Olympic Moms

This commercial was so heartwarming that it brought tears to the eyes of so many viewers. It once again displayed a great example of storytelling. The only thing I would want to change about it is how long it was. The storyline of childhood bonding with parents through sports culminating at the Olympics is really powerful. Kids in the beginning go through the struggle of training for sports and are largely supported by their moms. Their hard work pays off by them being at the Olympics and their moms are still there cheering them on. 

Why are women always saying sorry?

This commercial began with familiar  moments of women apologizing unnecessarily. They went through a series of scenes from women at work, to in a relationship, to an interaction with a stranger. Then it displayed the question at hand - Why are women always apologizing? I think the ad is very effective in that it portays a common truth in life and brings it all back to the brand, P&G to empower women. I find it very positive. There was also a lot of diversity used in the ad. I can't think of anything I would want to change in this ad. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ruchikatulshyan/2014/06/18/why-are-women-always-apologizing/

Beats by Dre, Kevin Garnett Commercial

Beats by Dre - Kevin Garnett, Hear What You Want

The Beats by Dr. Dre 'Hear What You Want' campaign is visually impactful. The commercial staring Kevin Garnett begins with Garnett watching a television program where people are criticizing his team and his demeanor during games. The plot follows him to the bus on game day where fans jeer, yell, and hackle him as he rides the bus to the game. The chaotic fans are wildly noticeable, and are silenced as Garnett puts on his Beats headphones. The music that starts playing from his headphones is positive and encouraging and changes the mood of the commercial entirely. After putting on his headphones, Garnett is able to focus on getting ready for the game. Parts of the commercial is shot in slow motion, and the music in the beginning sets a more dramatic tone that is later contrasted with Garnett finding peace in his music. Beats uses music video directors to film their commercials which I feel helps align the brand with the ideas associated with music videos - modern, young, crisp and dreamy. The music video commercial also correlates with the product at hand well. The fact that Beats is advertising noise canceling headphones seamlessly reinforces the storyline. Garnett shows the perfect facial expressions and demeanor to portray what the commercial intends to convey to the viewer. This commercial sends a very relatable story to the audience. Everyone experiences negativity in life that needs to be ignored in order to focus on a greater goal. This 'Hear What You Want' commercial depicts this theme it in a powerful and direct way. Music can be a useful outlet for people, and Beats has positioned themselves as the headphone of choice for just that. I have found that brands can get lost in the storytelling of advertisements, but I admire how Beats managed to effectively represent their brand while also telling a very relatable story. An improvement that could be made for this commercial would be to have the newscasters more specifically target Garnett during the opening part of the commercial on TV. The scene right before Garnett walks out to the game could have been a bit more interesting than Garnett wrapping his finger, but I really enjoyed almost every aspect of this commercial.

Commercial link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUj0Ta44DI

Cannes Lions Innovation Winners 2014

The Grand Prix winner for 2014 was the Megafaces Pavilion at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. This pavilion placed an interesting twist on the casual selfie and used advanced technology to create larger than life 3D face monuments available for anyone to use. The participants simply scanned their photo in the 3D photo booth and their image later appeared on the large LED screen made of 11,000 actuators. This setup was created by JSC Megafon and was placed in many cities across Russia during the 2014 Winter Olympic games. The pavilion helped personalize the olympic experience. This project made history as the world's first 3D selfie. With people's widespread insistence on sharing their photos, this became a great way to spread the message of the 2014 Winter Olympics to large numbers of people. The Megafaces campaign also attracted a lot of media attention due to its one of a kind nature.

The Innovation Lion winners was the Points signs, the Fiat Live Store and Babolat Play. The Points sign was an interesting concept that turned street signs into advertising. Created by Breakfast New York, this sign's interconnectivity allows it to move and change its message based on who is around and where they have been. The fact that it can be self sustainable due to advertising payments and support from its creators makes the sign even more unique. I would have to say that the sign could make things a bit confusing if it continuously changes its message or doesn't convey the correct information when someone simply wants to know the street name and not where Ben&Jerry's is located. The Fiat live store seems really interesting, but a bit over the top. I feel that if someone is really looking to purchase a car, no matter how great technology is to recreate the experience, they would want to see the car and drive the car in person. The idea seems especially silly because it wouldn't really save any time or energy because the buyer would still need to visit the store to make a purchase. This campaign was created by Agenciaclick Isobar São Paulo, Brazil. Ogilvy France developed the Babolat Play initiative, the first tennis racket to connect a player's game to their phone via the racket. Every part of the game is recorded on the player's phone. The app collects data from games and develops an average pulse of the player's performance which combines different aspects the game. The app even allows users to compete with users around the world. This is an amazing concept that takes the increasing interconnectivity of our world to a new level.

