Ronald Ng’s Direct Lions report from Cannes

RonaldNg, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO/Proximity Malaysia is on this year’sCannes Lions Direct Jury. The judging is already underway and each dayRonald is keeping us up to date with the progress. Here’s his DAY TWO report.

So, where did I leave off from yesterday? Ah yes, how many ideas could I remember after dragging myself out of bed this morning? Only a handful, really.

But I tell myself things can only get better. I’ve told myself that a few times already.

We started with a group discussion. David Sable, the Jury President once again brought up the topic of ‘What is Direct?’ That prompted opinions as varied as the price of beer between KL and Cannes. Is it direct only if it has a call-to-action, a URL or if it creates discussion? The list goes on. We debated about defining the criteria even further for next year. But it was Gavin (M&C/Mark) who made the most interesting point. If it’s too defined, it’s going to take away all the fun and all those ‘hey-which-category-does-this-belong-to’ ideas. Not sure if everyone agreed with him, but I sure did.

After a few more discussions, we started judging. Our group had about ahundred ‘Ambient Media for Direct’ entries to look at. Exciting stuffahead.

Not!

Once again, it was dry season. Too many entries that should’ve beensubmitted in Outdoor, Media or Design Lions. Too few that wereinteractive (and I don’t only  just mean digital), would triggerresponse, or simply, inspiring.

At least one of my favourite campaigns of the year was in the pile.Thank you, god. Then Steve (Partners Andrews Aldridge) asked, “Is thisDirect?” It was the most discussed entry of the day, which is eithergood or bad, depending on how you see it. Anyways, let’s see whathappens in the next round. I punched in 9,9,9,9 scores on my iPaq.

We got into another group discussion before lunch. Farouk (McCann)shared an interesting observation. This is the Direct category, but thebest work didn’t come from ‘classic direct marketing’. This probably istrue for the other mediums. Are today’s best outdoor ideas seen on’classic printed billboards’? Or the best films seen on TV?

Lunch break. Just like yesterday, lunch wasn’t deserving of a Gold Lion. Nor Silver, or Bronze. Not even a shortlist!

The session after lunch wasn’t too different from the morning’s. I’m sure tomorrow will be more inspiring. Maybe we’ll find a great,simple idea like the Papa John’s door sticker, or a great, big idealike the Lynx Jet campaign. Maybe.

Read Ronald’s Day One report.