Eric Hirshberg, Cannes delegate
Friday, June 20, 2008 (part three) - OK, a couple of quick, unrelated observations:
1) The most unexpected thing you could do right now in this industry would be to walk into your client’s office and say, “You know what we think you should do? A couple of big TV spots and some nice print ads.” Think about it. When was the last time you recommended that? I think they’d fall over. (By the way, it would probably still work just fine.)
2) Cannes: Sometimes it feels like the South of France. Sometimes it feels like Lake Havasu at Spring Break.
3) American food vs. French food: American food has a much lower ceiling, but a much higher floor. Bad American food is still really not that bad. Take your average rubber chicken dinner for example. Sure, we complain. But that rubber chicken is still alright. Now, take the equivalent big event dinner in France. You get some bad fois gras? That is not a good thing. Then again, a good fois gras? Well, there is no American equivalent.
4) People should stop talking about “reinventing the agency model” until someone actually does it. (Profitably.)
5) We need to band together behind a common cause and vow to make all ad agencies S.A.F.E. (Silly Acronym Free Environments.) I have gotten in some conversations here with a few A.A.s (Acronym Addicts), and I’m telling ya, I understand the French better.
6) Are any of these wonderful print ads with a giant visual, no body copy, a one-word headline and a tiny logo on them real? And if so, I need some Brazilian clients.
7) I am not a sandals guy.
8) If Microsoft really wants to help out the creative community, they need to write a program that correctly translates your calendar entries into the time zone you are in. I haven’t gotten the math right yet. And I was told there would be no math in this career.
9) Even with the math, this really is the craziest, stupidest, best job in the world.
Friday, June 20, 2008 (part two) - There
is some truly great, inspiring work here. The Film and Titanium
categories are filled with the usual dazzling display of “How the hell
did they sell that?” fare, and much of it is great. But you don’t need
another blogger describing the winners in the big, high-profile
categories. And besides, some of the stuff that turned me on the most
is actually in some of the less celebrated, “earlier in the week”
categories.
One of my favorites was a piece of good old-fashioned
direct mail. A detergent company sends out a sample of its product.
Nothing special. Sampling is standard direct response technique. But
these guys wrap the sample in a white T-shirt. The normal process of
mailing the package causes the T-shirt to become filthy. So when it
arrives, you have the sample, and the perfect product on which to test
it. I can’t imagine the team who’s desk this brief landed on jumped for
joy that day. And yet they came up with something brilliant, hard
working, memorable and entertaining. Love it.
Another one of my
favorites was also a form of direct response—this time in the form of
an arresting piece of event marketing. Hundreds of child-sized coffins
are placed all over the city of Stockholm. On the coffins, copy
explains the number of children’s deaths caused by hunger. Then it
gives you a number to text a donation. If you donate the minimum
amount, the coffin is taken away. Evidently, they met their donation
goals, and all of the coffins were gone in a matter of hours. Wow. I
was not only blown away by this idea as a creative, I actually tried to
text in a donation. It didn’t work from my U.S. phone. But I can’t
remember the time I looked at something as a judge or in an annual that
broke through my critical mind-set and actually made me respond as a
consumer.
Another favorite was an equally smart piece of environmental marketing. A video-store chain is losing sales to pirated DVDs sold on the street. So the agency creates fake pirated DVDs and actually sets up shop on a street corner and sells them. The unsuspecting buyer gets home and pops it in. The actual movie plays. But a half-hour in, the movie is interrupted by an anti-piracy message talking about how pirated DVDs actually fund terrorism. The public service style message is brought to you by the video chain, which claimed a sizeable bump in sales after the stunt. Clever, inventive, compelling solution.
Which brings me to one of the most awarded pieces of the show: “Voyeur” for HBO. By any measure, it is a mesmerizing, inventive and spectacular piece of content. I would have loved to have been walking by when they were projecting it on the side of the building. And when it came out online, I played around with it a bit. As a piece of interactive drama, it is sublime. But (and I know I am in the vast minority here) I really have a hard time figuring out what it did for HBO. I mean, it certainly didn’t make me want to watch John From Cincinnati. And to be honest, I’m not going to be any more likely to subscribe to HBO (or keep the subscription that I already have) because they put out a piece of cool interactive content that is unrelated to any show I can watch on their network. So while I admire the artistry, and the craftsmanship, I question the commercial value. “Voyeur” has taken two Grand Prix already, and I’m sure it’s got a great shot at taking the Titanium. It’s got the buzz. And if HBO had made “Voyeur” into a show, I’d probably watch it. But in the meantime, there are clients out there with detergent to sell.
Friday, June 20, 2008 (part one) - First of all, my apologies to the good folks at Adweek
for my embarrassingly late start with this blog. I only arrived
midweek, and it has been non-stop events from then until now. In fact,
I am sitting down to write this, my first entry, at 12:41 a.m. on
Friday morning. Now, to be fair, for anyone reading this who has not
attended Cannes, it might be important to note that 12:41 a.m. is
considered roughly midday here; which brings me to my first
observation. It’s amazing how much really valuable, productive,
enlightening, inspiring and important work I’ve gotten done here so
far, considering that I have not yet even picked up my pass for the
show or set foot inside the Palais. You might think it is simply the
non-stop, alcohol-enriched gatherings that have kept me from doing any
“official” Cannes business (and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong). But
the fact is, one of the primary benefits of being at Cannes is simply
being with everybody else who’s at Cannes.
I have literally seen everybody in this business that I’ve ever
admired, competed against, fired, worked with, wanted to meet or wanted
to hire in my entire career, all in one place. Throw on top of that all
of the journalists you care about, all of the production companies you
have worked with (or want to work with), all of the potential clients,
and all of the just plain friends, and it is easy to fill the day. But
it is only in hindsight that you realize how much actual work you’ve
gotten done. How many relationships you’ve forged, or reopened. How
many opportunities you’ve created or at least stumbled onto.
I’m not sure this was anywhere in the vision statement when they
created the festival. After all, this, like all creative award shows,
is concerned most of all with celebrating the work. But advertising is
and always will be a business of people. Agencies are little more than
beakers holding a variety of ingredients that either have chemistry and
create a spark together, or don’t. Whether you are building an agency
or building your career, getting to know people in this business
matters. And letting people get to know you matters, too. We are all
competitors, but in this business, perhaps more than most, community
counts. There’s a code among thieves. Why not us? And there are few
environments I’ve ever been in where you can do that very important
work more efficiently and effectively than this one.
I’m not sure if the invitation simply read “Come to Cannes, because,
ya know, we should all get together more often,” if any of us would
actually attend. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Tomorrow, I will
actually wade into the Palais and start poring over the work. Much of
which I’m sure will be great, and inspiring, and enlightening. But by
no stretch will it be the only thing of value that I will have gotten
out of the trip.
—Eric Hirshberg is chief creative officer at Deutsch/LA and a Cannes delegate.
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