would be the longest.

They weren’t wrong.

From the rapid-fire pace of choosing a shortlist for three days, things slowed right down when it came to dishing out the metal. Right. Fucking. Down.

Suffice to say, choosing a Grand Prix isn’t a decision made lightly either.

No stone is left unturned. Debates rage. The bonhomie between judges fades a little as real questions are raised. Tough questions. And in some cases, I felt, long overdue questions.

There were a lot of things I was missing by working beyond midnight that final day.

Like the will to live.

Other things too like old friends who had just flown into town, intent on drinking their entire body weight in that bloody pink wine that after a week you start to hate.

Things like the Campaign Brief Australia/New Zealand opening drinks at the Grand too.

And England’s opening World Cup group game against the undisputed world heavyweights of football…um, Tunisia.

Or did I?

What you see here is me enjoying the lively discussion of my jury whilst chewing a pen.

Or at least pretending to.

But what is really happening is that I am listening to a live broadcast of the England game.

You see, that pen is more than a pen.

It’s a pen that works as a radio.

First you download an app. Then select a station of your choosing.

All you have to do is chew the end, strike a thoughtful “I’m really listening to you” pose and the sonic waves are carried up through your teeth, through your jaws and into your ears.

You can turn up the volume by moving your lower jaw forward a bit.

This ingenious idea was an entry in the Festival and whoever entered it was smart enough given it’s the World Cup this week, to give the judges one to try.

How timely then for this one particular judge who got to experience another tepid England performance.

Sadly, the radio pen isn’t as nearly as good as the case study would have you believe – fancy that – it felt like one of the characters Rob Brydon plays, ‘man in a box’ – you can sort of hear the commentary but barely.

No matter.

It has been an interesting week. Our jury set out to redefine what audio is capable of whilst at the same time celebrated the craft of great writing and production.

Our Grand Prix demonstrated perfectly the power of a simple audio piece to affect change. To see the three South African women who created ‘Soccer game for change’ moved to tears on stage was huge.

And so my time comes to an end.

The sun has shone. The wine has flowed. Dry July beckons.

Cannes may have become a bit of a circus, but world-changing ideas still dominate and for that reason alone, being here is still an honour.

Au revoir.