Alain De Botton inspired and amused his audience today. Unlike most of the speakers at Cannes he chose some old material, Nietzsche, La Rochefoucauld and even as far back as Epicurus.
He encouraged us to fullfill people’s need for happiness, quoting Epicurus' three point plan for a happy chappy: friends, freedom and … Damn! what was the other one? ... oh yes, after some moment of relextion in has come back to me, the third is ‘having the time to reflect’. But what of love?
But the people’s happiness is dependent on the creative’s misery, if you embrace Nietzsche; we should suffer more for our art (and de Botton confirmed it is an art) if we ever want to achieve greatness. Interestingly religion and alcohol (presumably other drugs too) are to be avoided as they allow one to forget misery.
After AdB it was time for the Saatchi and Saatchi new directors showcase which had more Nietzsche than Epicurus. One film from Norway showed a man killing his wife then sleeping with her corpse before finally deciding to dine on her. There weren’t many commercials, but there was some remarkable film making skill.
After lunch it was time to see what P&G were up to. Epicurus would have been proud. From Old Spice to Tide, P&G were connecting with their audience at every level.
The last talk of the day began with an hour standing in line, waiting to be admitted. President Bill Clinton was here to tell us how we, as an industry, should help improve the world. Elegant and erudite he was, but not entirely brutally simple. Once a politician, always a politician.
Ben Welsh
Executive Creative Director
M&C Saatchi