Not For The Weak Hearted

The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is the advertising event of the year. Over 20,000 pieces of creative advertising material from across the world are judged at this event. If you receive an award, you have welcomed temporary greatness. Temporary, because you better believe your competition is brewing and boiling with ideas to surpass your last.

In the advertising business, we live, breath, eat, sleep, read, BECOME competition. It is the light to our day, the wake to our hardly sleep, the coffee in our cup. When events such as the Cannes take place, we glue down our derrieres to see what the world has to offer; who can we beat or strive to become. We sit and analyze every word, action, prop and placement – what could we have done, what would have we done. This industry is not for the faint of heart. If we see someone do something extraordinary, we are driven and determined to one-up them.

The beauty behind events such as Cannes is that it exponentially increases the creative edge of any great agency. We can’t help but want to get back to the office to explode into a rapid fire of creativity. The great and memorable ads, such as Apple’s 1984, have set the stage for creative genius. Every year, something newer is launched, like 2005’s Sony Bravia, 2008’s Monster.com “stork”,  to this year’s Puma: After Hours Athlete, the Outdoor Grand Prix winner Jay-Z’s “Decoded” (Droga5) and the Grand Prix winner, Nike: Write the Future (Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam); each surpassing the last, in one shape or form, creating a memorable experience, noting its place in history.

Some detour from competition, from strength in progress, however, we invite it. Competition fuels greatness. We are passionate about providing the best options to every client that walks into our door. They do not come asking for mediocrity, copy-cats or stagnant ideas. Props to our industry comrades for your wins, for you have given us fuel to our ever-burning fire.