The circus is well and truly in town. As I arrive back at my hotel after day five on the Cyber Jury, the Tumblr gutter bar is spilling out into the gutter. Yahoo! and Google face off in a display of power across the Boulevard. The Spotify bar next door is pumping Daft Punk's Get Lucky.
After four days of solo judging to determine the shortlist for Cyber, today was the first time the 24 Cyber judges emerged from our headphone cocoons and interfaced. We had whittled the initial 2,000+ entries down to under 300 and today was all about healthy discussion to weed out any non-Lion-worthy work that may have made it through.
Seeing all the finalists together was enlightening with five patterns emerging :
1. Websites or Facebook
The website categories have a lack of entries as Facebook and other social platforms continue to dominate brand activity. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Facebook backlash from creatives in 2014 as we've all seen far too many entries that pull your social photos and status posts into some sort of confabulator and spit them back in a customised shiny digital trinket. There is some wonderful craft in the website entries that have made it through and they'll reignite the desire to make content rich sites.
2. Banners
Much like Websites, this is a section that is dwindling in submissions and in overall quality. There's a great opportunity for future entrants to dominate in this category.
3. Video – growing and evolving
Websites and Banners may be feeling the pinch but the Video categories are brimming with work. The challenge in Cyber is determining genuine online videos vs TV commercials posted online. This topic created a long debate in the jury today and was also one that came up with the AWARD jury earlier this year. As the lines continue to blur the definition of this category needs to evolve.
4. Partnerships
There's a trend for brands to partner with all kinds of artists and technologists often both at the same time along with consumers to make experiences of epic proportions. Some are great, some are…
5. Zany, Whacky Tech
In a race to uncover the next best thing or stand out there have been a number of entries that have forced the jury to question if they really exist. And if they are genuine, do they genuinely bring any real benefit or delight to the end user.
One day of judging remains to determine the colours.
Bradley Eldridge
Executive creative director
Soap Creative