Paul Yole in Cannes

The Brand Agency’s Head of Strategy Paul Yole presents his daily highlights from the Cannes Lions 2011. My blog posts this year will, I hope, be delivered in bite sized chunks. The plan is to write only a short piece each day about a single standout seminar or workshop, starting tomorrow. Having seminars on the first Sunday doesn’t seem right somehow, but I’m here so I’ll be going. The task should be fairly easy, at least until Massive Wednesday. That’s the day of lunch at La Colombe d’Or followed by Rushes party and Massive Music, all of which are hardly conducive to lucid writing. But we’ll see. Until then there is plenty to look forward to. I’ll also be tweeting (@paul_yole if you want to follow me) and so will my colleagues in the STW Group (@STWnextness). I’ve no idea how I’m going to find time to socialise, but Kim is back this year so I’m sure I’ll have some encouragement.

DAY ONE

A slow start. Thankfully.

This is the first time I’ve been to seminars on a Sunday and it may be my last.

There was some interesting information as usual, but frankly I found the first few talks a little uninspiring. Martin Lindstrom plugged his new book ‘Brandwashed’ based on some new research but since I’m a planner I should talk about the WGSN session about macro trends. Briefly.

They believe that 2012 will see The Triumph of Beauty and in 2013 the three major trends will be Eco Hedonism, Radical Neutrality and Hyperculture. In short, a year of blending, I guess.

Whereas 2011 seems to be the Year of the Jargon.

In other news, I bumped into my old business partner Richard Clarke, and had lunch with three other Aussie reps, Paul Coghlan of Meerkats and The Brand Agency’s Young Lions winners Tim Seddon and Gene Brutty.

It seems we are four of the many who are writing for various blogs this year. At least it keeps us out of the bars for a while.