CAMPAIGN BRIEF’S CANNES DIARY
Cannes is just a few days away and already I am exhausted. Experience has taught me that the best way to attach Cannes is to fly in on the Sunday it starts and leave the following Monday, a day after it ends. But this trip is different due to foolishly accepting an offer to talk at the Bates Asia regional management conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Like all network conferences, the Bates one consisted of three long days discussing the work and direction of the network and three long nights partying until 5am complaining about it. So here I am, awaiting my connection in the Singapore Airlines lounge, and already I feel like it is halfway through the Cannes week.
This is my eleventh time in Cannes and I have two absolute objectives – Don’t end up with bronchitis like last year and make sure I don’t miss the Leo Burnett party on Friday night.
Spending the last two days with bronchitis and laryngitis is not much fun but even in that condition Friday night’s Leo Burnett party is an absolute must. So far this year I have over 30 party/cocktail invitations and 20 odd press conferences and meetings, plus the screenings and 4 awards shows. Obviously, some will be missed but those decisions are made on the day. The one thing that is never missed is this Leo Burnett party. For the past 3 years it has been the highlight of Cannes with tickets selling on ebay for up to 300 Euro. I am not a big attendee of the seminars in Cannes and will make only about 4 or 5 this year. I find that if you spend too much time learning theories, you can miss the creative inspiration that Cannes is all about.
This trip to Cannes is even more important year. For us Cannes is all about exposure and networking on a world stage and catching up with great friends and industry contacts. I will be wearing two hats this year – my normal Campaign Brief Asia one and a new one for bestadsontv.com, our new worldwide creative website. It is also a special time in that two very close friends Craig Davis (JWT Worldwide ECD) and Prasoon Joshi (Regional ECD at McCanns Asia) are both presidents of the Cannes Lions jury.
Cannes attracted 28,284 entries this year (up 10% on last year) including 5,769 entries from Asia, Australia and New Zealand. That’s around US$4.2 million in entries just from our region. More than 9,500 registered delegates from 85 countries will attend Cannes this year and around 12,000 more will come along just for the networking opportunities.
Not to be missed highlights of the week for me will be JWT dinner at La Colombe d’Or (Monday), my usual Cannes Tuesday lunch with Graham Warsop, Wednesday’s Campaign Brief La Colombe d’Or lunch for 60 of our industry friends and the 5 parties on ‘Massive Wednesday”, the Saatchi & Saatchi New Director’s Showcase and Hava’s exclusive Craig David concert (Thursday), Campaign Brief’s big annual villa pool party and the Leo Burnett extravaganza (Friday) and of course the closing gala on the Saturday. Then there’s the gutter bar every night…
Pray for both my liver and my throat.