Side note: the Paris Airshow is also on this week and after 4 days at the Lions, I reckon I know what it would be like being an airline exec in a Boeing marquee. The chat is all about new news and advancing our industry together but the feeling is often that of a sales pitch.

Anyhoo… a brief summary of Tuesday’s goings on. Apologies to anyone interested in what Vivienne Westwood has to say about branding, or how Annie Leibovitz tells stories with photos, but I made today my Mobile Day as there were quite a few mobile-related seminars and it’s not often we get to learn from mobile-specific companies doing the world’s best work in this rapidly emerging field.

In the end, it was all a bit predictable, but worth sharing…

Let’s set the scene:

• Mobile doesn’t just mean smartphones. It also includes tablets and connected cars.
• 1 in 3 US households now has a tablet.
• In developed countries, smartphone ownership is now above 90%.
• Tablets now outsell laptops in the USA.
• We check our smartphones on average every 6 minutes.
• The adoption curve of mobile techology is way steeper than PC’s ever were. Yes, even when everyone seemed to buying an IBM or Mac.

MMMM… MOBILES

Today was hosted by MMA, the Mobile Marketing Association and even though I bet none of you have ever heard of them (I hadn’t) they are a massive industry body with 700 corporate members across the globe. (nice touch – before he kicked off, the MC reminded everyone to please not switch off their mobile phones).

You get the feeling they feel like the second cousins in the whole net creativity boom. But I ended the day feeling that their time is now.

So bottom-line – we are now in the Post-PC era. It’s all about creating engagement for consumers where and when they want it. It’s about filling those 10sec-2min content snacking moments while people are waiting for a bus, or the kettle to boil, or waiting for your rental Citroen to be brought up from La Garage. As agencies, it’s about providing tools to help our client’s customers buy, get help, consume content, connect with likeminded others and give brands feedback.

Mobile devices are more intuitive than computers, more intimate than computers and not only always on, but always on us.

And here’s a point that pricked up my Meerkat ears – compared to laptops and PC’s, mobile devices get your clients closer to their consumers. It’s a “liquid behaviour” that is always on and extremely personalized.

It’s obvious stuff but I came away with a feeling that mobile is bigger than even we are currently thinking it is and will be the next big revolution in creativity. It kind of has to.

OTHER INTERESTING MOBILE FACTS:

• Every major TV network in USA is now making heaps of “second screen” content for the most popular shows. This is like DVD extras for TV – extra scenes, cast interviews and of course heaps of social media forums – cos hey, guys like NBC and CBS ain’t dumb – they know that while we’re all watching our big TV screens we also have a little one on our laps.

• YouTube now uploads 100 hours of content a minute. A minute! That’s 3,600 days worth of video every day. And most of it now is being consumed on smartphones and tablets.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Only In Cannes

Being the pulse of the industry, you’d naturally expect Cannes to have the latest sexy social media tools. And sure enough there’s a big screen projection in between seminars showing current Facebook posts and Instagram pics and nifty animated graphics of the brands and speakers currently trending on @canneslions. Only trouble is, this being Cannes, ego and self-promotion comes into play and you find that from the very start of the festival, a staggering 37% of tweets are strangely about how awesome the Ogilvy digital agency is. It’s a clumsy case of twitterjacking and everyone’s pissed off about it. I found it sad that what is supposed to be an equitable source of opinion sharing is so easily commandeered by self-interested parties. Boo Ogilvy.

But who can complain when you can walk out of a seminar full of renewed creative spirit, hop on your scooter and fang thru the warm sunny streets of Cannes back to your little pad to write up the day’s learnings.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the more interesting seminars from today:

TENACIOUS B

In a seminar hosted by Yahoo Screen, Jack Black says “Online video allows great work to be seen faster and cheaper and without all the dumbifying hoops the big TV networks make you go through.” So he’s a big fan of web-based series. And I can relate – online allows the true creators to create. These are people who get off on making cool stuff. Like us.

He also described how online comedy is a close second to live performance for him because the feedback is almost instant and all good comedians – like muso’s – get off on audience engagement. 

JB was exactly as you’d expect: funny, hungover, rude, friendly, earnest, rough, charming.

You suspected the auditorium was packed for this one simply because it’s, like, Jack Black. But the point was well made nonetheless – web TV rocks.

