ADWEEK BLOGGER: Brian Morrissey

• Brian Morrissey is Adweek interactive editor.

Thursday, June 21, 2007 
  While most of the action takes place at the fancy-pants hotels lining the Croisette, Cannes does actually have seminars that can sometimes turn out to be interesting. This afternoon, Nike’s global director of digital media, Stefan Olander, explained the concepts behind Nike+, the Web application for runners that won the Grand Prix in the Cyber category. Some jurors had trouble with how to classify Nike+, and Olander admitted Nike didn’t really think of it as marketing at all. To confuse matters more, in response to an audience question about R/GA’s role in the product, Olander said Nike itself came up with the idea, then partnered with R/GA to make the technology that made it happen. 

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
  Microsoft showed it’s serious about advertising by ponying up $6 billion for aQuantive. It dropped a smaller (though still considerable) sum to show it’s serious about schmoozing in Cannes, chartering the Wally B, a 107-foot sailing yacht (yours for a week for a mere 54,000 euros). On Monday night, Microsoft hosted a variety of digital creative types, including Farfar’s Matias Palm-Jensen, R/GA’s Nick Law and Publicis’ Dominic Goldman.
  Food: B-. Kudos on the sushi, not so much on the foie gras.
Drinks: B. The helpful yacht crew was very adept with the Champagne and a good selection of beers. I still don’t get the attraction of Pimm’s.
  Scene: A. Even sitting in the harbor, a boat beats the glass-throwing crowds at the Gutter Bar any day.

Monday, June 18, 2007
  If “digital” is the underlying theme of this year’s ad fest, a close second is definitely “green.” There are sessions devoted to sustainability, Yahoo! is awarding its purple chair to winners of a consumer-generated green ad contest, and the week is capped off by a Y&R-hosted seminar featuring none other than Al Gore. Apparently, the Cannes organizers didn’t get the bulletin. They unloaded a welcome pack weighing in at a conservative 12 pounds, chock full of postcard adverts of sessions, copies of trade pubs, CDs of TV spots and so on. Let’s see, 11,000 attendees times 12 pounds = 66 tons more of landfill-bound crap. Al will not be happy if he finds out.

June 21, 2007 | Permalink