Experience Paper

How Gloria Changed My Life

There are so many experiences from this trip I would love to write about it is hard to pick just one. One experience that truly changed my life happened on the very first day of the festival. I was still star-struck from sitting so close to Martha Stewart in the morning that I did not think my day could get any better. I decided to go to the AOL women’s seminar in the afternoon not thinking that I would have the chance to talk to one of the most famous feminists in the history of the united States.

I took a Women’s Studies course this past semester honestly because I heard it was an easy A. I did not know, however, that I would truly enjoy the class and become interested in the thought of feminism. I always had the idea of feminists being crazy, bra burning lesbians but I found out that most feminists just want equality for men and women both. They view each sex as equals and strive for equal rights that have still not been attained in our society.  You can imagine how excited I was to find out Gloria Steinem and the CEO of Lifestyle AOL (a woman) would be hosting a seminar at Cannes Lions this year.

Sitting in the very front row and listening to these women speak about women’s roles in this industry inspired me to become successful in my own right. They had created a movie titled “Makers” which describes the women’s rights movement in the United States as told by women who were key players in the movement. During the seminar they showed clips from the movie and the director of the movie also came out for a question and answer session that was particularly fascinating.  I felt that I learned the most information of the festival during this one-hour session.

 After the session ended, I mustered up the courage to flag Gloria down as she was getting off stage. To my surprise, she walked right over to a friend and me and kneeled down to talk to us. I was in complete shock. Here I was sitting face-to-face with one of the worlds leading feminists. I started out by saying “It is an honor to be speaking to you right now” and I truly meant it. I feel that women in my generation are losing positive role models to look up to such as Gloria. We then talked about women in commercials and the portrayal of the housewife still seen all around the media. She explained to us that she had actually just started a campaign to change a commercial for laundry detergent showing a housewife doing the laundry and her response was simply “Why not the man doing the laundry?” She talked until she was pulled off stage and I could not have asked for a better way to kick off the week of the Cannes Lions Festival.

Not many people get the chance to say that they met their idol but I am now able to say that I did. For the first time,  I thought critically about the role of women in advertising and was inspired to become successful and independent. It is not every day that you will have a chance to talk to a woman who made the future for your country a better place and I am so thankful I was given the chance to do so. 

Final Day of Cannes Lions 2013

      The  final day of the festival is commenced by an annual closing ceremony awards. During this, awards are given for categories such as film craft, film and various others. We waited in line for almost two hours and were awarded with seats towards the very top of the auditorium. This shows just how important these awards are to everyone in this industry. It was truly an honor just being able to watch the entire ceremony and see how won the famous grand prix's for the night. There were two campaigns that seemed to outshine everyone else however. The Dove "True Beauty" commercial and the "Dumb Ways to Die"  Metro Train campaigns dominated all other commercials in almost every category.

         Dumb Ways to Die is an Australian PSA that became a worldwide sensation. The catchy song and adorable animation has grossed over 60 million dollars worldwide and has become the most shared PSA in history. The campaign truly went global adding a smartphone app to the mix of things and letting the song become available for purchase on Itunes( where it rose to the top of the charts). Dove, on the other hand used a campaign marketed towards women and their self worth. This highly emotional commercial gets women to see what they look like through their distorted perceptions of self image. With the Dove campaign, there is no app or theme song but their is a strong internal message. It pulls from the fact that our society enables women to have terrible perceptions of themselves and advertising usually feeds off of that. This commercial breaks it down to simply drawing women on how they think they look and makes a huge social commentary out of it. Both commercials are captivating but extremely different.

After the ceremony came the closing gala. With tons of free food, free drinks and a great DJ the weekend truly ended on a great note. I look back over the week and I still do not understand how it all went by so quickly, but I had so much fun along the way. The festival taught me so much more than a classroom every could and I am so lucky to have had this opportunity. I learned a lot about Public Relations and its role in advertising but I also learned what direction I want to take my life in. The festival has given me a chance to see what types of companies I would like to work for and has allowed me to make connections on the way. Everyone in this industry needs to make it to Cannes at least once.

TV AD Number 3: The Switch

"The Switch'' is a beer commercial created by Heineken that uses the typical group of ''guys in a bar '' type of plot to display their beer. However, the choice of characters and plot makes this commercial much more enjoyable to watch.

The Switch is an as created by TBWA Amsterdam in coordination with Stink London production company. This pair created an ad that was entertaining but still directly displayed the product. The three men walk into a regular bar that turns into a speakeasy like jazz bar that anyone would love to party in. The cinematography  for this commercial is great. In the middle of the party the ''switch'' gear is stuck and the bar almost goes back to the boring setting as before. This keeps the viewer interested in plot and  wanting to know what happens next. In the end of the commercial, t he switch is then fixed and the men can keep partying with their delicious Heineken beers.

Although this concept of plot is not entirely original, I like the way the advertising agency created a plot twist and added depth to the typical beer platform.