All of the Innovation awards came from different parts of the world. The winning campaigns included Russia, the US, France, and Brazil. Each initiative differed in method, theme and technology. I feel that the Babolat Play racket helps bring people together through technology, while the Fiat Live Store helps nurture anti-socialism. The Megafaces is more similar to the Points sign in that they both engage users in new ways making ordinary experiences more personable.

 

June 21st, 2014

Audio Network: Synaesthesia - A Creativity Showcase

This innovation seminar was mind boggling. They opened with Philip Sheppard, a virtuoso cellist, who made a song based on what people called out from the audience. Sheppard is definitely talented, he could make car and animal noises with his cello. He spoke of the term Synaesthesia, which is sensing nouns in other forms such as colors in terms of taste or music in terms of color. Listening to this music made me realize yet another component of advertisements - music. Creatives have so much to think about when working on commercials and campaigns. Neil Harbisson was on an entirely other level of synaesthesia as he requested that a doctor implant an antennae into his skull. Since Harbisson was born only able to see in black and white, he wanted to find a way to understand color, so he invented this antennae that allows him to hear it. He is working on a flew of inventions that enhance the body's normal senses. He has even enhanced his own antennae invention to detect colors people cannot see such as ultra violet light. He claims to feel closer to nature due to his antennae because he is now more like other animals and is now more aware of what is happening on earth. There are also four people with his antennae number who can send him pictures from around the world to let him experience color in other places. He has discovered interesting facts of life since having his antennae attatched. For example, white and black people don't actually exist in the human race. Everyone is just a different shade of orange. 

Virool: Win a trip to space

I came in towards the end of this session, but I saw the magic show. It was really impressive and ended with a ball of paper catching fire and turning into a rose. I do not know how they did it. 

MDC: Creatives in charge - why more creative people should be running companies 

The speaker provided more depth to being a creative. He basically said that creative talent have just as many useful skills to run a company as someone with a business or accounting degree. I feel that this was a really positive spin on things because I don't think that many people feel this way, but I agree with it. He said that as a CEO, you need both vertical and horizontal skills. Vertical skills being your area of expertise, horizontal being surface knowledge about a plethora of other subjects. 

VCCP Partnership: The (Emotional) Revolution will not be Televised

This session uncovered the truths of how people behave unnaturally when they know they are being watched, which makes studies that do such research inaccurate. The session also displayed the same ad twice using a different background song each time. The two songs were similar and had been used in a study that recorded the average listener's emotional arousal as they watched the commercial. The speaker showed how an unknown song outscored a well known song in arousal rate and could save a company a ton of money if used instead of the well known song. I personally liked the commercial that used the popular song version so

I'm not sure of the accuracy of this study. They claimed that emotional arousal helps with memory, which means you should try to arouse your audience emotionally so that they will be more likely to remember your commercial.  

DigitasLBi: Tales from the Accident Factory

The biggest takeaway from this session was how video games have the ability to aid the process of healing when children are in isolation. A young girl who had gone through chemotherapy told us her story via live stream on Skype. She told of how video games helped keep her mind off of cancer and sadness during her treatment. The speakers had her play a video game debuted on site which allows people to donate money towards cancer research. Each donation appears within the game as a bonus feature allowing the player to go further along in the game. Unfortunately, their game didn't work properly during the session, but the game idea was an interesting concept. 

