Cannes't Hardly Wait

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Thanks for making this blog possible David

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Visualizing Twitter data with Deb Roy, Chief Media Scientist, Twitter

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology should be indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C Clarke, Science Fiction Writer, Inventor and Futurist "Sometimes magical illusions can be indistinguishable from futuristic technology." - Marco Tempest, Technoillusionist

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Want to know more about your genetic make up? Just spit in a vial and send it (with $99) to the good folks at 23andMe

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Selected quotes from Conan's talk with Anderson Cooper "What is this set? Everything's white and minimalist. I feel like I'm on the set of French talk show." "I like it best companies give me a lot of money upfront, with no expectations, and then don't check back to see what the impact was to their business" "To be fair we're not entirely sure what this event is. There's this guy in shorts and I'm thinking why did I dress up?" (Anderson) "Advertisers are scum. They need to be told what to do and how to do it." Notable moment: Conan creepily staring down the French MC as he walked offstage.

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Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, on stage with MoFilm and Chevrolet to talk about the democratization of creativity. Jimmy talked about how before Wikipedia he started a very similar project called Newpedia, but the community was much more controlled and walled off, and it failed. MoFilm allows brands to give their brief to an online community of artists, filmmakers, creatives - anyone - to crowdsource the creative development process. Essentially a massive video submission contest. Chevrolet has been a large supporter of this concept - in 2012 they hosted a contest where the winning video received $25,000 and was played in the Superbowl. Check out the winning ad here: http://youtu.be/sjDNxmn3bS0 During yesterday's speech, MoFilm and Chevy announced a new contest where the winner's film will be played at this year's Academy Awards - the ultimate prize for any budding young film maker. For details and information on how to enter, visit http://www.mofilm.com/chevrolethollywood/

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"I get in trouble for this sometimes, but I don't usually think in terms of paid, owned or earned. I think 'is this bitching or is this not bitching?'"

Mike Yapp, Director The Zoo, Google

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John Lewis is a department store in the UK famous for it's annual Christmas commercials. It's 2011 spot, The Long Wait, is a beautiful depiction of a young boy eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning. The Adam & Eve DDB spot picked up a Lion in the Film category last year, and was awarded a Gold Lion for Creative Effectiveness at this year's awards.

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In the vein of 'ambushing' a competitor sponsoring a major event, one of the most talked about campaigns this year at Cannes is Nike's 'Find Your Greatness'. Adidas was the official sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics, but it was Nike's 'Jogger' spot that resonated with amateur athletes around the world and became the most watched ad of the Olympics. Nike may not have been able to talk directly about the Olympics, but they could still talk about what the event is really about - the celebration of human achievement. "Greatness. It’s just something we made up. Somehow we’ve come to believe that greatness is a gift reserved for a chosen few, for prodigies, for superstars, and the rest of us can only stand by watching. You can forget that. Greatness is not some rare DNA strand, not some precious thing. Greatness is no more unique to us than breathing. We’re all capable of it. All of us." If he can do it, I damn well should be able to. Makes me want to actually go to the gym and start training...when I get home.

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At the 2011 Rugby World Cup, it was Steinlager Lager beer, not the official sponsor Heineken, that won the hearts and minds of Kiwis across the country. The New Zealand All Blacks won the inaugural Rugby World Cup back in 1987, a moment of great national pride. Unfortunately, over the next 25 years the team had failed to repeat this feat, and there was great anticipation for the upcoming match. Steinlager's campaign reminded New Zealanders that they had been there since that first Word Cup, and were still standing strong with the fans. They changed their packaging back to the original white can from 1987, which was featured in a series of inspiring outdoor and print ads. These were accompanied by a moving TV spot about a fan who had kept his can from the 1987 game, bringing it out every four years in the hopes of savouring a celebratory drink. http://youtu.be/GP3_0UG0U4I It didn't hurt the campaign that the All Blacks did end up winning the World Cup (and the players chose to drink Steinlager out of the trophy in celebration instead of Heineken). The DDB campaign took home a Bronze Lion at last year's festival, and returned again this year to win a Gold Lion for Creative Effectiveness (the category is open to creative winners from the previous year that are able to prove that they made a significant impact on business results). Now someone just needs to steal this concept and use it for the Leafs...

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In the city of Yekaterinburg (the 4th largest city in Russia), the roads were pocked with numerous potholes, despite promises from politicians to fix them.

To hold these men accountable ura.ru, a local site that covers issues in the city of Yekaterinburg, decided to put their faces on the issue. Literally.

By creating graffiti that turned three prominent potholes into the faces of the Governor, the Mayor, and the vice-Mayor, the site’s stunt immediately drew a tremendous amount of media attention both inside and outside of Russia.

The government's immediate reaction the following day was to send crews to cover up the offending graffiti with more paint, but that only encouraged the troublemakers, who returned to the site to pencil ‘Painting it is not fixing it.’

The result? Within 24 hours, the government sent road crews to fix the potholes. Traffic to ura.ru doubled, and they set up a new project where citizens could report areas of the roads that needed fixing - in the month after the campaign 7.6km of road was repaired, compared to 1.4 in the previous month. (And ura.ru’s agency Voskhod won a Gold Lion for PR)

http://youtu.be/48WoNWYUy7g

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Think your job interview was tough? McKinsey may have made you you work through a number of cases, but Heineken took the process one step further - candidates were put through a series of tests on what was essentially an internal hidden camera show, including being out to the test of helping to catch a man jumping off of a 'burning' building. Check out the video from Edelman London that won a Gold Lion for PR here.

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If you haven't seen 'Dumb Ways To Die', the insanely catchy transport-safety PSA from Metro Trains McCann Melbourne, check it out now. Simultaneously cute and graphically violent, it has become the most watched PSA in history, and is now the recipient of two Cannes Lions Grand Prix Awards - for Direct and PR.

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‘The Bridge of Life’

Samsung and agency Cheil wanted to lower the number of suicide attempts from Mapo Bridge in Seoul, which had become known as ‘The Bridge of Death’ because of the high rate of suicide attempts.

A guardrail was placed along the length of the bridge, which would light up as someone walked by with encouraging messages, kind words, comforting images and song lyrics, and funny jokes. The messages were crafted in consultation with psychologists and suicide prevention advocates.

The result? The rate of suicides from the Mapo Bridge decreased 77%, and Samsung is looking to roll this project out to more bridges around the world.

UPDATE: Camaign just won a Gold Lion for Promo and Activation

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The Four Elements of a Great Story: Unforgettable characters Compelling plots 
 Populist entertainment 
 Social commentary Hemingway, Dickens, and Michelangelo: The Best Agency Ever
Presentation by BBDO

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Sightseeing in Cannes