Say it isn’t over! I’ve only just figured out the difference between the six auditoriums and the most opportune time to arrive at Gutter Bar each night.
Cannes’ website states it’s “the festival where creative professionals come to debate, learn and be inspired”.
I certainly feel this experience has lived up to that.
An experience that sees you exposed to not only the greatest minds in your industry but inspired by some of the greatest minds in other fields from ex-Presidents, Olympic athletes, scientists to world famous performers.
I’ve attended countless classes, spent time debating topics with my sorority, contemplated the implications, party hopped along La Croisette, got my groove on to Whitney Houston, drank more rosé than I care to admit, made new friends and functioned remarkably well on around three hours sleep a night.
All in all I've stayed true to what a University or College experience should be like. In all ways but one.
There’s one rite of passage I need to perform before I can fully graduate my Freshman Year and that’s to challenge the ‘Establishment’, rally against the ‘Authorities’ and take a stand for something I believe in.
So my impassioned plea is this: ‘please, for the sake our industry, sort out the judging of the Media Lions’.
Don’t stand there and tell me that contextually relevant billboard placement is the very best of all the work coming out of our industry globally. Don’t tell me on one hand, that Cannes is not just for crazy tactical ideas and then award a Lion for a cinema stunt, which was fun and generated lots of Youtube hits but made not one reference to whether it contributed to any product sales.
Where’s the inspiring Tesco, Bing or Tontine equivalents from last year? I wanted to get goose bumps seeing the winners.
Anyone who knows me knows that, when it comes to the work, I’m a purist. I don’t care what agency created it I want to see great media thinking celebrated. The majority of what I saw awarded this year, simply didn’t do that for me.
Impassioned pleas are meant to be provocative or dramatic at best. That said I don’t want to take away from well deserving campaigns that did inspire. ‘Share a Coke’ did a great job at flying the Aussie flag, the Australian Defence Force was innovative in using technology and the likes of the Aids foundation created chilling ambient experiences to get its point across.
However, I strongly believe it’s time to evaluate how the Media Lions are judged and look at what merit lies with the rumoured ‘blocks’ of judges. I’d have been happy to accept that as lies if the majority of work awarded had blown my mind. Sadly it did not.
You balance the good with the bad. The Awards cast but one shadow on an otherwise phenomenal freshman year that I’m extremely grateful to have had. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed for a ‘sophomore’ one …
Katie Rigg-Smith
Chief Strategy Officer
Mindshare Australia