Monday, June 21, 2010

Does Cannes Matter?


The head of recruiting at Leo Burnett, my old agency, has started a blog about his impending trip to Cannes. He’s affixing a camera to his glasses to record the parties and various goings-on.

So I’m thinking: the advertising business is changing in fundamental ways every day. The point of an agency and the definition of advertising itself being called into question. The ground is shifting beneath our feet. Does anybody else think figuring out this new reality matters more than awarding ourselves for it? Or wearing video glasses to Cannes to capture it all?

Don’t get me wrong: Great work matters more than ever. Figuring out how to reach people when mass-media advertising grows more passe by the day matters more than ever. I just wonder if Cannes matters.

6 comments:

Clark said...

Good question. Cannes matters to the elite because it is the water cooler where you have to hang out. Where you can learn the politics that you are allowed to believe in. And where you can celebrate movies you don't watch or necessarily like but tell your friend you watched and liked because Cannes gives the herd the marching orders.

The mass media is dying because those who create it despise the masses. They feed the masses hate and mental illness. The masses turn off the TV and go to DQ.

G.D. said...

I went to DQ last night, ironically. And mass yesterday, even more ironically.

clark said...

Then you are better off than if you had gone to Cannes. Did you get a cone with sprinkles? And did you get a cone for your dog, like I do?

G.D. said...

I got something called a freeze, which is a mixture of blue raspberry slush and chocolate soft-serve ice cream. It's the color of the Chicago River, kind of nasty, but good.

Patrick Scullin said...

I've never been to Cannes. Never worn a Speedo (all humanity may thank me for that). Could care less about the stunt of glasses with a camera. And I wonder why the world cares so much what happens at Cannes-- isn't it just another show, albeit a big mac daddy of one, but still, we put too much stock in this stuff. If it's good and you like it, well, that should be enough. But somehow we need trophies to justify ourselves. Maybe I'd feel better if I had more trophies, or a camera in my glasses (as long as I weren't wearing a Speedo).
http://www.thelintscreen.com

Steve Schildwachter said...

I'm responding to your mention of the advertising's definition.

There's a big conversation on a LinkedIn group where 360 people have tried to define "advertising" in a single sentence. Here's a roundup:
http://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/take-2-define-advertising-in-one.html