Interesting point: online viewers, if they like a show they want to see more. Like, right NOW. The old fashioned network model of once a week is dead. That’s why a lot of really popular stuff is being released online now in chunks of 4 to 5 eps, or the whole series downloadable from the get-go.

Cool stuff to search more on:

• Electric Dynamite, Jack’s production company.

• Yahoo Screen, developing over 50 unique series a year just for online consumption.

• “Ghost Ghirls”, their new show.

• “Festival Supreme”, Jack’s new comedy festival in LA this October.

EMOTIONAL RESCUE

In 2005 I saw a company called Go Viral describe what it takes to truly seed a viral video globally. It was insanely good and I remember it to this day.

They were back on stage this year and were less impressive but still worth seeing. They had two main points: that emotion is THE way to connect with people in this age of “content snacking” (Mike: Great!); and that they have a new way to measure the emotional value of your TV spot/video (Mike: Oh shit).

I usually bail when I hear someone trying to quantify creativity with some wacky new algorithm. But this had some merit. I mean, you can’t argue with results garnered from 1,000 different videos played to 30,000 different people in 30 different countries. That’s a pretty robust test. And the videos they showed that scored high were great (LG, “So real it’s scary” and VW, “Darth Vader”) and the ones that scored low were crap (retail ads, car ads).

Mind you, the seminar did involve a rather laughable demo of some facial recognition software that looked like Minority Report meets Saturday Night Live.

But the main point of this was to guide us in creating messages that engage people and the 3 golden rules are:

1. You’ve got 8 seconds to get my attention.

2. Forget facts, give me an emotional story.

3. Save your second best bit for the end and I’ll remember you more.

Cool stuff to search more on:

• Real Eyes

• Be On

• Go Viral

YOU CAN’T TRUST A MARKETER

Adobe sponsored a panel chat on how to establish trust with your client and your audience. It was pretty much everything we stand for at Meerkats – authenticity, truth, don’t buy into the bullshit, admit mistakes, learn from them, leave your ego at the door, etc.

As in every seminar this year, data and analytics was mentioned a lot. The digital age allows us to measure everything and not only get detailed results faster, but be able to act on them. Cos let’s face it, getting a great result for your client is THE best way to establish trust.

The global marketing guy from BMW was great, advising agencies to stop pretending they know everything when it’s clear that nobody does anymore. He urged clients and agencies to learn together (hallelujah brother).

One of the other panellists was a lady I’ve always admired – Tina Brown, ex editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. She now runs the Daily Beast, an online news service dedicated to truth and getting you the best news fast. They use writers from every part of the world who aren’t seeking bylines and career leaps but to share the truth. Which means in hotspots like Turkey and Syria and Oklahoma City you get awesome content that’s faster and more legitimate. Good stuff.

Cool stuff to search more on:

• Daily Beast.

F1 FUN

As you all know, I’m a bit of a rev-head, so even though the link to marketing was very tenuous I couldn’t miss seeing McLaren driver Jenson Button and McLaren Chairman Ron Dennis chat about being adaptive in today’s world.

It was actually very insightful – talking about being fast to market and the difference between being competitive versus simply competing.

Bonus event… To prove their point about teamwork they rolled an actual Formula 1 car into the theatre and the McLaren pit crew changed all four wheels in 2.1 seconds. Awesome!

–Only In Cannes–

Coming soon to Perth – vaping. It’s huge here. Vaping uses pen-shaped electronic Vaporisers that blow a visible vapor instead of smoke and come in a bunch of different flavours. They still contain a small amount of nicotine and are essentially for hardcore smokers who wanna give up full strength fags but still need to hold something cigarette-like and/or blow smoke out of their mouths. Google it. Fascinating and bizarre.

So… today’s blog. I’m fascinated by how things work, what they’re made of and why. So before I start reporting on the actual work and seminar content (Saturday being the final day before the seminars and judging really kick off), I’ve been observing how this event works.

Immediately, from the numbers of garish trade tents and sponsored bars along the strip, it’s clear that since my last visit four years ago the Lions have become much more of a trade show than just an awards show and seminar.

I was chatting with Terry Savage, the festival’s Chairman, and put the theory to him. He said “Absolutely. That’s the big change.” He went on to describe that since clients began attending in the early noughties, Cannes has become a marketplace for the global advertising industry with all manner of companies spruiking their wares to agencies and clients alike: from media giants Wunderman and OMD to little known analytics companies like Innovid and ACE Matrix to – more interestingly – guys like Google, Spotify, LG, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple. Hell, even Tumblr is sponsoring the notorious Gutter Bar this year.

