CANNES, France – By now, most people in the advertising business know that an edgy, rather sombre commercial from the United Kingdom promoting the British newspaper The Independent won the Grand Prix as the best overall spot at the 46th International Advertising Festival in Cannes.
And Canadians are reveling in the success of a humourous commercial for Finessse Shampoo by Palmer Jarvis DDB, Vancouver, and produced by Toronto’s Avion Film Productions, that won the first film Golden Lion for Canada in at least a decade.
But what the vast majority of people in the industry don’t know is that these and 99 other commercials that will be screened around the world as part of the Cannes showcase reel, are the very select tip of a large iceberg of mediocrity.
‘Most people know the Cannes festival from the reel, and they think that’s representative of the work,’ says Paul Lavoie, president and creative director of TAXI Advertising & Design, and a one-time gold winner in the press and poster competition for McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada.
‘What they don’t know is that there is also a lot of bad stuff, which is just as important to see because you learn from that as well. You learn what not to do.’
Lavoie says he’s learned a lot over the past five years that he’s been coming to Cannes and he’s a passionate advocate of the festival.
‘I treat it as an exercise in R&D. Yes, it’s sunny and there are beaches, but that’s the superficial part. The important thing is that experiencing work from around the world and mingling with some of the best people in the business is essential if you, as a client or as an advertising person, expect to move forward in your craft,’ says Lavoie.
Other Canadians who have attended the festival and become strong proponents have rallied under the auspices of Canada’s official Cannes representative Cineplex Odeon to create a Canadian Cannes Committee to try to encourage more Canadians to both enter their work and attend the festival.
The initiative paid off this year with close to 120 Canadian entries, which was considered more than any other year, and some 60 delegates.
Several Canadians, such as Steve Gordon, a director affiliated with Toronto-based Radke Films and Leif Nielsen, a group creative director with Young & Rubicam, Toronto, have been coming to Cannes for 10 years.
‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ says Nielsen. ‘You need to be here if you want to stay on top of what’s going on in the industry.’
Adds Lavoie: ‘You get to see thousands of commercials here. I always ask myself, ‘What do I remember?’ And that’s a very important question because a consumer is also bombarded with thousands of messages.
‘When I returned from Cannes, the experience helped me make my agency better because it taught me that we must take our work a bit further…to make it bolder…to be different and to break through. That is what we get paid for – to make our clients’ products stand out.
‘If there is one message that I would take back to Canada from this year’s festival, it is that we must still be bolder in our work. Of about 500 commercials that were shortlisted (there were 4,757 spots entered and 7,322 ads in press and posters) we made two on the (film) shortlist. We can do better.’
In addition to the film Gold Lion in the cosmetics and beauty products category, Canadians also won two silvers, both from Palmer Jarvis DDB, Vancouver.
This year’s festival drew a record attendance of about 7,500 people representing 75 countries.
