Bob Mackintosh: Nerding Out

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bob_mack (1).jpgBob Mackintosh, ECD at Host Sydney is sitting on the Cannes Cyber Lions jury. Mackintosh, along with other jurors, is reporting exclusively for Campaign Brief.

On the first morning of judging, when we as a jury got together in a room for the first time and made awkward introductions, one of the jurors had a contraption I’d never seen before in my life. A small, shiny black thing with little glass eyes on either side. I didn’t know what it was. And, I was too afraid to ask, for fear of being outed as a Cyber Phoney. (Does everyone in the Northern Hemisphere have one of these things? Have I been living under a rock?)

Turns out, know one else knew what the hell it was either.

It’s just a camera. Specifically, a 360° camera from Ricoh. It’s very cool. And I’ve been nerding out on it ever since, not always with great results. (Eyes left). But… it’s fun to play, to see something new.

That’s one of the things that makes Cyber such a dynamic and interesting category. Judging the work you see how people have ‘played’. How they’ve tried new things and explored what’s possible. It makes total sense. After all, we all want to make original work, and the simple fact is new technologies allow us to do stuff that hasn’t been done before.

Problem is, it’s all too easy to be seduced by new shiny things. To be wowed by the magic to the extent that you forget about the idea. The good thing about this jury however, is they know the difference between an idea and an execution.

This means that in a few hours, a lot of people around the world will be surprised, if not a little pissed off, to see that their work didn’t make the shortlist. On paper, some ideas seem like a shoe-in. Probe a little deeper however, and flaws in the thinking are revealed.

It’s a tricky balance. Because on hand one we should be applauding brands that are innovating and trying new things. If they feel their bravery is going unnoticed, they may put this type of thinking in the too hard basket. Of course, this should never be at the expense of a great idea. But I can’t help but feel that we as a jury also need to send a message to agencies and brands that it’s good to play. To nerd out a little. Even if you don’t get it quite right first time.