My Cannes highlights: Gigi Lee
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 Y&R Malaysia’s ECD Gigi Lee’s report on her week of learning at the Festival.
Cannes. Saturday morning.
I touched down on French ground. After checking-into our apartment and filled our tummies with the famous fish soup, we took a taxi to the much-talked-about St. Paul, a beautiful art-inspired village. It was even said that Neil French used to stay in a hotel cum restaurant called La Colombe d’Or, which also displays Picasso’s original paintings. After this brief excursion, we were so exhausted that we dozed off right after returning to the apartment until the next morning.
Sunday morning.
A beautiful skyline kick-started my first day of Cannes Lions Festival. If I were to sum up my Cannes experience, it would be envy. Of all the good works.
And here are my three most loved campaigns, and several others that are worth mentioning:
1. Geico Unskippable (Grand Prix Film)
Entertaining yet managed to communicate its message to the audience within 5 seconds, it’s the awkward action afterwards that’s the real star of the show.
2. Volvo Life Paint (Grand Prix Design/Promo & Activation)
A simple yet innovative product that really targets the problem with a useful solution. Not to mention it ensures both the cyclist and driver to stay safe too.
3. 3-Second Cooking: Shrimp Flying Cannon (Gold Lion in Film Craft)
Utterly funny and entertaining. There’s no doubt it’ll make you laugh over and over again. On top of it, the USP is also clearly communicated to the audience.
Others include The Ocean, which isn’t just beautiful and powerful scriptwriting, but also thought-provoking to make you go, ‘Nature is in control, not man’. Then there’s Leica, 100, a stunning art direction piece with a beautifully moving storytelling. For What3Words, it’s the clever use of three simple, layman words to locate a specific spot. How brilliant is that! And lastly, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Who would’ve known that a simple donation drive could turn into a global movement?
Now, from this little town of big offerings, here are my 5 best experiences:
1. A Creative Renaissance with Jessica Walsh and Gerry Graft
When you have two well-respected creatives talking about data and the art of advertising, you know you’re in for an eye-opening, mind-changing session. All I can say is, they were inspiring and relevant.
To Gen-Y, here are a couple of wise words from Jessica Walsh:
2. Zen meets Anime_ Decoding the Secrets of Japanese Creativity
( by Yoko Ishihara, Fran Miller and Kentaro Kimura from Hakuhodo Inc )
Zen is simplicity, while Anime is chaos. But it is from these two cultural bases that Japan has found their spring of creativity. It’s just amazing to see how cultural insights are highlighted here and that we should always go back to these roots to create great works.
3. Rendezvous with Matsuko-Roid
What can be said about this is that the idea of an android clone to boost the publicity of Matsuko Deluxe is really brilliant, novel and a potential trendsetter among brands. Thanks to Dentsu, the trend of ‘androidvertising’ has begun.
4. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Week 1, Boston media.
Week 2, national media.
Week 3, celebrities.
Week 4, global.
It was totally worth the standing ovation. Seeing the founders receiving their award on stage was truly a moving sight, making it my best experience at Cannes.
5. Seafood Galore, Rosé and Beer
One does not simply miss a seafood indulgence in Cannes. But you know what they say about not letting hungry people order food? Yes, we did and ended up with a SUPER HUGE seafood platter that the 6 of us couldn’t finish. And that was how we decided to forgo seafood for the next one year. But we could never get enough of the Rosé and Beer!
Gigi Lee is executive creative director at Y&R Malaysia.
