Cameron Hoelter’s Cannes Diary
Cameron Hoelter, creative director at DDB Sydney is Australia’s representative on the Cannes Lions Press jury. Hoelter gives a rundown of his first three days in the judging room.
Day one was a long but enjoyable. Chaired by South American ‘ad giant’ Marcello Serpa. (I think he might actually be a giant)
The jury of eighteen were split into two groups. Each jury member by the end of the day had reviewed over 1700 print ads.
The only way to describe the experience is if you had to read every ‘Lurzer’s Archive’ ever printed, in one day.
The overall impression from day one is that print isn’t really evolving like most other mediums. It seems to be pretty static with just a few technological innovations but those really were novelty uses of tech rather than any seismic shift in the medium.
The freshest work stood out through powerful and sophisticated insights. Which it always has, but it is becoming more intellectual. Well the best work is. The medium might not be fundamentally changing but the great work is defining itself by finding really surprising and sophisticated ways to talk about age old products and benefits.
Unfortunately though, 98% of the work is trapped in formula and technique that has been around for decades. ‘The fastest this’, ‘The most powerful that’. Heavily crafted, intricate and often illustrated visual ideas that you look at and as an old ECD said to me once ‘you want to like’ but when you analyse the underlying idea you kind of feel disappointed. ‘Anticippointed’.
There was still the obligatory ‘strong flash light’ ads and ‘park assist’ still seems to be a hugely powerful selling point in the eyes of car manufacturers as well as ‘distance control’. And the number of exhaust fan ads would lead you to believe smelly kitchens are one of the globes greatest problems. The lesson here is – following last years trends is never going to cut it.
Having said that, and only having seen half the entries there are a few pieces that really shone. As there always is. Work that doesn’t necessarily reinvent the medium, but talks to the consumer in ways you’ve never seen before.
Now for day two.
After an unexpected half day on day two, day three got a lot more serious.
Today was about the shortlist. Marcello even seemed more serious. Which was slightly disconcerting. Him being a giant and everything.
Before we got under way he stated what he thought the criteria should be for the shortlist.
1. Must be relevant
2. Must have an insight.
3. No jokes, unless they’re relevant.
4. Must work in print. (May have lost something in the translation on this one.)
It was nice to see a greater concentration of good work. And get a better feel for the over all standard. For me there are half a dozen standout campaigns that won’t be in dispute. The real debates will come from everything else.
So the morning was spent judging the shortlist and the afternoon going through the shortlist debating the merits of the borderline work.
There were more ‘Penguin book’ campaigns this year and ‘really strong flashlight’ ideas seem inexhaustible. But ‘Hot Wheels’ ads seem to have had their day.
The final duty of the day was to select a campaign that didn’t make it through to shortlist that you thought deserved a Lion. You could choose any campaign – apart from something from your own office. Not surprisingly conversations during the coffee break seemed to have a little more intensity.
At about 8.30pm we had a final shortlist that was about 8% of all entries. Some of it I’d rate as lucky but the majority of it worthy.
But that was really the lesson for me today, watching twenty odd people from different cultures all around the world, support some things and question others – you realise there’re so many perspectives on the work at Cannes, that if you get something through, it’s probably pretty special.