Sophie Woods’ Cannes Diary: Day Six
Sophie Woods is a producer for The OTTO Empire and is attending her first Cannes Lions, attending as a ‘Young Lion’ delegate. She reports exclusively for Campaign Brief.
Andy Flemming I could really do with some advice on how to get through the next two nights while keeping this thing going…I heard you’ve been reading and now my goal is basically not to let you down.
Things I heard while lining up for the Shots party last night: “I don’t line up for things, it’s not my vibe”, “Don’t you know who I am?”, “Guys you wanna go to the front? I’ll just speak French”.
THE MADNESS CONTINUES
TWO SUPER CHIC DESIGNERS NAIL THE MESSAGE ON SIMPLICITY
DDB WW’S CCO DROPS BIGGEST TRUTH BOMB OF CANNES
So one important thing I learnt this week is that dinner is a very important meal. The sun sets so late here and no one eats til like 10pm but by then we’re all on a roll so the appropriate time to eat comes and goes and next thing you’re eyeing off the kebab store next to ridiculous nightclub Sun7 from the Stink Digital party. BUT last night, we really nailed it and had pizza and snails at Vesuvio, my new favourite. Enjoy this picture of escargot and marvel at how very Français I’m being.
Another thing I thought about today was how do you think the locals of Cannes feel about this family riding around the beach on these segways? Great?
Deutsch Inc’s Nathan Iverson and Design Army’s Pum Lefebure are probably the coolest people I’ve ever seen. They’re both designers and have worked with the biggest brands in the world including Apple, Nike, Disney and the list goes on. They hit the nail on their head with their message of ‘silencing the noise through simple design’. There’s so much visual noise blasted at us online, on TV and on the shelves and the consumer has stopped responding to visual junk food. In Pum’s words, we need to “trim the fat, cut the crap, and get to the point.” We don’t need to waffle on like I am right now and take people on an epic journey in 
advertising, and in fact, giving people less actually gives an emotional response of intrigue and a sense of wander. I’m going to go with these guys who run on the same team as Steve Jobs I think.
Ok and then the most incredible thing happened this afternoon. DDB Worldwide’s CCO Amir Kassaei blew this whole damn operation out of the water. He got everyone in so much trouble for being 
phonies and seemed legitimately pissed off by people creating work for awards, only to have 25 “shitheads” (HIS WORDS NOT MINE I SWEAR!!!) in a room judge it and fall in love with it. WHOOOAA MANNNNN. What. A. Dude. In this industry there’s a danger that everyone’s so busy tricking themselves and the people that we lose the essence of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Which is what? To help brands create relevance to the lives of people. We need to renavigate our values, teach and guide clients instead of “bullshitting” them (HIS WORDS NOT MINE!!!). I didn’t even get a photo because I had my hands over my gaping mouth in astonishment the whole time. Look if I’m going to put all my cards on the table and hope I don’t get fired, I 100% agree. Let’s not fall into the trap of doing things that are irrelevant and waste our talents. This industry is full of the most creative, bold, exceptional people so let’s use our powers for good. Yeah? Still have a job Jojo?
ALSO during Amir’s presentation I finally found whether those legendary ad men actually watch ‘Mad Men’ and it turns out they do! He showed the clip of Don Draper talking about love as we know it being constructed by guys like him. *gulp* we truly do have a lot of power for social change.
Oh god I napped too long and I’m running late for dinner with some rad Young Lions who I’d really like to be my friends so I need to wrap this one up. One more great thing happened last night. I made a Canadian friend who bolted with me through the Shots party before the final bar closed, only to scull a couple of beers and then get invited on a boat trip tomorrow HOLLERRRR. Weird life, man.
Find Woods at hellootto.com.au