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Are we still banging on about Cannes? Well, yes we are. In the latest issue of AdNews you'll find some of our highlights from the festival – because despite the back and forth about whether it offers value – it does.
But not just because it's Cannes, but because it's a break from the norm, an opportunity to get out of the office and be exposed to a different frame of reference. The same is true of anything that takes you out of your routine. It could be SXSW, Vivid, Semi-Permanent or Melbourne’s Pause Fest. It could be a hackathon or a startup event. It could be a free University of Sydney lecture, watching some random European band play a gig or just sitting in a cafe observing people go about their business. The point is, that getting amongst it, whatever 'it' is, improves your thinking.
Something that came from a WARC session I attended in Cannes this year, where Cummins&Partners' Adam Ferrier chaired a panel debate on the future of strategy, was an observation that we all spend too much time sitting behind a desk Googling the answer to something rather than going out and looking for it. That's as true for us as journalists as it is for creatives or strategists.
Sandy Thompson, Y&R's global strategic planning director made the point that strategists need to get out more, hit the streets and talk to people, instead of getting stuck in the numbers. “Look up, not down,” was her point.
“Planners and strategists are at the dangerous point where they can Google everything, but it means we’re not necessarily represented by the real world – that’s the difference between knowledge and information,” she said.
“To truly understand people and how we can build our businesses, you have to spend time in the real world, put some sneakers on and get out there and hit the streets.”
Another comment I've heard made a few times recently is that agencies are guilty far too often of looking for existing ads and replicating what has been done elsewhere, instead of coming up with a bold new idea.
The old adage that the best ideas are those dreamt up in a pub on the back of a beer coaster rings true, but it feels like that's been forgotten. Although there are many answers to be found at the click of a mouse or in the data – these aren’t the only way. It may be the path of least resistance, but inspiration does not come from behind a desk.
We Google for the answer which means everyone has access to the same influences. It's a downward spiral for creativity and new ideas if the pool of inspiration remains small. Getting out and having your own experiences, your own reactions to external stimuli is the only way to feed your inspiration.
So while the celebrity element at Cannes has gone too far and it doesn’t always offer value, for me the interesting perspectives and dynamic personalities that figure like Iggy Pop offered were refreshing. If not completely relevant to advertising, just getting a glimpse into the way other people’s minds work can break you out of your own way of thinking.
And while it might seem as though whiling away the afternoon on a yacht or on the Carlton Terrace isn’t a hugely beneficial way to spend the time, the conversations had in Cannes or Austin Texas, or anywhere else really, are what reframe your thinking.
Those conversations or things you pick up will be entirely unique to each person that experiences them and while it might not solidify into an award–winning idea or translate into a client solution immediately, it nourishes the mind and the net gain is just that – a gain.