In search of ideas

When I opened the Cannes Daily at the breakfast table this morning I saw the headline, Emmanuel Upputuru to go back home without a single shortlist in almost a decade.

The film, the film craft, titanium and integrated shortlists were printed and the few entries that we had in these categories did not make the cut.

But some other agencies did make the cut. Mudra for Silent Anthem, another shortlist for JWT for Airtel’s Endless Goodbyes. In film craft, Ogilvy’s Train (for Indian Railways) is gunning for a metal. In creative effectiveness, a new category launched this year, BBDO’s Women Against Lazy Stubble for Gillette has been short listed.

I don’t endorse this new category at all. What is the message you are sending out? That these entries are effective and the rest were only creative? Isn’t that exactly what Cannes was attempting to bridge all these years? Stumps me.

Anyway. After having a quiet breakfast and composed smiles at the waiters, I walked back to the drawing board. To see what makes for great work. I sat in the Grand Audi of the Palais, the venue of the Cannes Advertising Festival, and watched the shortlist screenings of various films. Many of them made me angry, jealous, emotional, all in a few hours.

Angry because there was some very uninteresting work. Jealous because there were some spots that made me say, “I wish I had done it.” Emotional because some tried to touch my sensitive chords with issues such as old age, parenting and domestic violence.

After lunch, I attended the “Maurice Levy Invites” seminar for two good reasons. Maurice is not only my boss’ boss’ boss’ boss, but he also has a great sense of humour. And his guest was none other than Paul Buckle from Nestle, one of our biggest clients.

The first question Maurice asked Paul was, “There will be one billion more people by 2020, so how does the world’s largest food company plan to win the next billion people?”

Paul answered, “I see that as an opportunity, not a problem. Nestle stands for offering healthy choices to both the developed and the emerging markets.” He added that countries such as Brazil, India and China are leading the way.

On the question of how do you find the right balance in order to provide popularly positioned products, Paul’s answer was. “Food should have three things — pleasure, which is all about taste; balance, which is about choice and balance and understanding, which is about giving information, visible on all our packs in the form of a nutrition compass.

On his point of view on advertising, Paul said, “Creativity is unlimited, but should have a purpose. And this should translate into a big idea.”

So, allow me then to take your leave, so I can think of some big ideas.

(The author is National Creative Director, Publicis Capital)