Festival Day 6 (Friday 6/24)

This morning was a little harder to wake up so I got to the festival around 1. At least we all had a good time at the Microsoft party though. The first thing I did was go to the McCann Worldgroup & MRM Worldwide seminar with will.i.am. It was all about how technology amplifies creativity. Will.i.am talked about how different the music industry is with all the technology now available. He said that he makes some songs on the internet and then sends them to someone over e-mail. I thought that was really interesting because he can basically do his job online. But even though technology is huge, he still made reference to the fact that fans still want to see their favorite artists in concert and not just online.

            After the seminar I grabbed some lunch and headed to the young lion’s zone to attend the 20Something master class. 20Something is an advertising agency that is completely run by students in Belgium. They said that it is a challenge for them to find eligible people to fill the positions, but they manage to find some of the most talented students for each area of their business. Their clients get the benefit of getting a fresh perspective from the Y generation.

            Then, a few of us went to go view commercials. We saw 3 different categories which were alcoholic drinks, household cleaning products, and public awareness messages. Most of them were funny but some of the public awareness messages were really sad. Some of the best were Skol beer from Brazil, Febreze air freshener, and a public awareness message about honesty.

            The last thing for the day was our speaker, Amr Salama, from Egypt. He is a filmmaker and talked all about the revolution which was really interesting. He says that news over there is more open now and people don’t really know how to act because they realize that they finally have power. He is making a film right now about a kid pretending to be Muslim, but it got rejected. He is stubborn though, so he said he’s going to do it anyway, even if he goes to jail. One last thing he said that I loved was, “If you don’t believe in the product, don’t sell it.” This is really great advice for us when we try to find a job.

Festival Day 5 (Thursday 6/23)

This morning was a little harder to wake up so I got to the festival around 1. At least we all had a good time at the Microsoft party though. The first thing I did was go to the McCann Worldgroup & MRM Worldwide seminar with will.i.am. It was all about how technology amplifies creativity. Will.i.am talked about how different the music industry is with all the technology now available. He said that he makes some songs on the internet and then sends them to someone over e-mail. I thought that was really interesting because he can basically do his job online. But even though technology is huge, he still made reference to the fact that fans still want to see their favorite artists in concert and not just online.

            After the seminar I grabbed some lunch and headed to the young lion’s zone to attend the 20Something master class. 20Something is an advertising agency that is completely run by students in Belgium. They said that it is a challenge for them to find eligible people to fill the positions, but they manage to find some of the most talented students for each area of their business. Their clients get the benefit of getting a fresh perspective from the Y generation.

            Then, a few of us went to go view commercials. We saw 3 different categories which were alcoholic drinks, household cleaning products, and public awareness messages. Most of them were funny but some of the public awareness messages were really sad. Some of the best were Skol beer from Brazil, Febreze air freshener, and a public awareness message about honesty.

            The last thing for the day was our speaker, Amr Salama, from Egypt. He is a filmmaker and talked all about the revolution which was really interesting. He says that news over there is more open now and people don’t really know how to act because they realize that they finally have power. He is making a film right now about a kid pretending to be Muslim, but it got rejected. He is stubborn though, so he said he’s going to do it anyway, even if he goes to jail. One last thing he said that I loved was, “If you don’t believe in the product, don’t sell it.” This is really great advice for us when we try to find a job.

Festival Day 4 (Wednesday 6/22)

The young lion’s party was a lot of fun last night! We were there for a while and then we found ourselves at the famous “Gutter Bar.” It was fun but trying to get a cab back to Juan Les Pins was way too hard. We waited for about an hour and finally got one for 40 euro.

            Today started a little later than the past few but we had some exciting speakers planned. Jennifer Frommer from Interscope Records was very interesting and I enjoyed hearing about her job. I think it would be a really fun job because you get to work with artists, but she seemed like the job somewhat hurt her love for music. I don’t think I would want to do her job because I want to keep music as something that I love and something that is relaxing to me.

            Shortly after, was our next speaker, David Simon, at the Majestic Hotel. The Majestic Hotel was really nice and I wonder how much it is to stay there. The food and drink provided for us were an added bonus. David Simon was absolutely crazy, but I kind of liked it. He was a little dark but it was obvious that he is a very smart person. I thought it was really interesting what he had to say about advertising in the middle of something like a TV show versus doing the advertising all at the beginning or all at the end. After talking with David Simon we got some lunch and tried to figure out where to view commercials. We never figured it out so we just went in the young lion’s zone and hung out with everyone.

            Our last speaker of the day was Allison Arden, the publisher of Advertising Age. She was very down to earth and easy to talk with. I really like how she addressed her personal responsibilities with her family and that she can still do both even in a high position. I did find it surprising that the study on ethical jobs showed advertising professionals as ranking low in ethics. I don’t agree with that, but I think that the industry should always do its best to stay professional and keep a good name for itself.

            Tonight is the much awaited Microsoft beach party! After last year’s stories, I’m sure we will all have a great time. This will be a nice, relaxed setting for networking with people in the advertising industry!

           

Festival Day 3 (Tuesday 6/21)

The day started out early by taking the 8:40 train to Cannes. We stopped at a great little coffee shop and I got a chocolate chip muffin to jump start my day. Our day of seminars started out with AgenciaClick Isobar and Fiat at 9:30. This seminar wasn’t very interesting to me, but we did sit next to a Yahoo executive from California. He was really nice and gave us some insight on how to go into the workforce. It wasn’t a big surprise that he got his job through a relationship he had formed years ago. Networking and your contacts really do matter when it comes down to it! One thing I did learn from the seminar, though, is that Brazil has the fourth largest car market in the world. The picture he showed of rush hour looked a lot like Atlanta!

