My Cannes highlights: Joji Jacob
Campaign Brief Asia asked Cannes Lions delegates to nominate their highlights of the week, from both the work and personal experiences, at this year’s Festival. Here’s DDB Group Singapore’s Chief Creative Officer, Joji Jacob, who sat on the Promo & Activation jury.
This year, Cannes for me was about the small but intense things.
Like my little girl Riya who accompanied me to Cannes.
Seeing the place and people from her eyes gave me a fresh perspective. Focusing on eating the ice cream before it melted away in the strong Riviera sun rather than fretting about the fate of my agency’s shortlists in the coming days. And learning that seagulls are better portrait sitters than pigeons (see Riya Jacob’s drawing below).
Like the Promo and Activation Jury President, Matt Eastwood’s short but inspirational jury briefing. He rightly said that Promo and Activation is the ‘sharp end of our business’. Unlike the other categories, this was work that had to persuade people into taking action right away. And we, the P&A jury would see the bulk of the work before the rest. And the world would see the fruits of our labour before they were exposed to the some of the same pieces in other categories.
Like the initially-awkward small talk among the jury members that over the course of seven long days led to firm friendships.
Like my favourite piece of work – Nazis against Nazis. A small but powerful activation piece that was clever, insidious and perfectly executed. Aikido-like, it turned the enemy’s moves against itself.
Like the Samsung Safety Trucks. A truck, a TV screen, a camera and boom! Safer roads.
Like Life Paint – a little can that could potentially make urban cycling safer.
Like Security Moms – an activation idea that uses the power of mothers against their own football hooligan sons. Everybody wins.
Like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – started by three women and executed and shared by millions of people all over the world. No ad agency involved!
Like DDB veteran Keith Reinhard’s interrogation of Mark van der Hiejden, the Backpacker Intern, at the Debussy theatre. The young Danish adman has travelled the world and worked in over 30 agencies, businesses and charities in return for board and food, and of course, the experience of a lifetime.
There were other high-profile talks on loftier topics. But this session took me back to basic ingredients of creativity – curiosity, ideas and the balls to follow through on them.
Everything in our business, including the next new mantra being expounded by pundits from the pulpits at the Palais is nothing without curiosity and courage.
Like the little delegate badge that the lovely folks running Cannes made for my kid. She was probably the youngest and definitely the proudest Cannes delegate this year.
Like the conversation with a waitress at a bar where she told me that she much prefers the advertising crowd to the Film Festival crowd because the former are more patient, humble and humane (Surprise, surprise!).
Like the Times of India party that started with a small bunch of Indians but snowballed into a massive pulsating organism made up of Indians, Greeks, Italians, Russian and God knows who else by 1am, grinding away to loud Bollywood music.
Like tiny Singapore punching way above its weight with 14 Lions.
Like the small but very smart teams (Rowena, James, Khalid, Lester, Mahesan, Yang Wei, Khairul Lamin, Yuan Jia, Thomas Yang) that helped me brag about the Gold and two Bronze Lions that we picked up. Thank you.
Joji Jacob is chief creative officer at DDB Group Singapore.
8 Comments
Small but intense: http://tmblr.co/Zdsfak1oVO1UJ
Ive been looking at the campaigns that are being named as favourites by our fearless creative leaders and have to say they all sound like they are for some charitable or do gooder cause…is there any stuff you guys like that actually does what we are all hired to do…persuade people to buy our products or services?!
@ Alternate Reality
Real work? That’s not how network CDs roll.
Real work is for lesser mortals.
“No cannes for you!”
This is not a criticism of JJ- a swell guy by all accounts.
But an observation of the entire cannes-mutal-masterbation circus.
I think you missed the point pass the kleenex.
I wasn’t referring the old real vs fake debate….thats so ancient
I am simply pointing out that 99% of the winners all the judges seem to love are for social causes…nothing that sells a product or service.
Not sure how many marketers would instigate an initiative that doesn’t sell their product at all….you can get as many likes, shares, retweets, earned media, positive impressions as you like…but nothing can beat the ka-ching of the cash register.
@ alternate reality
I don’t think I missed your point.
Do good ads/promo/activation stands above retail advertising , anyday.
It’s also a more interesting category than the usual mundane stuff.
It also makes our job more meaningful as we really think we are changing the world and improving mankind instead of selling more stuff.
Which would you rather be famous for –
Starhub to encourage donating unused talk time or retail ads flogging TV content?
A bindi patch which is touted to have made iodine difficiency extinct in India or more painful panadol ads?
Promoting the welfare of migrant workers with a drone delivered can of warm coke or more forgettable 7-11 shelf talkers?
A device that’s supposed to halt the rise in rape or more wallpaper ads for a global bank who helps rich customers dodge paying taxes?
That’s why the grand prixs are awarded to stuff that makes our job look like it is doing something good, and just another selling tool for da man.
And Cannes profits by pandering to our insecurity that we are actually not wasting our talents – if we ever had any in the first place.
Ironically the ALS bucket Grand Prix didn’t come from an ad agency.
And the long standing ovation by the ad community reflected as much of their admiration as I suspect a huge dose of self loathing that all the trumped up results in their casestudies will never compared to this winner.
TGIF
Nuce epitaph you wrote there for the ad industry pass the kleenex 🙂
Of the choices you gave I would rather be doing ideas that sell products and services (think volvo split, old spice, geico etc)….I would leave all the immeasurable feel good stuff to those who wish to do it.
Kleenex, ask your non advertising friends and family around you about those that you’ve mentioned, very likely that you only have an impression of the ice bucket. Why? Because all other so called “creativity for good” aren’t real or possible. Why standing ovation for ice bucket? Because one of the reasons is it wasn’t created with awards in mind, ironically the audience wished they’ve done that.
I don’t wish I had done ALS…..but it kills me that I had nothing do do with the ‘Never stop riding’ campaign.