(RED): A conversation with Bono and Jony Ive 

I really enjoyed hearing about the process it took to develop the (RED) brand. I learned that some of the development process created friction between the organizing members. For instance, Apple's insistence for all things simple and clean cut opposed (RED)'s use of parenthesis. According to Bono, he insisted that the parenthesis be there. Somehow (RED) and Apple came to a workable compromise where (RED) could keep it's parenthesis. I was really surprised how involved Bono is and has been with the brand. I don't feel that his partnership is widely publicized. I also found their tactic for getting politicians on board quite unique in method. Bono explained that as politicians saw the cause being supported in the shopping malls, they began to care about (RED) as opposed to them fleeing the somewhat taboo topic. The choice of using the word and color red was a deliberate one in that it signifies emergency, and eradicating AIDS is just that. The (RED) goal is to cultivate an AIDless generation. There was an emphasis placed on geographic location not being the determining factor between life and death. Overall, after hearing this seminar, I will be a more informed and supportive buyer of (RED) products.  

June 20th, 2014

Procter&Gamble: The Creative Canvas

Proctor&Gamble develop a diverse set of advertisements. From heart warming ads that make you reflect on life, as shown in the, 'Why are women always apologizing?' advertisement, to the funny Old Spice commercial with muscle drumming. The speaker said that he prefers to think of advertisements as a creative pallet as opposed to a campaign. Based on the creative work shown during this seminar, I believe him, all of the ads were really well done. The speaker went through a short history of media and advertising. He ended on the idea that "constant change is our new reality." He said that we will never be able to reach everyone on one platform again, which rings so strong and so true. The speaker provided three tips for creating great media. 1) Start with something true 2) Consider why anyone would care 3) Make your brand matter. I would like to say that some of the commercials they presented at the festival are much better than the Procter&Gamble commercials I see at home. For example, their Covergirl commercial about what girls can do was inspiring and eye catching. I am really happy with the Procter&Gamble presentation. 

Mirriad: From BPM to CPM

This forum discussed how music videos are the perfect way to reach a large audience with riveting media. I really like the saying from this forum, "You have to fish where the fish are". I can understand this concept, because I think that celebs and artists can be really influential to a younger demographic, and could help increase sales if the celeb is seen using a product in a music video. With this in mind, one would need to consider the demographic they are attempting to reach, because not all people of all ages are watching music videos or care what type of speakers Miley Cyrus uses on television. 

McDonalds: What really is the antidote to client promiscuity?

I would have liked to take the speakers in this forum a bit more seriously, but I really felt that they were overly proud of the food served at McDonalds. While I was quite attentive to their free McCafe stand almost every day of the festival, I really don't think their food is of such great quality to be so highly esteemed by its constituents. But honestly, this was an advertising conference, not a health conscious one, so I will say that I think it is amazing to have a team that really believes in the product because that is the only way to really sell a product well. Despite all the negative rumors about McDonalds due to movies such as Super Size Me, they have managed to maintain a state of excellence that allows them to win honors such as Creative Marketer of the Year at The Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, so kudos to McDonalds. 

June 19, 2014

Saatchi&Saatchi: New Directors' Showcase

This seminar was my favorite session from Thursday. They completely set the atmosphere for a great time. We were met by serious nurses at the door who handed out excitement trackers for your wrist that would light up and change colors depending on your reaction to what you saw on the screen. All of the nurses stayed in character the entire time and set the stage for excitement as the audience anticipated what would be next. The seminar showed a series of creative work that ranged from commercials to seemingly pure nonsense. A tracker of the audience's emotions was projected on each side of the screen. A few commercials really stuck out to me. One was an entire set made of yarn. There was a sick yarn woman who was dying who had a loved one at her bedside. She was slowly unraveling while her loved one attmepted to put her back together. This didn't work, so the sick woman told her loved one to let it be. The visual showed her slowly unravel until only a single strand was left and then this last strand was taken as well. Just as the woman was unraveling, a baby was being raveled to life in another scene. Some of the clips were sad, some were really touching and some were simply weird. I definitely have to say that the entire seminar was engaging, entertaining and enjoyable. 

IAB: Small size, big impact - when beautiful creative meets mobile screens

This seminar emphasized what makes a difference in mobile media. The use of vivid colors and ditching banner ads was emphasized. The speaker, Christine Cook, said that they take advantage of the entire ad and use a full page for it instead of disturbing the media the user actually wants to see with a banner ad. Her advice for students was to stay on top of media trends and to follow big brands on Flipboard. 