            The next seminar was IPG and Women’s Leadership Network. Martha Stewart was on this panel and this was my favorite seminar of the day. They shared that less than 10% of the jury members for the festival are women. Also, women only hold 3% of top creative positions, but influence 85% of purchases. I found this statistic really astonishing and kind of sad for the industry. As a woman studying marketing, this is a challenge for me to try and get to the top. I find it really strange that so few women are at the top in this field when all of our marketing and advertising classes are primarily women. It was very encouraging to hear the panel of very successful women talk about how they view the glass ceiling and how they got past it.

            I also enjoyed the Yahoo seminar with Robert Redford. He talked a lot about taking risks and that they are an adventure and not a negative thing. Risks give you the chance to explore new territory, so risk and freedom are aligned. I think it’s important for a brand to take risks so that they can learn from it and continue to move forward. He also said that one of his favorite movies was “A River Runs Through It” because he got to fly fish and he loves the sport. I think I want to try fly fishing someday.

            Digitas Vevo was a great seminar as well. I really like music so I enjoyed hearing about the marketing side of music. Just like any other product, they talked about understanding your customers and not just trying to sell records. They stressed that it is about what the people want and not about what you’re selling. I was very impressed with Pharrell Williams during this seminar. I think he spoke with a lot of class and really reflected nicely on the music industry, particularly the rap and hip hop industry.

            I’m excited for the young lion’s party tonight as well as a big day tomorrow packed with seminars and the Microsoft party!

Festival Day 2 (Monday 6/20)

I started off the day by viewing some commercials which were all public service announcements.  They were anti-tobacco, anti-alcoholism, etc. I only viewed them for about fifteen minutes but they were interesting and I am going to try to view some everyday of the festival.

After commercials, I rushed over to the BBDO seminar to make sure to get a good seat. I was very surprised at how crowded it was compared to yesterday. A few of us went in together but we all had to split up. I actually did not mind sitting alone because I felt more engaged in the seminar. Richard Dunmall and Simon Bond from BBDO talked about different screens and how they are not just blank canvases. They explored the differences between the TV, PC, Mobile, and Tablet. The overview was that the TV screen is to entertain and relax, the PC plays a stronger, more important role in one’s life, the mobile is highly personal and customizable, and the tablet provokes action. I really enjoyed this seminar and hearing about the geographic and generational differences in the four types of screens.

The next seminar I attended was Kraft Foods with Malcolm Gladwell. Right before the seminar I heard someone talking behind me about how they are from Germany which is my country for our assignment. All during the seminar I was thinking about what to say to him afterwards. After the seminar, I introduced myself and got his email. I just emailed him and I can’t wait to see what he has to say about advertising in Germany! The Kraft Foods seminar had an interesting message of not wanting to be first but the importance of being third. When I thought about it, it’s true that every great brand was not the first of its kind. Facebook was not the first social network and Google was not the first search engine.

Next, was the seminar by PHD with Mark Holden. It was about the new and upcoming technology to look out for. He said that by 2016, half of ALL TVs will have internet connection. Also, a growing number of screens will have face recognition and advanced voice recognition. The thing that I found the most extraordinary and actually a little creepy are social realtime dashboards that will allow your social network to actually see you and what you’re doing when you check in.

One of the most interesting parts of the day was the Microsoft tour. It was so fun to see all the new technology that they are coming up with. I really liked the table touch thing by Samsung. It seemed like a good way to interact with others while still using technology.

We finished off the day by attending the Google happy hour on the beach. It was so fun and I want to go back everyday after the seminars!

Festival Day 1 (Sunday 6/19)

Day one of the festival finally arrived! I was most excited about the UM, L’Oreal, & BMW seminar and also the imc^2 seminar. These seminars where not as good as I thought they would be, and I actually was more engaged in both of the other seminars I saw. The first seminar I went to this morning was goviral with Jimmy Maymann, the executive chairman, and Martin Lindstrom, a brand expert/author. The title was “The Long Idea” and was all about how to make your brand last. They used soccer as a metaphor and talked about the media revolution of the World Cup.  They shared a stat from 2001 that 15% of what we talk about is linked to brands. Now, in 2011, 37% of what we talk about is brands.  I found this very interesting that we are in a world that is continuing to put more and more focus on brands.  In fact, they discussed how brands are so important that about 60% of most powerful brands share the same activation in the brain as a person’s religion. They gave an example of a powerful brand passing the “smash test.” Coca-Cola is considered a powerful brand because you can smash the bottle and pick up a piece and still know that it is a Coke bottle. This was interesting to me because it is so true. Their 1:9:90 study was also amazing because it illustrates that one person has an influence on 100 people through word of mouth. I’ve always thought that word of mouth advertising for a business is the most effective as well as the cheapest way. They ended their presentation by talking about how our world is increasingly becoming a world of demand and how to build momentum online. After that seminar we met with USA Today’s Susan Lily which was great to hear what the U.S. does before and during the festival. I thought it was interesting what she had to say about picking judges and trying to find eligible women in the field. I agreed with her view on how women have other priorities besides work so it is hard for them to get to those high level positions. UM, L’Oreal, & BMW was about new media and marketing technologies and the positive impact technology has on marketing. I was not very impressed with this seminar and did not really like the panel set up. Thenetworkone seminar was very interesting and funny. They talked about the importance of independent companies over big companies. I had no idea how many companies are independent. One of the speakers was Ali Ali from Egypt, and he was so interesting to listen to. He talked about what to do when clients are not spending money like during the Egypt revolution. One quote I found very interesting is “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.” The imc^2 “Friends with Benefits” seminar with Nick Jonas was not what I expected. It was cool to see Nick Jonas but the seminar wasn’t really focused on relationship building like I thought it would be. I'm excited for what the rest of the week has in store!