Tony Clewett’s Cannes Diary: Day 4

Tony Clewett, creative director at DraftFCB, Auckland is representing New Zealand on the Cannes Lions Radio jury. Clewett, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is of course reporting exclusively for CB.

I’m stuffed. After four days of listening to hundreds of radio ads, endless banter with (nicely) opinionated jury members, and a final push to all agree on the Grand Prix late last night – my brain, mouth, and ears are all spent.

Tonight is the awards ceremony which Radio is also sharing with Press, Cyber and Design. Should see some really cool work. World class in fact. 

Can’t tell you what picked up the yellow shiny stuff in Radio yet – but I can hint that no champagne corks will be overly popping down in our little country. Oops. Did I write that? 

Hopefully though, I have learned a few lessons to give it a far better nudge next year.

But boy, it’s been a real eye opener for me coming here to Cannes. This show is big business. It’s taken very seriously. And the level of work, quite frankly, is scary. I just had a quick wander around the shortlisted and winning Outdoor, Print and Direct categories – which may have been a terrible mistake given my current brain-fried state. I stared open-mouthed and began dribbling. I really am stuffed…