Andrew Tinning finds artificial intelligence, big data, Jamie Oliver and a couple of knights over the first half of the Cannes Festival week
SHED’s Andrew Tinning picked up The West Australian’s Fellowship Prize at the PADC Awards and found himself jetting off the the Cannes Lions, again. Here’s his mid-week report on the festival so far.
Rather than offer up a daily dose (Paul Yole has that very well covered) here’s a mid week round up of my time in Cannes thus far.
Let’s start with the weather and the wine. Parfait one day, parfait the next, pretty much sums it up, along with the food, the company and everything else the place has to offer.
This time around, I’ve spent less time in pubs and more in the Palais ogling the work and absorbing the wisdom from a very diverse range of guest speakers.
The hot topics have been data and A-I (artificial intelligence) and how they will shape the future of our industry and determine how we communicate with the consumer in the very near future.
To put it into perspective, of all the data collected over the past 15 years, around 95% has been in the last two and it’s continuing to accelerate at warp speed as tablets, phones and wearables make their way into more and more hands. As a result, the amount of data we will have at our disposal is staggering and what we do with it has the potential to be game changing.
One of the big questions is how will having all this info at our fingertips effect things like the spontaneity, intuition and creativity that has produced such brilliant work in the past? Will it be restrictive or liberating? And will advertising become more of a science than an art form?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
As they say, knowledge is power and with power comes great responsibility. Hearing Sir Tim Berners Lee, the bloke who invented the World Wide Web (imagine having that on your CV!), speak about the inevitable arrival of A-I reminded me of this.
I didn’t really take much comfort in him saying we should be ok as long as we don’t give the robots the same legal rights as human beings!! I just hope Arnie’s still around to save us all
Surprisingly, I found Jamie Oliver to be the most inspiring voice I’ve heard thus far. While everyone else has been talking technology, he spoke of the things that have made his brand so successful. Things like integrity, consistency, honesty and trust. I can’t help thinking we can learn a lot from this.
There was a stat up on the screen at one stage saying that something like 70% of consumers surveyed felt suspicious and uncomfortable at the thought of brands knowing everything there is to know about them. Jamie’s advice was to be honest and direct when creating content and to remember that you need to earn trust before you can earn respect. Wise words indeed.
Speaking of trust, my trusty companion Drew is waiting downstairs as the Campaign Brief lunch at La Colombe d’Or (with special guest Sir Roger Moore) beckons. Au revoir.
