Chris Zander, managing director/partner at Venice, CA-based prodco, Backyard, chimes in from the French Riviera and talks about why Cannes is still worth attending. So, we’ll indulge and live vicariously through him for the next few days. Stay tuned for more and you can follow Zander at @realchriszander.

I’ve come to Cannes eleven times over the past thirteen years, and most of the trips have blurred into each other.  Whenever somebody asks me what has changed since my first trip here, I usually answer that nothing has really changed but some of the faces.  Tuesday night here could always be counted on for being quiet…the calm before the storm.  But last night, for the first Tuesday night ever, the restaurants and bars were packed.  The streets were buzzing, and the Carlton was overflowing like the typical Thursday nights of the past.  Digital and Innovation have finally caught up to TV.  There is a palpable energy here, and a bigger SXSW-type of crowd.  There is an energy of excitement…what is coming next??

Read more

Most people can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, but Arnold Worldwide’s latest creation, the socially versatile Pogogram, can multitask with ease. The pogo stick can bounce, take video and pictures, and post content to Instagram, Vine, Flickr, etc. Still working on that chewing gum bit, though. I’m not sure why the agency would build such a tricked-out pogo stick with a Canon G15 camera attached – maybe so staffers can goof around in the lobby on breaks? – but it’s a cool side project bolstered by a minimalist video with a peppy French song straight out of a Woody Allen movie. You may also want to know that Pogogram even holds a pogo stick Guinness World Record for highest bounce.

Arnold seems to have a fondness for building souped-up consumer products. First there was the socially connected beer vending machine, a homey staple for frat houses with an abundance of engineering students. Next came the Arnold Bike from Arnold Amsterdam. Beer vending machine, check. Bike, check. Pogo stick, check. Now, is there a way to combine all of the inventions together? Maybe a hydraulic bike with a beer dispenser? Think of the awards that baby could win…

While yours truly languishes in the humidity shrouding NYC as of now, we’ll be receiving daily Cannes reports from one Chris Zander, managing director/partner at Venice, CA-based prodco, Backyard. As he awaits his flight to the French Riviera, Zander, who will be be going rogue in a sense for the duration of this year’s Cannes Lions, tells us in his first submission, why go in the first place? Consider this an introduction post more than anything if you will. Stay tuned and you can follow Zander at @realchriszander.

Tonight, I’ll be on Delta 82 to Nice with half of the advertising world.  The next five days will be a whirlwind of dinners, drinks, villa parties, networking, late night dancing and late morning jogs.  This year my travel partner will be Kris Mathur, my good friend, Backyard’s esteemed executive producer, and the real Most Interesting Man in the World.

If you want the Cannes Ad Festival updates, you are in the wrong place.  I won’t be buying a delegate pass.  I tried going “official”  one year, and went to multiple sanctioned events.  It wasn’t for me.  I discovered that short list screenings were a perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep.

My guess is that at least half of the annual attendees are in Cannes as unofficial delegates.  Walk around the Gutter Bar before the sun comes up next Sunday morning, and you may see one or two happy people carrying around Gold Lions…maybe.  Trust me: if the crowd was limited to the award winners and delegates, the festival wouldn’t be nearly as fun, crowded, and colorful, and almost everybody would be asleep by midnight.  There would be nobody in the street to pose for pictures with the Leopard Ladies.  The energy level would be severely reduced, and the opportunity to be taken on day trips to Saint Tropez would we greatly diminished.

Read more

Since we’re once again staying put here in the States during all the Cannes Lions revelry, we’re happy to see that a few folks have taken it upon themselves to bring to fruition what we were always destined to do one day at the Festival via an effort called “Busted at Cannes.”

We did a little digging, and yes, we’ve been told that this is a side project concocted by a couple of EVB staffers including the San Francisco-based agency’s VP, director of technology & innovation, Aaron McGuire, whose name is actually plastered all over the Busted site. Check out the demo video below that just launched to get more of the gist. And no, that Donny Deutsch pic will never get old. Update: The Deutsch image has been removed, so we have the above shot of folks like Colleen DeCourcy and Brian Morrissey instead.

Perhaps in an effort to indulge everyone’s inner-stalker, Made @Sweden will release the Yellow and Blue Pages, a comprehensive contact list for the top creatives who work in the country’s communication industry. Before the guide comes out on June 16 at Cannes, Made @Sweden is pumping up the publicity, taking out ad space in the festival’s program and daily newspaper to promote the literal and figurative open book. Take a second to focus on how European this it. I’d be stunned if American professionals did the same thing. Farfar alum/current McCann Europe chief innovation Matias Palm-Jensen, who may or may not be a character from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is even giving out the phone number to his summer home. I think Made @Sweden is underestimating how relentless and annoying people can be when given a chance to anonymously contact someone, but the openness is certainly refreshing in theory.