But don’t get me wrong, the flashy marquees, the free booze and the light shows don’t detract from what is still the most intense one week ad school in the world. My first session of the festival, for example, was inspiring right from the get-go. The Innovation Lions is a new category this year and on Saturday afternoon, while most of the delegates were still jetting in, I watched as the shortlisted teams presented their ideas live to the jury, headed by Dave Droga.

They only had ten minutes to present their idea to a panel of steely-eyed creative directors, digital directors, content creators and industrial designers. It was like Dragons’ Den for creatives.

Each of the ideas were inspiring in themselves – a calendar that acts as a fire blanket for the slums in Cape Town; a device from an RAC-like car insurance company in Poland that sends realtime information about a customer’s car so they can foresee a breakdown before it happens; Getty Images venture into photo-based social media – but what I found just as useful was watching the many ways one can present in ten minutes. From the role of visual prompts on screen (the best ones were all simple and hand drawn) to the impact of a polished recitation versus a friendly conversation (the latter won over the Jury every time).

And if you thought ten minutes was too brief to properly present an idea, these guys did it easily – they described their client’s problem, the opportunity, the strategy, the idea and the outcomes. Some had 5mins left. A real lesson for us and our 90min super-prezzos.

I also enjoyed watching what happens when the smart Jury members picked apart a team’s idea to verify its authenticity. It reminded how thoroughly immersed we all have to be in our ideas and their rationale to give our clients confidence that we know what we’re doing. Some guys fell apart at this stage.

So all in all, a great first day that a lot of regulars consider a non-day, but I got heaps out of it: I chatted with the event’s head honcho and Dave Droga; I bumped into Levi Slaven (an old creative buddy who I gave his first job to and is now AdAge’s No.1 Creative in the world); I discovered just how successful Samsung has been with its Galaxy mobile phone when I saw that the North African street sellers had just as many garish covers for them as for the iPhone (these guys know what sells); and I saw a man snorkelling along the private beaches, where the rich folk swim, with a waterproof metal detector.

– Only In Cannes –

Being a haven for canny rich and naive tourists, Cannes has always had its fair share of scammers walking the boulevards.  Their latest trick is to pretend to pick up a gold ring from the footpath in front of you, expressing mock surprise that something so valuable was just lying there. They then put on a great performance that maybe you dropped it and that perhaps they deserve a small reward for helping you out. It’s a fascinating con because it relies on the dishonesty of both parties. It’s happened to me twice now but both times it was laughably inept as I was walking all alone and would have spotted a gold ring right in front of me. Interesting study of human behaviour but.

Two days out from the start of the Festival and I’m already seeing this guy everywhere. The brand icon for the 2013 Cannes Lions Festival is plastered all over town on street posters and canvas banners and bus backs. And I’m sure I’ll see him everywhere inside Le Palais once the festival starts officially tomorrow.

He looks angry this year. He seems to be clenching that brush in is teeth as if he’s just written those two words “Inspiring Creativity” with a sense of expectation; maybe even frustration.

I like that.

This festival is at its best when it has a point to prove; when there’s a general sense of discontent and change in the air. When I first came to Cannes in the early 2000′s it was all about the end of TV as we know it.

Then the TV fans hit back when it became obvious that Digital and Broadcast could live happily together after all. Then it was all about how media, creative & digital agencies were all claiming to be the owners of the big idea. Then it was mobile creativity making everything else redundant. Then it was all about Big Data squashing creativity.

So what will it be this year? What could get Le Gros Chat so steamed up? I’m hoping it’s the rise of conscious capitalism. Bill Bernbach’s “creativity of truth” taken to a whole new level in a world where the abundantly informed and connected consumer can and does see through every shallow attempt to merely win our favour. Rejecting those creative treats designed to win our attention purely as a means to procuring a return for shareholders – and instead – rewarding those brands who are doing something more useful for the world.

I’m hoping last year’s win for Chipotle and their magical “Back To The Start” message around responsible consumerism is a pointer to an entire festival where our industry feels increasingly prouder of our role in the world. Pride that triggers a whole new confidence to give up some of our old addictions to being gods and gurus and instead embrace the power of truth and authenticity.

