[ Inspired in Cannes ]
June 25, 2009 | By Jeromy Lloyd | Comments
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Today, I got Cannes. I figured it out. After two years of hearing about how inspiring the festival was, it was only today that I felt inspired. It happened at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Director’s showcase.
Every year the agency puts a call out across its network, asking creatives to nominate promising new directors for places in the Cannes show.
“You can submit from anywhere,” said Brett Channer, chairman and executive creative director at Saatchi’s Toronto office. “You don’t have to stick to your region, but it’s best to start there. I thought we had some great contenders from Canada this year. They had unique film stories.”
Channer was generous enough to save me a seat near the front of the Palais des Congres’ Grand Auditorium. I had been warned that, historically, attendance at the event was high with people lining up an hour beforehand to get seats. There were a handful of empty seats this year and no lineup. Sign of the times. It didn’t matter.
The showcase has been a springboard for directors such as David Cronenberg, Michel Gondry and Michael Bay.
The talent on display today certainly maintained that pedigree, though as noted by Richard Miles, master of ceremonies and a member of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide’s creative board, the showcase has changed. While there is no lack of talent, he said, there are fewer inroads into advertising for directors now.
Of the showcase’s 23 selected entries, only three were 30-second television commercials.
“I was worried that I didn’t submit any commercials,” Channer said. “But that was the nature of all the work this year. I guess that’s where the creativity is in the business.”
Channer nominated four Canadians and two made the final reel. “That’s better than last year,” he said. “I submitted eight and got zero.”
Before the lights dimmed, Helen Pak, head of art at Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto, joined us. The Canadian entries opened the show—Ben Steiger Levine’s video for Mr. Hurricane by Montreal band Beast, and an animated Nike film by Christopher Hutsul.
Hutsul, who works at Toronto production company Soft Citizen, provided the characters featured on Saatchi Toronto’s new website (Saatchi.ca).
Each showcase film had something that made me smile and nod appreciatively to myself—Dvein’s human egg blowing apart like dandelion seeds; Dennis Liu’s masterful use of a Mac computer desktop; Antonio Balseiro’s Post-It note characters.
There is no excuse for not spending an hour on the program’s YouTube channel to watch them all (YouTube.com/NDS).
Of course, the effect is lessened by watching it on a monitor and hearing it through headphones. Being part of an audience that is reacting to these ideas as they play out on a big screen is part of Cannes appeal.
It’s the inspirational part—to leave the dark theatre, step into the sun, and talk about everything you loved and hated with people from around the world.
“I loved the Megaforce one,” said Pak, referring to a video that used a green-screen approach to mix and match images over standard video footage. “It’s so low-fi, but really interesting. It seems right now everybody’s being creative within their means.”
Earlier in the day (speaking of inspiration) I was front row at DDB’s well-promoted seminar featuring David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign manager from the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
Plouffe’s address was great, though largely predictable. By now everyone knows how Obama’s team used social and online media to mobilize volunteers and turn non-voters into Obama backers.
Among voters registered in past elections, Plouffe said, Obama’s victory over John McCain was narrow (50 to 49), but among new voters, the president’s victory was huge (71 to 27).
Plouffe spoke eloquently about the democratization of media. But he attributed much of the Obama team’s success to something surprising: spontaneity.
“We didn’t necessarily want our supporters reading off a script,” Plouffe said. “We said ‘Speak from your own heart about Barack Obama.’ Nothing is more powerful than authenticity. People can have a very sensitive bullshit meter. They’ll sniff out inauthenticity in a minute, especially young voters. Don’t be a slave to scripts.”
And later: “There’s nothing more valuable than a human being talking to a human being. Nothing. Particularly in a world where people are watching less mainstream media and trusting official sources less. What they trust is what their neighbor or sister has to say, even though their neighbour or sister may not know the first thing about energy policy or health care. They trust the values of that person, that they see the world through the same eyes.”
Loosen up. Be human. Take risks. How many corporations are likely to take that advice? How many communication pros are likely to offer it? I guess if someone can win the leadership of the largest superpower on Earth with such a philosophy, perhaps it will inspire those who merely have to worry about profits every quarter.
