Cannes' Five Charms according to 72andSunny

1) That Old Gender Problem. We are almost there.

This year, there were lots of talks and initiatives to close the gender gap in the industry. And that’s awesome. A long time ago, when I started working in advertising, nobody was talking about it. It’s great to see that initiatives like #Unstereotype from Unilever or #Seeitbeit, the Cannes initiative that is actively fighting the gender imbalance in agency creative departments for the second year in a row, exist.

It was also probably the first time I didn’t spot any sexist work hanging on the walls of the Palais. It’s great to see that as an industry we are on the same page, and we are all collectively fighting gender stereotypes. But mostly female ones.

In the future, I hope we will understand gender as a duality, and fight male stereotypes too. Guinness and Axe (below) are doing their part already. Let’s hope the future brings more progressive work around changing male identity.

2) 6 Pack Band

The Glass Lion is probably the award I most look forward to. It’s great to see how ideas can genuinely change something in culture, and alleviate gender-related problems. I personally really liked this year’s GP (below).

I’ve spent quite a few months of my life in India, and I witnessed the big issues transgender people face firsthand. They are truly outcasts in their own society. Some of them are forced to work as sex slaves or beggars, while others make their living by cursing weddings in order to get some money in exchange. It’s ridiculous.

So, I thought this idea was brave, and importantly, fun at the same time. They executed it in a very Indian way, through music and dance, and I loved that. They didn’t create something just for Cannes Lions. They stayed true to themselves and their cultural heritage.  It was also great to see that we can talk about serious issues without melancholy piano music playing in the background. 

3) VR

VR is back, and it’s here to stay in a more affordable, tech-democratizing way.

It’s very exciting, because there was a sense that nobody has quite cracked it yet.

Technology is allowing us to connect with people in so many different ways, yet we seem so disconnected from them. Some pieces like The Displaced (below) did make a real connection, and it was inspiring to see that. The lives of these three child refugees are a difficult and raw reality to witness. That’s exactly why making a VR experience about them is so powerful and human. Amplifying the lives of these three children through VR is a bold idea that is impossible to ignore.

4) Collecting vs Connecting

It seems that there’s little room in Cannes for big brand ideas. You tend to see nice, tactical executions rather than game changing strategies that affect everything a brand does. It feels like the industry is more worried about collecting awards than genuinely delivering an important opinion to a bigger audience. A lot of the work seems formulaic, designed especially to win at Cannes. Some even exploit real, serious issues, such as I SEA (below) just to bring a medal back home. (If this app had actually made a difference we would have heard much more about it at the time).

As an industry, we need to end this case study culture, and focus on connecting with people. Let’s build brands, not case studies. It feels as though we keep ignoring the real reason why we are here: to build brands that are relevant in culture, and to use our power and reach to change things. We were given this opportunity the day we started working in advertising. Let’s grasp it and make advertising about people again. I mean real people, not just festival delegates.

5) The talks

I truly believe that knowledge should be recycled. You can’t keep what you know for yourself. Otherwise all your ideas and learning will one day die with you. Being generous and sharing what you’ve learned is a generous, human act that allows your ideas to live beyond your own existence. Anna Wintour’s talk was about exactly that. She was generous enough to share what she had learned with us all. I found her talk fascinating and humble at the same time.

72andSunny Amsterdam also hosted the first panel on masculinity, featuring documentary maker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, model Shaun Ross, and professor Dr Michael Kimmel. In the panel we exposed the insane amount of pressure men are facing today and how popular culture (and our industry!) can reinforce dangerous gender roles. It’s time to look at the flip side of the conversation. By liberating men, you are also liberating women as a consequence. It was great to see that topic as part of the agenda.