The following passages are from Scott Goodson's guest blog for AdWeek during the week of Cannes.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Am leaving for Cannes on Wednesday night with my Frog colleague Kerry Quinn. Looking forward to the ruckus. Was supposed to be there today, but we made the final of a rather exciting pitch that culminates tomorrow at high noon. The anticipation of it all has inspired me for the last few yards to the pitch finish line. The dash to the airport. The old friends, new friends, the work, the meetings, the bar of great gutters. All rather fun and very inspiring—in small doses, of course.
Last year as a member of the Titanium jury, I was whisked here and there, had my personal door opener, valet parking service. This year I’m a pack rat, and rather looking forward to it. All the stress and pressure of judging ... I’m actually looking forward to putting my feet up and enjoying it all.
I most look forward to:
1) The globality of it all. Hanging out with great talent from Tokyo to Toronto, from Sweden, Holland, Brazil, Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia, India. This is the true greatness of Cannes. Much like the thrill of the global family coming together at the Olympics.
2) Seeing a ton of work. There’s nowhere else on the planet where you can peruse warehouse loads of category work. You work on shoes? Well, the shoe industry will run 793 TV spots from around the world at 1 p.m. You do digital work for cars? Salon H from 7 a.m. until midnight.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Cyber Lion list, party down at the Carlton chez nous! Oh, there's Martin from Stockholm, Diedrich from Amsterdam, Dino from Canada. Or is it Ed? It's awfully late. And Futaba from Tokyo and ... Linda Rufoss from Bronxville!!! What are you doing here?! Ha!
Seriously, why aren't our lives like this every single day? Why does it take an annual event in the Riviera for the world to hang up their hangups and just hang out? I actually met a Greek creative director hanging our with a Turkish creative director, having fun. OK, it was late. And that eight-hour flight isn't helping matters. We booked economy class to enjoy the experience and camaraderie of the back of the bus. It was great, though the seats were a tad wee small, made for the average three-foot pygmy. But lots of fun people in the back of the plane all heading to Cannes. Met Becky from Driver and her colleagues enroute. Actually, half the Delta flight was heading there—even the stewards and stewardesses, who by the way mixed a wicked Mohito at 30,000 feet (just like the Delta advert said, though there wasn't a single MP3 on board, which the Delta ad also promised). Ah, the globality of it all.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Fresh from a run down the beach past a gallery of Speedos, I ended up at the Belles Rives, an Adweek exclusive lunch with some of the U.S. industry leaders, including Jeff Goodby, Bob Greenberg, Nick Brien, the London Fallon management, and Ben from the Barbarian Group, plus Alison Fahey, Ellie, Mr. High and Brian, among others. The food was extraordinary, the company and discussion even better. Then it was off to first the Terra Brazil party aboard one of the largest yachts I’ve ever been on. The music and company were wonderful. I spent time with a good friend, Suzanna Applebaum, the digital ecd from Brazil, who singlehandedly won five Lions in the Cyber competition this year, ahead of Crispin’s four. Perhaps a sign of the future: At the award cememony for Cyber and Press, the hall emptied out after the Cyber Lions were handed out and before the Print Lions were. Oh well, who wants to see those kind of ads these days, I guess?
Then it was off to the infamous Gutter for Kerry Quinn, my fellow Frog and I, for what was an old reunion with lots of the world’s luminaries. Lee Daley, whom I haven’t seen in donkey years, was there looking younger than ever—I guess being GM for Manchester United helped. I met Paul Kemp-Robertson, the founder and publisher of Contagious, another old friend, the client from GE with Bill Power, BBDO account director, and Mark from Time Warner, and some up-and-coming hot French-British director, who engaged me in a most fascinating chat about cross-cultural children. I’m off to the lunch featuring Al Gore at Hotel Du Cap. Stay tuned. Oh, and this time I’m bringing my sun lotion.
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