Cannes Lions 2014: Day 1 Recap

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Wait, what?
ITSTARTSTODAY?Cannes woke up a little rough from its year-long hibernation,
staggered aimlessly down the Croisette with its shirt buttoned
Moyshe Kapoyer, and, once at the Palais, delivered a sleepy
Sunday matinee kind of performance. Sunday has always been
the mixed-stream recycling day of the Cannes calendar, and this
one was no exception. The celebrities on stage fit right in, having
each been reduced, reused, and recycled. David HASSELHOFF
ran down the orchestra aisle holding a Baywatch life preserver.
Fortunately, there weren’t that many folks around to see that bit
of creaky-kneed theater. Many of the delegates are just arriving,
the rain has just let off, and those who went down to the festival
halls…well, let’s just say they didn’t have to stand in line.
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the thread
ofanideaBrandOpus spent its lunch hour talking Greek mythology—a tactic
generally not recommended if you want to have company while
you eat. Yet they pulled it off, entrancing a multitude of creatives
with a story about the multiplicity of creativity. Ariadne’s thread
let Theseus travel all possible routes back through the labyrinth
as he sought out his freedom. A pluralistic cast of mind does the
same when you’re hunting for a solution or the best expression of
an idea. Ideas can’t be forced or dug for. They must be entertained
and explored and seen from multiple points of view. Creativity
comes into play next, for it is what you do with the idea once it
happens that matters. Creativity is the journey; it is the work itself.
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distributedcreativity
The pluralistic nature of creativity can apply to creatives as
well. Instead of trapping creative in a silo, smart companies
are learning to nurture innovation in every corner. Permission
to be creative is like a soaker hose for grass seed—it helps it
germinate everywhere. We call that Pervasive Creativity here
at O&M (and we’re damn proud of it, too). For us, everyone is
a creative—not just the unshaven guys who show up at work
to play ping pong at 11 am. Twitter, especially for storytelling
purposes, is distributed creativity in action, and that is
embodied by Sir Patrick Stewart, prince of stage and screen,
who blew the last vapors of The Hoff out of the auditorium
with a gust of respectability. Only two years into his Twitter
life, and Stewart has already used the platform to turn his
public perception from stuffy Olympian figure to hilarious
goofball, in part by putting himself out there and letting the
audience decide what was funny or not. In so doing, he and
Ian McKellen co-created the story of the new Patrick Stewart.
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when did hr become
abattleground?You didn’t know it, but while you were watching Desperate
Housewives, the Talent Wars broke out. Today was
Creative Talent Day at Cannes, and the speakers were
lined up like penguins on an ice floe to give their tips on
how to attract the best ones, appeal to the youngsters,
and get rid of the crappy losers. Millennials are the
choice prey these days, and attracting them takes more
than just hard currency. According to Charles Day of The
Lookinglass, “They are not motivated by money. They
want to make a difference.” (That sentiment drew a snort
of derision from the nearest millennial, by the way.)
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6. Recap day
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1fail it
forwardThe guys at Latinworks also wanted to make a difference,
which was why they came to Cannes with the worst work
they’ve ever done. Their orgy of failure was trotted out to
teach the audience the lessons of failure, and we’re not
talking about the sanctimonious bullshit we usually hear:
the romanticization of failure and gauzy stories of people
who failed and then went on to found eleventy-billion
dollar companies. We learned from these brave souls
the true value of value. “Experience,” said Sergio Alcocer,
“is the real prize of failure.” In a world where information
is accessible to anyone, you find the most value is the
one item that isn’t a commodity. The experience born of
failure is just that thing. It is your competitive advantage.
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