It’s day one and we’re already feeling a little dusty. That may have something to do with the fact that we went to a nightclub last night called Soon, where all patrons get sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher. Never good for a strict Kora cleanse, tone, and moisturize regime.
First up we saw Stuffed, Stamped, and Licked. To be honest we didn’t expect much as direct mail doesn’t exactly lick our stamp but we were pleasantly surprised. The word ‘ideas’ was officially bastardised to the point where ROI was redefined as ‘Return On Ideas’, which we dug and will surely re-appropriate as our own in many meetings to come. Patrick Collister showed us loads of cute executions within the DM spectrum. Yes some of them were quite brilliant… our favourite was a letter carved into a 2 x 4 piece of wood sent by a karate school – the receiver simply needed to chop off the coupon and send it back in.
Next up was a workshop, which we’re finding far more rewarding than the seminars, called Mobile Mania by Wunderman. A great session focused around ‘A manual for the second internet revolution’ presented by a surprisingly old guy.
The upshot was that 2010 is all about mobiles and apps and less about browsers and laptops. Best stat of the conference so far:
In 1999 - 200 million networked computers
In 2010 - 4.5 billion mobile phones
Now that does sound like a global revolution in the making… or as it’s being coined over here - ‘A Glocal movement’.
Lets fast forward through Sapient Nitro and TribalDDB, not that they were bad but just in the interest of getting to an Aussie presenter - Simon Mainwaring - A one-man brand by the look of him.
The topic was ‘The How of Social Media’ and he had 7 very polished and well-presented points:
1. Advertising and capitalism need each other to survive
2. Consumers want a better world… not just a better widget
3. The future of profit is purpose
4. Advertisers must become architects of community
5. Reverse what you know about advertising
6. Consumers now co-author the stories we tell
7. The evolution of revolution is contribution
Go the Aussies!!
After leaving the Palais via the red carpet at around 6pm we ran into a bloke from Leo Burnett doing a social media experiment, and no we don’t mean he was just trying to get laid French style. ‘David On Demand’ is his name and he’s wearing a 24/7 head cam. ‘DOD’ is ready to do whatever you want, kind of like Subservient Chicken except it’s in Cannes and not so finger lickin’ good. You can check him out at www.davidondemand.com
Bon Soir Diggers