Cannes 2005 Commentary: Consumer and Tech dominate Day 1

Amidst news of JWT India getting maximum nominations amongst the Indian agencies in the first shortlists announced on Monday morning, and Leo Burnett coming second, Day 1 at Cannes was all about discussion forums and seminars. Between the series of well-attended seminars -- there were five of them -- delegates browsed through the displays of work from the three categories on display – Direct, Media, and the hotly contested Press & Outdoor. Over 1,000 pieces of advertising were on display with Print & Outdoor category dominating the nominations with over 900 campaigns.

Whether it was a presentation titled ‘Remember Me’ by MPG, or ‘Verge’ by OgilvyOne, or creative icon and R/GA New York Chairman Bob Greenberg’s ‘Putting a new agency model to work’ – the common thread running across the seminars was recognition of the empowered consumer, and how he is using technology to create a new paradigm. Clever commercials will have to wait for the next few days. The festival has recently started laying more importance to seminars and discussion forum. There are over 35 such seminars, almost repositioning the Cannes fest.

“Consumer is media empowered today. Recent business and tech developments have empowered consumers, providing them with new methods to deal with over choice. New tech devices such as iPods, Tivos, Google help consumers bring order to a chaotic world,” said Don Epperson, CEO, Media Contacts, a MPG company. OgilvyOne’s Rory Sutherland echoed these thoughts in his mesmerizing talk. Noting the traditional debate about choosing either reach or relevance is changing character and now with wide adoption of new media and technology, advertisers can reach relevant consumers cost effectively. “In this explosion of new media you can choose amongst three options – ignore it after careful study, adopt it in addition to your mass media plans, and lastly and more importantly, build you brand around the new media,” said Sutherland.

Later in the day Bob Greenberg, while presenting his new radical agency model, was clear about the new environment when he said, “Consumer is in control because of technology. Advertising will have to move from passive to interactive to finally transformative.” Greenberg presented his new model to a packed house that looked a lot like the integrated ad agency of the 80s, with added elements of data analysis and interactive capabilities. “Interactive will not be a separate initiative but a key part of the new model,” said Greenberg while speaking with exchange4media after the seminar.

Day 1 at Cannes 2005 clearly belonged to the consumer, and his active engagement with the new emerging media. So deep is the impact of this new paradigm, that the festival is considering adding mobile too as an advertising platform. While discussing the upbeat trends -- entries are up and so are delegates -- Cannes Lions 2005 CEO Terry Savage told us, “Cannes reflects advertising industry. If the reality is communication thru new media and mobile, we will certainly showcase it.”

Tomorrow, when the Media Lion and Lions Direct are announced, will India be amongst the winners? Well, with only two nominations running against over 350 nominations in these two categories, chances are slim. Perhaps Wednesday will be a day to watch out for when the Press & Outdoor categories are awarded. But with entries up and no real sparks in the bag, India will be lucky to repeat the 2003 haul. Till then let’s keep out fingers crossed!