After the jump, you can also watch clips for Civil Rights Defenders and the Natalia Project, two ventures nominated at this year’s Cannes associated with the Made @Sweden creative academy.

Read more

I don’t get Vine. I don’t get the appeal of six seconds worth of jump cuts and amateur shaky cam, when our mobile photography capabilities are so advanced. But, if Vine has any redeeming qualities, it’s unusual format does open the door for creative contests. Well, maybe more curious than creative, since how much can you really say with poor quality videos in six seconds? Nonetheless, MRM Worldwide just held its 2nd annual “I am MRM” contest where agency employees under 28 could produce a meaningful Vine and win a trip to Cannes.

The finalists, including winner Anna Chechetka, did get quite creative, incorporating text, art, sound effects, and stop-motion. You can watch all of the finalists’ videos here. My personal favorite, complete with fire-breathing dragon, comes from Yi Xiu Lim. It turns out that Chechetka, meanwhile, learned she had won in a personal call from MRM CEO, Bill Kolb. Before getting on the phone, Kolb — who was recently promoted to chairman/CEO of McCann Worldgroup’s GM account — looked at his secretary and in a grumbly old-man voice said, “What is this silly Vine business?” That last part is probably not true; I just made it up to project my Vine feelings on to someone else.

There’s not too much to say about this video. A creative advertising student, who wishes to stay anonymous at the moment, has made this one-minute digital pitch aimed at senior-level industry folks (from CDs to CCOs to CEOs) who have yet to pick out an errand boy or girl for the upcoming 2013 Cannes Lions Festival. The animated video is cloaked in some 80′s synth beats, pastel colors, and dry narration humor, which may not be your thing, but if it is, the anonymous creator wants you to find more information at the “Personal Assistant de Cannes” Facebook page. In return, the student is hoping to receive a Cannes Young Lions pass and accommodations  We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is clever or cheesy or irrelevant. At times like this, it’s better to just report the facts and see what happens next.

On June 19, we received a random email from a guy named “Seth,” who wanted to tell us about how he’s in charge of advertising and marketing his 88-year-old grandmother’s eponymous beer called Ethel’s Brew (see “Ethel’s Brew Story” above). “Seth” explained that the beer was created by Ethel following the loss of her husband Burt because “it was a bit of a dream of theirs after a 1950’s visit to Oktoberfest in Germany.”

Well, we admittedly and unfortunately glanced over it because just over a week later, it’s been revealed that “Ethel’s Brew” was actually a social media effort created for the Cannes Lions by DDB worldwide CCO Amir Kassaei and his team. The DDB crew was responsible for it all, from Ethel’s story to, yes, even “Seth” and according to the agency, it was developed to “raise awareness of DDB’s successful social creativity approach.”

In a statement, Kassaei, whose team came up with “Ethel” in two weeks on a minimal budget, says, “Anyone can throw an over-the-top party, but pulling off a brand and product launch on a shoestring budget is a more exciting challenge for our teams.” Does this effort prove DDB’s social media savvy? Well, we can’t say it disproves it, but we’ll let you decide. Check out Ethel images and a Firefly cyclist enjoying a bevvie at Cannes after the jump.

Read more

Just when we thought we were out…Well, here it is folks, our final item (promise) on the Cannes Lions that was. Once again, those number-crunchers/”idea engineers” at SapientNitro provide us with some pretty visuals and stats to give you an idea of the goings-on during the week, from awards to social media buzz to choice quotes from the event. Here are just a few items of interest that should offer some perspective. More after the jump (our apologies for making you have to squint; image sizes were ginormous).

Read more

Take heed, media buyers. As you can see in the case study above, Justin Gignac and Adam Tompkins found the ideal venue to promote their joint venture Working Not Working, a platform aimed at hooking up freelance creatives, designers and developers with hiring managers. The oh-so-clever pair decided to pony up the Cannes entry fee, roll the dice and enter their site in the Titanium and Integrated category. While we assume Gignac and Tompkins knew they had no chance in hell, their idea paid off as, according to the VO, they reached 100 percent of their target audience in less than two minutes. Not too shabby, fellas.

According to Gignac, WNW now has over 700 freelancers signed up and the likes of W+K, Droga5, Mullen, CP+B and Mother on board.