TV Ad Number Two:Clock

Beer commercials all seem to be the same these days. Usually the commercial feature a handful of white males partying in bars, driving cars or trying to pursue beautiful women. A Guinness advertisement titled ''Clock'' completely rejects this concept. It deconstructs the ''typical'' beer ad and makes it an interesting story piece.

 This advertisement produced by BBDO London is shot in complete black and white film with a set from the early 20th century. It is beautifully shot with stop motion imagery of a clockmaker working to turn back time. The clock tower is on fire and although the whole town is trying to diffuse the fire it is assumed the clock tower will burn down. All of the sudden the scene starts again and the fire is put out immediately. It then jumps the next scene where a the men are the town are coming home from a war. The clock then slows down time for the families to reunite longer. The end of the commercial then states'' in the end to we settle for ordinary or strive for more''?

I understand the parallel between the magical clock being extraordinary and the beer being extraordinary but I feel the parallel should have been pulled in tighter. If there had been a couple of shots of Gunnies beer throughout the commercial I feel that the viewer would have understood the parallel immediately instead of having to wait until the very end of the commercial to understand. That being said, it was still a unique take on a typical beer commercial. I really enjoyed the choice of storytelling rather than a quick product placement. The addition of black and white film and an older society creates a commercial that will stand the tests of time.

TV Ad Number One: Metamorphosis

It is vary rare to see a commercial that truly presents itself as a work of art and not a corny push for a product. ''Metamorphosis'' is an advertisement by the Havas London advertising company that does just this. It is produced with a high quality film and creates a storyline with interactive characters.

The commercial starts out with an elegant dinner set in medieval times. A beautiful woman and man are looking into each others eyes and later in the night he ventures into her room. The woman seemingly casts a spell on the young man which turns him into a deer over night. The lighting and special effects of this quick scene are incredible and beautifully shot.

In the last part of the commercial, a man goes hunting and shots the dear who appears to be the young man. Later that night the woman and her company are eating the deer for dinner when she notices the young man is missing from his seat. The scene quickly shoots to a famous picture of deers in nature surrounded bid people of the medieval era with the line ''The national gallery presents the Metamorphosis exhibit'' with the dates that the exhibit was running underneath. The advertisement was promoting the Credit Suisse and the national gallery exhibit showcasing art of this type.

 I loved the way that the production company, skin flicks London and the advertising agency worked together to create a storyline for the art being shown in the gallery. This intrigues the viewer and creates an imaginary and creative environment for the art. It was a very different way of advertising a museum but in the case of this product it definitely worked.

Day Six Of the Festival

Today at the festival I decided to see all of the print advertisements  that are nominated for awards at the festival. The advertisements displayed are anything from public relations campaigns to social experiments to non profit events.  This is my favorite thing I have stumbled upon while in Cannes. All of the ads are unique and creative. My favorite ad was from a  Chinese advertising agency for a stain remover. The picture depicted two couples having dinner together, each couple holding hands with their significant others. Then the viewer sees the reflection of the table and one man has his hand on the other woman's leg. The caption is '' no filth can go unseen.'' I thought this was a great way to incorporate a brand into a print ad while still catching the viewers eye. Another great ad I saw today was for a shampoo brand. The print ad had pictures of three males facing you with extremely long beards. The picture is actually an illusion because their ''beards'' are the backs of various women's heads. The illusion of their long hair under the mens faces to create ''beards'' is a fun way of promoting hair growth and keeping the viewer engaged with what the product is supposed to do. I enjoyed beig able to walk around at my own pace and discover all different types of branding.

Today I also ventured out to the beach cabanas where I  enjoyed beautiful views of the beach and some free food (Yum!). It was in the cabanas that I realized how truly global this festival is. Almost every company represented was from a different country. I talked to professionals from Brazil, Colombia, Canada and even Puerto Rico. I cannot believe that the festival is almost over, but I am so grateful that I was able to get this experience of a lifetime.

Day Five of Cannes

Day five of Cannes has proven to give me even more unforgettable experiences. Lou Reed is one of the worlds most famous musicians in the world. Today Greys New York held a seminar where Lou was able to speak about his creative past. While Reed is old and wise and somewhat monotone, what he had to say regarding music was fascinating. Reed explained that we should ''do something for love'' and not for money. He expressed his distaste for digital downloads and journalists but also praised the advances in technology happening on a day to day basis. Reed discussed his friendship with Andy Warhol and his creative lifestyle. I would have liked to hear more of Reeds personal work however. The  seminar ended with Reed reciting his own version of Edgar Allen Poe's '' Raven'' which was truly a work of art.

 The Tumblr seminar starring CEO  David Karp was a great way to start the afternoon. Karp was engaging and full of life while discussing the creation of Tumblr and what Tumblr can do for the world of advertising. I liked the was Karp kept reiterating the fact that technology and creative art need to work together to create brilliant ideas, it is not just one department waiting on ideas from the other one. Karp was quick to point out that he felt there was a lot of following going on in advertising right now. I think this is a valid point to be made. There should be more of a shift in the way advertisers create brands using social media and technology. The shift should be focused on a more balanced environment where advertisers can create their own media without relying on engineers and tech guides.