Bon Jour

From what I can gather online, the Cannes Advertising Film Festival is in full swing right now. To be completely honest, I don't even know the correct name for what goes on over there 6,000 miles to my east.

To be even more honest, I never had an affinity for advertising award shows. Don't get me wrong, during the salad days of my career, I loved winning awards. The recognition. The subsequent salary bumps. The palpable envy of colleagues. I just never liked the peacocking and social niceties that go along with the shows themselves.

Those were better suited for the cool kids. The ones who look natural in porkpie hats. Or Capri pants. Or penny loafers with no socks. All sartorial choices that were never designed for a stocky, barrel-chested man with thinning hair and a disruptive aquiline nose. 

Ms. Muse is not going to be happy with all this self deprecation.

I was never interested in going to Cannes then, I certainly am not interested in going to it now. Given the way the media landscape has flattened out and in essence gone radio silent, I have no idea of what kind of work is out there. And even less cognizant of work that merits heavy gold-plated trinkets and toddler-sized bottles of Rose wine.

Saw an interesting piece of ad wisdom the other day. Something to the effect of, "once you've developed a reputation for doing good or great work, you'll never have to resort to swimming in a sea of mundanity again."

At the risk of sounding immodest, I call complete BS on that. 

Prior to my forced semi-retirement, I have been neck deep in assignments that took a sledgehammer to my dwindling self-respect. I know from kvetching sessions with my contemporaries, I was not alone.

Folks who used to build and steward brands, create Super Bowl spots, turn companies around with something we used to call "A Big Idea" were now crafting disposable banner ads, 5th level landing pages, and e-mail blasts that were high on labor but unsurprisingly low on click thru rates.

Thanks to Performance Marketing, the vessels for creativity (film, print, radio and outdoor) have been replaced with newer (cheaper), smaller (cheaper) and data-driven (cheaper) digital vehicles that vanish seconds after they appear. 

Hence... 

"The Gold Lion for Best 468 X 60 Banner ad goes to..."

"Winners of the Titanium Lion for Subject Line goes to..."

"The Grand Prix for Outstanding Referral Card goes to..."

I'm not sure this is an accurate rendition of what goes on in the south of France these days, but as I stated at the outset, I probably never will.