Pulse Films: Fashion Content Remixed

The speakers who were suppose to lead this were not present, which I feel changed the dynamics of the forum entirely. The question the speakers posed was "Is fashion content just like any other branded content?". These speakers find the storyline so important that they think story first and branding second. This forum really supported experimentation and trying new things to represent your brand. I'm not sure that they are on to something so great with their story first, brand second idea though. The video they showed did not direct me to their brand at all. Right now I can remember the entire plot, but not the name of their fashion brand. This doesn't seem like the best marketing strategy to me. I do think that being creative and attempting new strategies to sell can be good for branding, but the results should be quantified. 

BBDO: Nice is the new black 

This was a really interesting seminar as BBDO showcased some of their best work. They discussed how to balance not being sappy while also tugging at the hearts of the public. I really like this quote from the seminar, "Decent people are desperate to hang onto something decent". They showed the commercial of the Olympian moms helping their children train in a sport as they are young and still be there for them as Olympians. This commercial was a big tear jerker throughout the entire festival. The seminar discussed how sometimes having less going on in a commercial helps get your point across better. 

June 18th, 2014

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment: A conversation with Jared Leto and Benjamin Palmer

Before attending this seminar, I was unaware of who Jared Leto was. During the lecture, I became well acquainted with Leto's grand personality. I feel that he really took control of the session and made it his own. Leto helped make this an enjoyable seminar to attend. He was down to earth, articulate, and actually had qualifying things to say about the media industry. I was intruiged by his description of the role radio plays in people's everyday life. He spoke of how powerful the words in songs can be to a listener and how it can actually elicit an emotional response from the hearer. He also reflected on the anomaly of radio connecting people locally. Leto spoke of radio taking "choice out of the equation". As musicians make the decisions about what they will sing and what their music will sound like as radio stations choose what music is played, the audience really becomes the compliant listener on the other side of the radio box. This concept was positively framed by Leto during the seminar, but after considering the situation, I realized that listeners' inability to choose the music they want to hear on classic radio formats is what has propelled the success of online radio formats such as Pandora and Spotify. Traditional radio settings should find ways to combat this or face loosing more of their audience because honestly, most people say they hate listening to the radio and prefer choosing their own playlists.

Time Warner: The Power of Story

The forum between Jeff Bewkes, David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Armando Iannucci and Frank Rich was not as memorable as the exclusive meeting we had with HBO's Veep creator, Armando Iannucci, right after. An interesting point Iannucci brought up during the UGA meeting with him is how involved American actors become with their character and script. He mentioned that many American actors suggest changes they would like to make to the script in order for their character to be more accurately portrayed. I found Iannucci's discussion on the freedom he finds while working at HBO as opposed to working elsewhere profound. I think that a company's openness to their employees' creativity is an important characteristic to consider when looking for a job, and I plan to keep it in mind for the future. Iannucci advised us to write for ourselves and not for anyone else. I think this is a great takeaway because I find that writing for yourself and writing what really inspires you will come off as more genuine than anything else. Iannucci told of how one of the actors, Julia, can make a scene funny five different ways. This made me realize that everyone has their own special type of genius. It is when you are able to determine what your personal area of genius is and apply it to your work, that you will find the most success.

R/GA: Building a Billion Dollar Brand 

This seminar began with a speaker editing the title to: R/GA: Building a 3 Billion Dollar Brand. The first thing that struck me about this presentation was that it was presented by a professional, African American man. I hadn't noticed previously, but no other session I know of was led by an African American period. This realization began to gnaw at me as I remembered things I've heard in the past about the lack of African American men graduating from college and even a lack of their presence at The University of Georgia, and to go one step further - the absence of any African American male students on this trip. I began to think about what this speaker, Omar Johnson, was representing and how so many Black men's success stem from their relationship with sports or music and how even in Johnson's position as EVP of Global Marketing at Beats Electronic, his success is still somehow tied to music and sports. As a young African American woman, I would like to see more leading African Americans in the advertising industry because it shouldn't have been such a surprise for me to see one lead a seminar at the festival. This conundrum concerning the lack of diversity in the industry really moves me to want to create something that can help make a difference. It saddens me to think that there are probably many young, African American boys growing up seeing people that look most like them gaining most success in a select few professions. The reality of this is of course inaccurate, seeing how there are many successful people of color. I simply hope to see more representation of professional leaders of all races. Beyond the color of Johnson's skin, the Beat's presentation was phenomenal. I was intrigued by the diversity of those who founded the brand. I was under the impression that it was strictly a hip-hop brand, but it has in fact been cultivated by people of different backgrounds. The Beats brand's emphasis on remaining relevant to popular culture was an interesting concept presented during the seminar as well. The commercial they played in response to Miley Cyrus's performance right after it actually happened was funny and provided perfect timing to the eye opening spectacle at hand. The Beats commercials using athletes were quite moving and will be discussed in greater detail in the commercial critique section of my blog.

