Cogs in Cannes – Day 5 & 6

Paul Coghlan, senior creative at Meerkats gives his take on the festival….

I want to start by apologising. I don’t know what i was on when yesterday i said that Edward de Bono was knighted and was calling him ‘Sir’ Edward de Bono. Ha ha, I just assumed that because he was so awesome that he MUST be some kind of knight or something – he’s only a Dr. And no one messaged me to tell me that either! How embarrassing.  

Alright. Today was again great.

On my way to the seminars i grabbed an ice cream. In order to get it, i had to smile at a sensor screen in the vending machine. The ice cream then dropped out. Awesome.

Seminar one had Will-i-am from Black Eyed Peas. He talked about innovation and the future. He’s actually employed by Intel to fire up their team with his visions. I originally thought he was employed by McCann for that role! I told a lot of people that too.

He said a couple of interesting things. He wants to eventually be recording music in real time with fan interaction and feedback and collaboration. Sounds profound. But i thought will that mean Will-i-am will no longer be Will-i-am?

The guy who invented Guitar Hero was also on stage. He is now looking at using music as a form of healing. Nothing new…but he wants to create healing/music environments and use music to try to understand conditions like Cerebral Palsy. Nice one.

The next one was brilliant. I was sitting only 20 metres from Sir Ken Robinson. This guy actually is a ‘Sir’, not like the other de Bono Dr guy.

In a humorous and extremely eloquent way he poked through human existence and talked about what has made us who we are today. He concluded that creativity is original ideas that add value. He believes we need to double our efforts to be more creative.

Japanese agency Dentsu was next. Their talk was about the sub-culture Anime (basically means ‘animation) and how this trend has swept through not only Japan but the world. They touched on the earthquake and discussed this trend as a beacon of light for a nation.

Final one i checked out was Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

I must admit i felt star struck. Over the last decade i have worshipped these guys. They did Subservient Chicken. They did Counterfeit Mini. They did Whopper Freak Out. They did IKEA lamp. So, you can understand a dumb smile appearing on my face as they came on stage.

They were okay. Not ground-rumble-melt-my-face-away inspiring. But it was cool just to see them chew the fat about their company and work.

DAY 6.

Here’s a photo of me having dinner with some other delegates over here. As you can see, I’m quite excited about experiencing the local cuisine. Quite excited.

I reckon everything is kind of hitting its stride. There seems to be a calm around the place – a limbo in anticipation for Saturday night. And not even the copious amounts of free drumstick ice creams everyone was eating could break that calm. I think i smashed three all up as i pondered some of the great minds talking through their perspectives on the future of our industry.

From this day forth, whenever I eat a drumstick, i will be reminded of the great ad man Sir (yes, a ‘sir’) John Hegarty. I remember thinking this guy was a God when i read his stuff in uni. And he’s still up there, after today.

His talk was about the fact that growth needs space. He believes our changing world is forcing us to think about difference. And he believes deep down humans have a fear of difference. When he delved into the conventional rigors of our everyday processes, he pulled out this quote, ‘If you ask the same people, the same thing, in the same way, you’ll get the same response’. He reckons in the 80s cars all tried to look the same. He believes advertising is like that these days with the small logo, bottom right mentality. He referred to psychologists talking about dishabituation. I like that word, dishabituation. The Fosbury Flop – dishabituation.

The crux was he believes growth needs space and space needs difference. Awesome talk.

Let me rewind back to the start of the day. I went to the Wieden & Kennedy workshop.

They decided rather than bestow their infinite planning wisdom on us, they’d recruit people outside of advertising to talk about how they ‘plan’ what they do. First up was a woman high up there in Green Peace, Kay Clark (she used to be a planner). Basically she cited a few examples of ‘non-violent intervention’ and touched on how much goes into the planning of these events. The huge Green Peace sign on Mount Rushmore took 18 months to plan. They hired professional rock climbers and seeded them into a local town like James Bond for 2 weeks before the event. Lots of planning. The campaign paid off with loads of coverage.

Her take on an Intervention was interesting. She reckons it’s about creating a space for a different perspective to be heard. Clearly ties into branding. Let’s create space around our brands, then provide a message that’s an interesting or new perspective.

Then India’s greatest wedding planner got up. Her story was fantastic. As India’s greatest wedding planner, she deals with big kahunas – we’re talking a 50,000+ invite list. But she reckons it’s not about being extravagant. It’s about asking her customers what their dreams are about then planning it around what comes from the heart – epic, yet still personal. She found that one of the richest families in India was very down to earth so she explored soft fabrics, soft light and made the entire party feel close to the action.

Again, relating to brands. We work out a brand’s ‘dream’ and then we come from the heart of that dream.

Off to party now!