The world's biggest and best music festival, Glastonbury, kicks off in a few days and, like this year at the Cannes Lions Festival, it features a heavyweight list of headliners. But the best part of any music festival experience is usually, not seeing the headline act, but stumbling upon some band you've never heard of, performing in a small tent or catching an act on so early in the day the roadies outnumber the crowd. More often than not, those unknowns deliver much more than the headline acts. In some ways the first few days of Cannes have been like that, with much better food, and no portaloos!
In terms of living up to the hype, this year's headline acts have been a mixed bag. The standouts have certainly been Malcolm Gladwell on Monday, Tuesday's presentation from Coca-Cola (which had the audience in an almost Oprah-like state of applause and cheering) and a very honest Robert Redford on what keeps him going (it's not media). But it's the smaller workshops and sessions that have caught my attention, had the most thought-provoking moments and given all who attended an insight into what the key drivers of the next few years will be. Sunday's independent agency showcase would be one to check out online.
The 70/20/10 rule has cropped up a fair bit.. ‘Shared ‘has begun to appear alongside earned, owned and paid. and the role of digital , in all its forms , now plays in the planning process is the natural continuation of what we’ve seen coming out of Cannes for the past few years.
One of the strongest themes of the festival has been around the technology coming down the pipeline and what that means for agencies, content creators and brands. Good examples this include Microsoft's plan to evolve Kinect's Natural User Interface (NUI) and the development of an augmented reality contact lens, which is as interesting as it is terrifying. The pace of change is phenomenal and highlights more than ever the importance of the National Broadband Network in creating the framework in which these products will be plugged into.
Secondly, crowd-sourcing and the effect it’s having on how brands think and act is coming through very strongly. Its use during the recent changes in the middle east and the ability of technology to mobilise great numbers of people was showcased to great effect at the JWT session.
And mobile. Yes, it looks like this is finally the year of mobile. Mobile has been an ever present over the past few days.. Whether it be the concept of mobile money and the impact it's having in Africa and other developing nations; the introduction of near field communication ( to borrow from Gladwell is NFC to blue tooth and QR codes, what Facebook was to myspace and Friendster?)
How important is the role a mobile device now plays in peoples lives?
The question was asked early in the week: What's the first thing you reach for every morning; your partner, your mobile or yourself? Well?
Danny Bass
Chief Digital Officer, GroupM
Danny Bass: Cannes highlights
24 June 2011