“I’m working, honestly” – A planner in Cannes

Paul Yole is a planner with The Brand Agency in Australia. A third-time delegate in Cannes, Campaign Brief Asia asked him to bring a different perspective to our coverage of Cannes this year.

Day 1, Sunday

Sunday is normally arrival day for me so this was a new experience.

As I am working (honestly), even though it’s a Sunday, I picked up a couple of contrasting seminars today.

Thefirst was a complete waste of time. “Innovations in Online Advertising”promised a lot but delivered little. A stand in speaker who did herbest but was only OK. Which in Cannes, is not OK. So I went for lunch(sat next to the Outdoor judges and the boss of Dentsu!) and returnedlater.

Kevin Eyres from LinkedIn gave some interesting insightsabout how social technology is making companies more transparent andhow individuals using social network sites become their own brands. ButI remain a LinkedIn and Twitter cynic that is hoping to see the lightthis week.

The best was left until last.

Andy Pimentel fromRazorfish is a Doogie Howser-like guy who is a planner from a digitalagency. His talk was about the future of TV and it reminded me of thechilli chocolate gift I was given earlier in the day. You think youknow what you are getting but the actual experience is a lot hotter.

Razorfish has done some research including ethnographic techniques, youth design and bleeding edge studies.

Theyran a deprivation study in which they had to bribe families $175 a dayto go without watching TV. What they found was that people felttortured and that TV, despite all the hype, still plays a central rolein the lives of millions of people.

The overall study revealed 9genes in the DNA of TV that Razorfish believes will not go away andAndy portrayed a future vision for TV that shows how, in his words, itwill become more “internetty”.

So, a digital planner guy talkingabout how a ‘traditional’ channel will have a real role in our livesusing technology that already exists. If only some networks wouldlisten.

The best thing was that the presentation was deliveredwithout the usual platitudes and buzz-words that drive delegates crazy.Good work.

Tomorrow should be good. Press and Outdoor finalists, Go Viral and, yes, Twitter.

Which reminds me. I need to update my Twitter status. And my Facebook page.

It’s getting too much.