One of my pet peeves in life is when people use the phrase, “Greatest ___ of my life.” It just seems like that person is setting the bar of life experiences at that one event. This is especially true if that person is young and has their entire life ahead of them.
You guys have no idea how tempted I am to use that phrase about the last 3 weeks, especially at the festival.
It just seemed like everything flowed so effortlessly. I've made some of the best friends I'll have, been to some of the most exotic places in Europe, learned more about the advertising industry than I dreamed was possible, and have had some of the craziest times I can remember.
This whole experience definitely ranks among the top few in my life, most of which are incredibly personal. I believe that says a lot. My girlfriend's Dad, who worked his entire as a top creative director life in the Ogilvy and Mather Canadian branch has never made it out to Cannes.
That last statement does 2 things to me: 1) Scares the living shit out of me for fear of never being good enough to reach Cannes again and 2) Makes me realize how lucky I am to have experienced it.
When I'm old and gray I have no doubt that I'll remember these Memories as vividly as when they happened. I cannot wait to one up my grandchildren by saying, “Back in my day, I went to Cannes and attended beach parties thrown by the top advertising agencies around the world, each of which costed roughly $200,000 to throw. Boom little boy/girl.”
I can only hope to be that cool of a grandfather.
But in all seriousness we ended our last day of the seminar by getting all dressed up and attending the awards for the Film Craft, Film, Integrated, and Titanium Lions.
The Grand Prix for Film Craft was won by Droga5 for their Puma “After Hours Athlete” TV spot. What an incredible idea. The premise was focusing on the “after hours” athlete who stay up past last call, play traditional bar games like darts, billiards, and bowling, and deal with the buzzkills and cockblocks of our generation. Many of us can relate to that feeling, especially coming from the University of Georgia. Putting that person at the center of attention and drawing the spotlight away from the traditional athlete was truly a beautiful move.
The Gand Prix for Film was won by none other than Wieden + Kennedy, this time in their Amsterdam branch, for their Nike “Wire the Future” spot. This honestly came as no surprise to me because this spot made such an impression on me when I first saw it last year. I actively searched it out in order to relive the experience. The spot showed several world famous soccer players playing in games and before key pivotal moments within the game, the player flashes to scenarios based on whether or not they did well. Each scenario was overly blows out of proportion but it did a beautiful job of showing how serious athletes as well as regular people take sports. It also has a pretty killer song in it (Hocus Pocus, by Focus)
The Grand Prix for Integrated went to Droga5 NYC for their work with Bing to create the “Decode Jay-Z Campaign”. The premise was that Droga5 put random pages of Jay-Z's new book all over the world that let fans live the world through Jay's eyes. They released it before the actual release date of the book so it gave fans a head start in to the world of Jay.
Unfortunately there were no Titanium Lions, the highest awards a campaign of any sorts can receive, given out this year. Although I did find this disappointing, the fact that the Jury was able to subjectively make this decision really solidified the fact that these awards are only given out to those who TRULY deserve it.
Maybe next year.
Maybe next year.
But all in all this was a truly life changing couple of weeks. I can't really think of a way to properly describe all the emotions and experiences I've gone through personally and with my new found friends.
I guess if any of you guys want to know, just come find me.
Until next time.
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