Ben Silberman: Why adventure is more important than success

I found Mr. Silberman extremely humble to be the Co-founder and CEO of Pinterest. He provided some great tips for finding the best team of employees to work for your company. Silberman said to tell applicants that the job will be hard and risky in the beginning because the people worth hiring will be up for the challenge. He also said that in order to be successful, you have to get out of your comfort zone. This was in response to the interviewer asking how he manages his business as he seems so introverted. 

Gyro: From religion to marketing: How to master the art of creating iconic brands 

This was an unusual workshop in that it connected two seemingly juxtaposed topics - religion and marketing. The workshop began with the six principles of both: 1) Be wherever your values are 2) Build temples for worship 3) Create shared rituals 4) Reduce the badge so others can take it on 5) Educate and be useful 6) Define your friends and enemies. Using these six principles, we were split into teams to create a catchy tagline for one of two mainstays in Cannes - Gutterbar and The Carlton Bar. The taglines with the most votes won. Needless to say, UGA took home a trophy.  

June 17, 2014

Yahoo!: On users, brands and creativity

Marissa Mayer's presentation wasn't as engaging as I would have liked it to be. I can't say I took much away from it. I would have preferred a more engaging session from Yahoo!.

Gale Ann Hurd, EP of The Walking Dead

This was a unique opportunity that provided new information that I was previously unaware of. I have never seen The Walking Dead, but the fact that the show seems to have interactive elements attatched to it to engage viewers sounds phenomenal to me. I think that the more an audience can engage with a brand, the more attatched they can become to it. An interesting aspect of the conversation with Ms. Hurd was her perspective on being a woman in her industry. She says she has chosen to be respected over being liked. As a female also pursuing a career in the media industry, her statement makes me reflect on the state of the media world and how it remains to be a male dominated industry. I can only hope for progress for this in the future. I also wonder if a better balance exists where a woman can be successful, liked, AND respected. I would like to think that there does not always need to be a trade off with this, though it may be a tough balancing act.

Calvin Klein: Global Brand, Digital Age - The Four Enduring Truths of #CALVINKLEIN

Seek simplicity, dance with controversy, leverage tension, embrace the culture. These are the four truths of Calvin Klein as told by the Calvin Klein Chief Creative Officer, Melisa Goldie. Her presentation displayed many of the iconic ads that have shocked audiences for decades, and some that still hold their shock value today. Calvin Klein's sexy ads seem to work well for building their brand while supporting their profits. Despite Goldie's informative presentation, I remain opposed to their tactics. After taking a course entitled Media and Body Image, I have become more keenly aware of the negative effects of objectification in media. I wish more companies aimed to stretch their creative muscle a bit more to move beyond the norm of always using sex to sell. Overall, she outlined Calvin Klein's strategy, and they have made the brand quite memorable over the years. 

Awards Ceremony

The awards ceremony was packed with people and held an amazing atmosphere. Awards were aptly given to some unique campaigns. A really memorable campaign involved creating a gas station with extremely low prices to attract attention to their advertisement. Another created a rice field made of different colored rice that made artwork which was also used as a sort of QR code to help sell more rice. The festival has shown some really amazing creativity and ideas.

June 16th, 2014

Futurebrand: How creativity can create a better future! 

This seminar enlightened my understanding of new scientific possibilities. I had never heard of a solar powered plane before in my life, and this is after taking a Natural Resource Conservation course at Georgia fall semester. I think that my greatest takeaway from this seminar was to really believe in your personal vision and work hard to achieve your goals despite other people's thoughts and opinions about them. The pilots were told that building a solar powered plane was impossible. If they had listened to this information and ended their quest then, they would have never reached their goals. This seminar encourages me to become more adamant in mastering my visionary goals despite the appearance of difficulty. 