To my optimistic eyes, the lion is aiming his steely stare at us, the advertising industry, challenging us to grow markets for our brands by partnering consumers in empowering truths.

But hey, maybe he’s actually looking at the organisers. Maybe he’s angry at them for making this year’s festival more of a retrospective, self-congratulatory birthday celebration than a giant leap forward.

I’ll let ya know.

Mike.

–Only In Cannes–

I saw a very old rich lady walking along La Croisette, dressed in the finest Chanel day wear and with full on jewellery and make-up… carrying what can only be described as her pet chicken. Yep, a rather ordinary looking standard hen, wrapped in a little fur blanket and cradled lovingly by Madame.

Our research told us that nine out of ten Aussies eat pies, and that almost all of them would prefer to get a pie from their local bakery. People are also taking more care in choosing food based on the quality, and provenance of the ingredients.

Few Australians know that Mrs Mac’s is one of the last great family owned food businesses, and fewer still have had the pleasure of visiting the Mrs Mac’s site in Morley, WA, to see the locally-sourced ingredients being baked in what is simply one big family bakery.

Now Australians are about to see it for themselves.  Mrs Mac’s is bringing Australia into the bakery and letting them know about the ingredients, the hand-checked quality and the old fashioned way Mrs Mac has always made her pastry.

The campaign coincides with new packaging that we’ve also developed to highlight Mrs Mac’s family bakery heritage. The TV ads launch nationally on Sunday and will be supported by outdoor, radio, magazine, online video and search activity pointing hungry pie eaters to a pie locator hosted on the new Mrs Mac’s website.

Here’s to the future of an Australian icon, to the success of the wonderful people in the bakery, and to the legacy of the late Iain Macgregor.

Cannes pulls out the big guns.

The Cannes Lions Advertising Festival is 60 this year and it’s clear from the seminar program the organisers have gone all out with the A list to make it a year to remember.

The line-up includes Jack Black, Conan O’Brien, Jenson Button, Lou Reed, Martha Stewart, Sean Combs, Vivienne Westwood, Annie Leibovitz and a yacht-load more.

You might be tempted to think it’s just Riviera-style posturing, but I’m genuinely interested, for example, in how a writer-musician-actor-comedian like Jack Black views the rise of online content in entertainment.

Although I’m not sure I’ll be lining up to see Mel B on a panel discussion about the impact of digital on celebrity PR.

Nope, I’ll be trying to keep my special balcony viewpoint a secret from the expected record numbers of delegates, so I can absorb every word from my personal A list celebs: George Lois, Lee Clow, Dave Droga, Maurice Levy and Anderson Cooper to name a few.

The festival starts this Saturday. Visit the Meerkats website each morning to read my take on the day’s proceedings.

Michel d’Edmonds

Meerkats Co-founder, Director of Brand Expression.

We always bang on about trying to get as personal as we can with our target audiences. Digital/social/interactive are all great ways for brands to converse directly with them, etc, etc, etc. Then this brilliant idea comes along – hand-made soft toys that are exact replicas of a kid’s drawing. The really clever studio behind this idea is Child’s Own http://www.childsown.com/

I see many correlations between what these guys do and what brands should always remind themselves to do.

Let’s start with the obvious; it’s real. It’s authentic. It takes something the kid really did and makes something real they get to keep.
It’s personal; extremely so. They take a one-of-a-kind drawing a one-of-a-kind kid has done and base a one-of-a-kind soft toy on it.
It’s useful. They’ve turned it into something physical that comforts them, is a companion to them and helps to feed their imagination even more (You can’t say the same about The Simpsons Homer Mobile).
It’s meaningful. Every person has their own unique imagination. Nobody else drew that picture, or conjured up the images they did as they were drawing it. It means a lot because it’s theirs and nobody else’s.
It’s rewarding. The kid is seeing the fruits of their imagination come to life in a different light. Their effort has been rewarded.
It leaves a lasting impression. Of all the soft toys someone can reflect back on at the end of their life, the one based on something they did is the one they’ll remember.

These days many believe brands are nothing unless they actually do something real and worthwhile that actually improves someone’s life. In other words, let’s be useful. And if we honestly can’t be useful, then let’s revert back to basic advertising psychology – activate emotions – make someone laugh, cry or say, ‘What tha?’. Let’s grow a little synapse in their brain where our brands can live.

