Cannes Day 2

I started out day two looking through about a hundred short-listed entries to the public relations categories. Overall I was impressed the campaigns seemed integrated across every medium, a little catchier, sillier, and simpler than a lot of the other work I've seen in seminars. I suppose this shows how quickly the field is evolving.

Then I went to google beach, complete with a real-life red dropped pin at the entrance, to do yoga. It was reassuring to see people from different agencies around the world fussing with their skinny jeans and ray bans while trying to stretch themselves into funny positions.

Then I went to see a Coca-Cola presentation. It seemed like they were just patting themselves on the back. It was a seminar, but I didn't learn much except about how forward thinking Coca-Cola thinks it is. In 1955 they used the first black model for Coca-Cola, showing them to be, "as American as apple pie." But does that make them innovative or does that make them a responder to what's already happening? The speakers actually said the brand was reading the pulse of pop culture and responding to it. But later they contradicted themselves, positing that they were both shaping and responding to culture. All the ads they showed seemed to be more of a response. I don't think Coca-Cola can claim to have a great influence on the beginning of social movements, just the response to them.

Then I watched a seminar about Networkone, a company connecting small independent agencies to international partners. Apparently last year 49% of Cannes winners were independent agencies and 83% of the Grand Prix winners were independent last year. The take away messages were: you can't categorize this work because boundaries are becoming less relevant, the counted work ($) was still an important indicator, and close client agency relationships are really important for making good work. This seminar left the biggest impact on me as I would like to work in a small agency or an in-house team as public relations practitioner. I only want to do work for companies that I can stand behind ethically.

Then I went to the master class "Glitch not Glitz: What the Future Looks Like."  They discussed a number of trends such as "the struggle to find a new aesthetic that's separate from past perceptions," creating something truly new.  It was interesting, but all the trends were focused on fashion and art. Another point for culture driving advertising rather than advertising driving culture. 

My take away message from the day seems to be that advertising follows culture closely so it can be relevant, not that it is creating the culture itself. I do think that companies adopting pop-culture in their ads are reinforcing it, but I don't think they themselves are creating it.