Cannes Lions Thursday Key Points: Lou Reed reveals Kanye West is the best current artist, Saatchi & Saatchi showcase the most visual adverts in existence and Tumblr creator says there's no shame in having few followers
Today at the Cannes Lion Awards 2013, Saatchi & Saatchi opened with their seminar - New Directors Showcase – which documented the exploits of some of the best directors in the industry.
Kicking off at noon was Grey Group’s seminar – Grey Music with Lou Reed - where artist and writer Reed, discussed at length his views of the current music industry, especially his preference for analogue music over MP3, he said: “Digital is great because you can access every music genre in the world but it sounds like shit, [with iTunes] Steve Jobs made something that benefitted Apple but not musicians. MP3s are really miserable sounding; people don't understand what they are missing.
“My first pay check was for $2.60, which is the same I get now for digital downloads. I’m back where I started. In this world of downloading, advertisers are those who pay for music.
Somewhat surprisingly, Reed asserted that Kanye West was the only good contemporary artist.
“I've never understood writing. I am at the mercy of it. When it's not there, it's not there. Every single one of my songs is a true event, for better or worse.”
Next was YouTube’s seminar - Why Be the 30 Second Spot When You Can Be the Whole Show? – with speaker, Robert Kyncl, vice president of Google.
He said: “What gets me up in the morning is creativity. Once you get the audience’s attention, don't leave the conversation - successful brands in this space are always on.”
This was followed by Tumblr’s seminar – A Fireside Chat with David Karp - with speaker, David Karp, the founder of Tumblr, discussing why Tumblr is so different from other social networks.
“Our mission is to empower the creative community to create something extraordinary, we don't share stats.There is no shame in not having lots of followers.”
Next was the elaborate seminar by Detsu entitled – Happy Hacking: Redefining the Co-Creation Frontier. It pushed the idea that even hacking was a form of creativity which could be used to accommodate the needs of consumers with certain products.
Speaker Adam Kerj said: “Hacking is a form of spontaneous co-creation, the more you practice, the luckier you get in the social sphere.”
Last night the Press, Design, Radio and Cyber Lions were announced the winners included:
Press Lions: TBWA\Media Arts Lab Los Angeles picked up the Grand Prix for five separate ads for Apple's iPad Mini, including: "time", "surfer", "Wired magazine" and the "New Yorker"
Design Lions: Auchan’s ‘The Self Scan Report’ picked up the Grand Prix for creating a report on sustainability that was itself sustainable as it was made from old receipts.
Radio Lions: ‘Dumb Ways to Die (Three Minute Version)’ McCANN MELBOURNE picked up another Grand Prix for its informative public safety song for the Melbourne metro.
Cyber Lions: Pereira and O’Dell San Francisco took picked up one of the two Grand Prix for their entry ‘The Beauty Inside’, created for Intel + Toshiba. Draftfcb New York picked up the Grand Prix in the Viral category for Oreo’s ‘Oreo Daily Twist’.
Tomorrow sees the release of the Branded Content and Entertainment, Film, Titanium and Integrated, and Film Craft Lions shortlists.