DCM's Zoe Jones Reflects on Cannes

The 61^st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which took place last week, is one of the few truly global celebrations of our industry, bringing together a hugely diverse range of companies, characters and campaigns. Here, Zoe Jones, marketing director for Digital Cinema Media (DCM), looks back at the week and reflects on what she learned, the work she admired and what the Lions says about our industry as a whole.

One of my highlights is always the Film awards which closed the event on Saturday night. The Film Lions Jury President, Amir Kassaei, chief creative officer ay DDB Worldwide, said his team were looking for “bravery, honesty and humanity from winners”.

This year, adam&eveDDB London’s Harvey Nichols’ anti-Christmas campaign, Sorry, I Spent it on Myself [below],  was awarded a Grand Prix in both the prestigious Film and Integrated categories, marking a successful Cannes for UK agencies.

Another Grand Prix was awarded in the Film category the Jean Claude van Damme-starring The Epic Split for Volvo Trucks, created by Forsman & Bodenfors from Gothenburg Sweden, who also won Independent Agency of the Year thanks to the phenomenal success of the campaign across multiple categories. It’s already notched up more than 70m views along with a raft of spoofs, including the Chuck Norris one below.

After cleaning up at the D&AD awards as well, I don’t think there was any doubt that The Epic Split deserved multiple accolades though there was some controversy over the decision of two juries not to award Grands Prix in their categories – Film Craft and Branded Content & Entertainment.

One of my favourite campaigns, which never ceases to make me laugh and continues the strong creative heritage of this brand, was W+K Portland’s Old Spice’s Momsong, in the Film Lions category. While it was awarded a gold Lion it didn’t quite make the Grand Prix.

There has been some talk about whether the Film Lions are still the most prestigious Lions to win due to the expansion of categories and the number of entrants into new categories such as Branded Content.

I think the fact both of the Film category Grands Prix winners also stepped up to win coveted Integrated Lions showed the strength in this category, but what was striking was the number of campaigns winning across multiple disciplines. Integration is here to stay.

You too can make a difference

Bono, was presented with the inaugural Cannes Festival’s Lionheart award during the final ceremony and a standing ovation welcomed him to the stage where he spoke with candour, humour and passion about his work for (Red). He implored our industry, which he called both "the creative engine of capitalism" and "the world’s thermostat" to help tackle AIDS and avoid the dangers of “compassion fatigue”.

Alongside Bono, there were many inspiring speakers throughout the week, providing unique points of view about our industry. It’s not often a programme welcomes Jared Leto, Sir Jonny Ive, Marcel Desailly, Dynamo, David Hasselhof, Spike Jonze, fencer and Olympic Medallist Yuki Ota and Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson to the stage.

De Grasse Tyson [below] is the man responsible for discovering that Pluto is not in fact a planet. He spoke at Ogilvy and Mather’s intimidatingly titled talk, Cosmic Quandries & Creativity, about the nature of having to constantly challenge the status quo and the perceived ‘facts’ of the universe to achieve true innovation.

In a fascinating speech, which culminated in another standing ovation, he stated that what truly creative people have in common is a persistent curiosity that motivates them to explore new ideas. He explained: “If you don’t make mistakes, you’re no longer on the frontier…the mistakes you make should be mistakes no one has ever made before”.

Creativity put to the sword 

Dentsu Japan also hosted a session that pushed the boundaries of creativity in the traditional sense, looking at the Augmented Human, and the fusion of the creative and technological innovations in sport.

Presented by Prof. Jun Rekimoto, and supported by some impressive demonstrations by fencer and Olympic medallist Yuki Ota [below], the session looked at how technological advancement can enhance sport, both in terms of performance and entertainment.

Motion sensors can now be used to track athletes’ movements which can then be projected onto the screen via multi-coloured light beams to enhance the viewing experience. The conclusion was that, ultimately, technology and data can be used to scientifically evoke strong emotions in humans.

The future is now

Finally, another highlight was going back to the future during the SAWA (Screen Advertising World Association) seminar. This session, with speakers from across the world of cinema, celebrated the links between film, innovative technology and advertising.

Digital Cinema Media’s own head of planning and knowledge, Blackett Ditchburn, opened the seminar, setting the scene by looking at how cinema has evolved alongside its audiences, embracing new technology to reflect and showcase the pioneering filmmaking displayed on the big screen. As part of the seminar, the iconic Delorean car from the Back to the Future films caused a stir when it was parked in front of the Palais.

Two personal highlights were seeing the DCM number plate on the Delorean car (thank you Yummi Media!) and enjoying a glass of rose on the TBWA yacht. The worst experience was hearing of a few old colleagues who were mugged during the week - there was definitely an element of danger this year that I haven’t felt before.

Overall though, Cannes Lions 2014 marked another epic week of crazy cars, inspiring content and exciting collaborations. For the industry it remains a marquee event in the calendar but what ‘industry’ means seems to grow and change every year. Whereas 2012 was the year of the tech companies, with Google and Microsoft asserting their muscle, this year saw mobile step up with MMA branding the Palais and a number of sessions exploring mobile themes.

For us, Cannes is a chance to talk about our medium, see what the world, not just the UK, is up to, and make a lot of new friends, particularly from the creative and 

mobile sectors. Cinema is evolving – it’s now digital and mobile - and our mission is to ensure that the film essence of the Cannes Lions festival, which was founded by a cinema advertising body, doesn’t just remain in the past.