The Judge or How I Spent My Time in Cannes

This year I was proud to be one of the three American media representatives serving as a Media Lions juror at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity When the invitation came over a telephone call many thoughts raced through my head I39ve never been to Cannes France never been to the Festival but yes I39ve heard the stories and while I39ve judged many award shows this would be my first experience judging an international competition So naturally I grabbed the opportunity amp8211 and felt particularly proud to be one of only a few executives from an independent media agency on the entire juryCannes as the Festival is often called is one of a handful of shows that review work from all over the globe One benefit to the entire industry is that Cannes helps to level the competitive playing field No matter a country39s GDP or the size of a client39s marketing budget what matters is media creativity and results This year39s Media Lions Grand Prix went to Cheil Communications in South Korea for the virtual grocery store created for client Tesco the UKbased global retail and grocery store After our 30person Media jury reviewed the 2600plus entries I can say unequivocally that innovation is happening is markets large and smallSo back to the gig Thirty media executives in Cannes France Festival staff showed us the beach and we saw the beautiful yachts moored in the Cote D39Azur We ate some great food Then we got to work up to nine hours a day judging submissions for the best creative media work globally We were separated into several teams of about seven people each and every day all day for a week Each team viewed a chunk of submissions each consisting of a creative board a video and a short description My team judged almost 200 submissions a day amp8211 a truly staggering amount of workMy group took the longest to finish viewing our allocation of submissions While some weren39t happy about that I was quite proud If agencies around the world submitted their best work the least we can do is give it strong consideration I know that each of my teams gave each submission its proper timeThe submissions were proof that great work is being done in large and small markets all over the world Big advertisers like PampampG Coke Samsung Hotels New York Life Insurance and Target are keeping their reputations up while other smaller marketers are using their agility to design and implement innovative workEverything was judged on 1 The strength of the strategyidea 2 Its creativity and 3 Business results Even though I39m sure everyone read the rules for submitting work it was amazing to us that some entries didn39t have convincing results During the Mad Man era there was an agency called Benton ampamp Bowles which developed a stellar reputation by being true to its motto quotIt39s not creative unless it sellsquot Without results a submission is reduced to a bunch of pretty pictures and an interesting video It strikes me as a waste of time energy and money to submit an award that falls shortIt39s important to note that Cannes is first and foremost a celebration of creativity amp8211 and media creativity is a very interesting concept We39ve debated it since the beginning of time amp8211 or at least it can feel that way if you39ve worked in media business as long as I have In the US we39ve elevated media creativity to a point where it is more than just the new or unusual use of media We believe it is the creative use of media that is on target and consistent with a brand39s marketing and media objectives It39s not the wild and crazy use of media of any sort that is striking in its appeal but irrelevant to the brand It39s also not the implementation of great creative in an obvious place We value creativity when it39s connected to strategyThe work that stood out amp8211 regardless of what country it came from amp8211 was media that went beyond just placing great creative Any true demonstration of media creativity is the interaction between creative and placement and target audience That makes it specialTake for example the Fidelity Investments campaign in the US as a great example of placing the brand39s unique signature the quotgreen line to retirementquot in the media The image of the quotgreen linequot was integrated into sporting events amp8211 for instance in televised golf an image of the quotgreen linequot traced a golf ball39s path to the hole The media agency also placed Fidelity39s green line in football and baseball in broadcast print and onlineamp8230brilliantI also liked Blockbuster39s use of OOH media for Star Trek in Guatemala They brought the Star Trek experience to life by having Captain Kirk quotbeamedquot from one side of the street to another using simultaneously dissolving images on two separate electronic billboardsAnother memorable submission was Infinity39s Best Use of Sponsorships in the US Here the agency leveraged the brand39s sponsorship of the Emmy Awards They truly wrapped the brand in the event with messages in most every media from national broadcast to Twitter Vignettes customcreated by the agency and NBC which featured NBC talent aired during the show Nicely doneWhat39s my tip for succeeding at Cannes Here it goes Develop media ideas together with your creative partner make sure the idea is grounded in the brand39s positioning and strategy make the idea big or seem important make sure the idea is new first time is best make the idea unusual and most importantly make sure to gather meaningful results that demonstrate the idea workedAnd once the judging is over relax and enjoy the viewSteve Farella is the CEO and CoFounder of TargetCast tcm Steve is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in communications strategy and execution Marshalling his resources and expertise in media and market research data mining communications planning and accountability Steve is providing the best in communications services for his growing client base He can be reached at amplt hrefmailtosfarellatargetcastcomampgt sfarellatargetcastcomamp160Read all Steve39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at On TargetCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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The Judge or How I Spent My Time in Cannes

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