So now that I’ve seen this brilliant idea here’s what I think: let’s try to be as real, personal, useful, meaningful, rewarding, and memorable as a Child’s Own soft toy.

Well, Grey Spain have taken this to the next level and cleverly devised a way to communicate to the victim and the perpetrator of child abuse using the same piece of advertising for ANAR.

The Canadian Space Agency have posted a series of videos featuring astronaut Chris Hadfield explaining how you accomplish everyday tasks in Space.

The videos are very engaging and interesting with Chris also answering submitted questions.

Watch it here

With Mike offering some more insight to all the new Kats…

Will then chimed in to offer some further scientific research and evidence to prove the theory.

So I thought I could simplify the issue.

The researchers there are not only inspiring brainiacs creating our digital/communications future, they seem to be pretty handy at explaining themselves too.

A researcher named Alex Pentland helped me finally truly understand Big Data:

“The daily ebb and flow of our societies is the sum of billions of individual exchanges. When we examine the detailed patterns in these billions of exchanges, we can explain many things that appear as random fluctuations such as market crashes, bankruptcies, fads and political movements.

The new lens that lets us examine society in such fine-grain detail is known popularly as Big Data: billions of telephone call records, credit-card transactions and GPS-location fixes. These new digital information sources let us precisely measure patterns of interaction between people, and between consumers and merchants, and then chart the patterns of experiences people have as they love about their city.”

I’ve read case studies and website blurbs from all manner of smart data companies and none gave me such a clear snapshot as to how Big Data fits into the world and into the things I do at Meerkats.

Thanks Al.

Kelvin Doe (aka DJ Focus) is a 15 year old engineering wiz kid that uses the objects around him to solve his problems, creating his own batteries, generators and radio station.

He lives by the moto of “I believe if you focus, you can do an invention perfectly”.

Show your support by donating to http://www.crowdrise.com/InnovateSalone.  Donations go to more inovation competitions that support youths like Kelvin Doe around the world.

With Youtube being overwhelmed with content these days it is often hard to find amazing visual feasts or great stories.  Reelhouse offers both. It is a collection of micro documentaries and short films that are all both inspiring and visually amazing.

A couple of my favourites from reelhouse:

Urban Outlaw,

Toy Boats,

Practice & Space – Butcher & Larder

Most of our digital photos live in an online environment and they often get forgotten.  As an alternative to printing a photo book, why not host your own mini slide night – get your mates around and lock the doors.  It’s a cute little gimmick that would make a great gift.

Big thanks to our friends at Lotterywest for their trust and patience while developing this campaign.

Read more about the night here:

View the work here:

Give Luck A Chance  (90 sec)

Give Luck A Chance  - The Diver

Give Luck A Chance – The Ramp

Our job was to shine a light on some of Murdoch University’s incredible researchers; and describe the great and important work they, that is having a truly global impact.

People like Simon Mallal, who’s made incredible impact on the effectiveness of AIDS medication. Or John Howieson, who is turning dry arid land in Africa into green pastures.

Equally impressive is who they have been working with. The Gates Foundation has been involved with several research projects. Duane Varan is working with Disney, ESPN and MTV, and Simon Allen was an animator at Pixar.

Finding stories like these at Murdoch was easy, the challenge was telling them. Some of the stories don’t neatly fit into a TV ad timeframe. And as much as we’d like to travel the world interviewing Bill Gates or John Lasseter at Pixar, that just wasn’t going to happen.

We also realised that many universities talk about where preparing graduates to go out into the world, but no-one is talking about bringing the world to Perth.

So the campaign took on two roles. One was to tell the story of the research, the other to surprise people with the fact that this amazing work is being done right here by people in Perth.

These stories are told in short-form on TV and in the daily press; and in longer form online on the Murdoch website.

At its core, this campaign is all about evidencing the amazing global connections that Murdoch University has, and we’ve enjoyed playing our part to make that happen.

Credits:

Agency Creatives:  Mike Edmonds, Tom Wilson, Adam Cannell

Agency Producer: Sam Rees

Director: Mike Wilson-Kojo, Adelaide.

Producer: Leona Crichon, Kojo, Adelaide.

Post Production: Kojo, Adelaide.

Music Composition:  Justin Astbury

Client Service: Will Peart and Claire Yow.