By the time you read this, I would have just about landed at Nice. An hour’s drive along will take me straight to the Carlton Hotel, where I will be spending the rest of the week. Before I check in, though, I plan to grab a copy of the Cannes Daily, which would carry the shortlists in the categories of outdoor, media, radio and print. I will most probably feel like a twelfth-class student waiting for his board results as I scan the daily. I will obviously look for the name Publicis Capital. I hope to see it enough number of times.
As I write this article, the results for the Direct and Promo Lions have just been declared. Mudra, BBDO, Creativeland Asia and Grey are the lucky ones from India to get off the mark. God willing Publicis Capital should open its account tomorrow.
The entry that I am most hopeful will bag a metal is called Blow Up. It’s a campaign designed to save public property. The idea is pretty simple: A lot of public property is destroyed during protests. So Indiapicture, an imagebank offered free images of public property to protesters.
The first ones to come forward were the Gujjars who were involved in violent protests in Haryana. Their leader took the offer and burnt a life-size (forty feet in length) image of a bus. Then in Bihar, too, a mob that was protesting against power cuts came forward and burnt an image of an ambassador car.
Then there are a few more entries for Hewlett-Packard, a client which has been quite lucky for us. We have been picking something or the other for the last three years because of HP.
This will be my fifth visit to Cannes. So, by now I can already imagine being there. Nothing changes at Cannes except, of course, the kind of work that you get to see. Why do I love going to Cannes? For me, it’s one high that I get every year. It’s a place that shows where the needle is moving. Having said that, what I have learnt is not to follow trends. Because by the time you try to imitate it, something new starts, and you are invariably left playing catch-up. I seriously haven’t had the time to follow what’s happening in the past few months. And, I have deliberately avoided seeing any predictions list because I want to be surprised at Cannes. I hope I will be surprised.
Where else and how else can you see the year’s best work around the world in a week? It’s the best training programme one can get. I look forward to a few Gold Lions. Long walks along the croisette. I look forward to Edward de Bono. I grew up reading his books. The smart thing that the Cannes guys have done is to include a lot more people than just the usual suspects, the creatives. You see clients, artists from various fields, Facebook founders. Last year, they invited artiste Yoko Ono to perform on stage.
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Of course, there are enough number of people who come to Cannes purely for the parties and tourism. That’s a shame. I remember an incident some years ago in one of my previous agencies. The creative director who had just come back from Cannes was sharing her experience with her team. I can’t remember exactly what she said, but it’s something like this: “It’s such a great place. I was inspired by just looking at the people there. Everyone was so slim and sexy!”
(The author is National Creative Director, Publicis Capital)