Adobe: The New Creatives

The most memorable aspect of this seminar was the face painting projections that circulated on screen throughout the seminar while simultaneously mesmerizing my attention as I attempted to dissect the various aspects of each face painting. One question that came to mind was whether or not some of the face paintings might be offensive to some rural civilizations around the world, such as when ads portray traditional Native American costume. I personally concluded that the face paintings were tastefully done and were diverse enough to avoid any direct representation of a particular culture of people and perhaps avoided any sort of offense that may have risen from the public. 

Cosmopolitan: Fashion, Sex, Celebrity & Character: A Candid Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker & Joanna Coles

Seeing how a group of us girls waited on the first row of Grand Audi for this, some of this session was a blur simply because Sarah Jessica Parker was sitting about 5 feet away from me...if that! Otherwise, I remember a flew of photographers annoyingly snapping away in front of me just about the entire session. I honestly don't blame them because I pretty much was too - but I had a seat. I think this issue could have been handled more proactively for increased session enjoyment. For instance, everyone was snapping away for so long because SJP refused to give anyone on the right side of the stage a good snapshot as she kept her head turned away from us almost the entire time. I think that if both Ms. Joanna Coles and SJP had simply took a few moments to stand and smile at the start of the session for everyone to snap away, people would have been able to pay more attention to what was actually being said during the seminar. With the photography distractions aside, I realized how much more of a brand SJP really is aside from her fashion sense and well known TV show. I never knew how politically and socially involved she was before attending this session. 

Cirkus: DIY Workshop: Be the animation director!

This workshop was really fun for me. I had never really learned much about the animation process prior to this, and the workshop provided a good overview of it all. Groups were given the opportunity to be really creative and make story boards at the end of the workshop as a competition. This workshop helped me realize how creative I can be under pressure, which I really enjoyed.

Richard Edelman: Why you can't be CEO from behind a desk

This session was intruiging and provided great insight on how to successfully lead a major PR company. An interesting aspect of this Master Class was when Richard Edelman discussed how to properly handle family in business. I think that this is an important concept that you don't hear many people talk about. 

CP+B: The Creative Reality Check: A brief message on behalf of the seven billion people who aren't at Cannes Lions

The commercials shown in the beginning of this seminar were eye opening and a bit controversial. I really enjoyed the Netflix cheater campaign, it showed real humor.

- Felisha Ellison

The merge of specialties within Advertising

Today's most profound seminar for me was the Hakuhodo: Agency Model 2024. It thoroughly conceptualized what the advertising industry will look like in the coming ten years. The speakers provided  examples of companies that merged two seperate fields of study into a synergized niche business or product. For example, one of the speakers talked about a book store that also sells beer. The beer actually helps the store sell more books. Other examples included an artistic doctor and a copywriting architect. The concept of merging two seperate fields of study really inspires me because of the duality of my own personal business interests. As an advertising major in pursuit of a career in fashion branding, this seminar helped me feel more confident about my career path due to it's apparent relevance for the future of advertising.

The Hakuhodo seminar also helped shed more light on similar themes found in other seminars I attended today. For example the seminar, Holler: Planning to Stand Up, illustrated the connection between comedy and advertising planning.

Overall, the versatility of career options within advertising are endless.

Seminar critiques: 

Golin: Relevance and The Hoff - Seeing David Hasselhoff in person was pretty awesome. The overall concept of the seminar was supported by his presence, though I also found him a bit distracting simply due to his celebrity status. Golin's concept behind the characteristics of remaining relevant were a new concept for me, very intriguing. 

Latinworks: Learn from the worst - This forum was engaging, and did give some useful tips on how to avoid big mistakes in the business. Some cool, funny stories were shared.

Ariadne's Thread - I enjoyed the history shared about humanity's thoughts towards creativity and the evolution of the meaning and significance of creativity over time. 

Stop Creating Crap Creatives - Speaker promoted his book a lot in the beginning and later skipped a line of slides. Not my favorite session. 

Deutsch: Culture Curation - Very intense thoughts about advertising and getting ahead of the competition. Almost scary at times.