Cannes ya man Cannes: story of a man who no longer believes in the Cannes Lions

Kan ya man kan - there was, there was not. So start all fairy tales in the Arabic languages.

And the wordplay seems so fitting for the Cannes Lions festival. First a disclaimer, no I was never at Cannes Lions, and no I have never won anything at Cannes Lions, but just like lottery one cannot win without applying so I was never in an agency that applied anything for the Cannes festival, ergo never won. So what am I harping about?

Well, this comes from the mouth of a man whose agency is so incredibly highly decorated in whatever festival you can think of, and yet he once confided into me say "these days anyone can go to Cannes and win a trophy. There are too many categories to count, too many subcategories, too many this and that, honestly it is not even worth it any longer. Back in the day, there were - what? Three categories?" and remember this is the man whose agency used to sweep the board back in the day (and still does).

Now, as I said, I have no dog in the fight so what the hell am I ranting about? Am ranting about the whole let's-meet-at-the-carlton, am ranting about the uncreatives (apparently it is not even a word!), am ranting about how exhausting it is to be a judge in a real festival (I am one at the Epica Awards and trust me this is no picnic in the park), I am talking about the machinations and what not between jurors, am talking about current editions of the festival awarding ads which are total and complete rip-offs of ads that already won at the same festival years ago, about all these "activations" and very specific events (I have read so many unbelievable "results" from campaigns in their dossiers to make you faint! One local campaign claimed it added female MP by 600% - as in, really?) and the list goes on. 

I think the whole thing turned into a gigantic circus. And an unfunny one at that. 

So, what do we do about all the copycat at advertising awards?

Cap48 or how to do a great homage

It happens every year, at several advertising awards - from the Dubai Lynx to the Cannes Lions to every other conceivable and imaginable awards festival: Copycats. Funnily, Cannes Lions often ends up giving awards to copycat ads it already gave awards to in the past. Joe La Pompe, the specialist in spotting such ads once gave a conference in Lebanon and in it he quizzed the audience about an image in his presentation - that of smiling babies. Naji Boulos figured out the meaning (and won Joe's book!) as to what it meant: The creative people are too young to figure out that the concept has already been done.

And considering the creative people end up being a bit older and becoming part of Cannes Lions (or other such festivals!) jury members they bring their amnesia with them, and bingo - end up rewarding ads without knowing they've been done before.

Also, back in 2002 - which is an eternity - we used to get, believe it or not, along with the briefs samples of what the competition has done in order not to fall into the trap of repeating what was done. Sometimes, it is luck that saves you - a bank took so long to approve a concept so that the day they approved it, and coming back from the meeting, turns out another bank had already done the idea and was plastering it all over town (if you want to know what the idea was, it was simply a Lebanese coin  - the 500 liras! - tied to a ribbon a pinned to a jacket). Another example? A different client - an automotive giant - also took time to approve a concept when the Dollar to Euro was fluctuating, so I proposed a line "our prices are $tabl⟨€⟩" the next day the town's most luxurious shop had in the newspaper an ad that said "$al⟨€⟩". Sure it might be a case of "great minds think alike" or as the rest of the proverb goes "and fools seldom differ" (please check my fun take here).

But again, apart from agencies and juries who are too young to know the ads happened prior, and apart from agencies who no longer have research department because of cost-cutting or integration or whatever other reason, and apart from pure sheer dishonesty of which too many ego-filled ad people are known for (on the creative, client servicing, marketing or client side, briefs such as "I want an ad that looks like this one" are far too common truth be told!) - the reasons are just too many and sadly too far rooted within the industry.

So where do we go from here? The easiest way is to say that "imitation is a sign of flattery" or "this is an idea whose time has come" (I saw that in a plagiarism symposium where a 30 second tvc was copied frame per frame and the person presenting the conference - from a very reputed local agency no less - was still convinced that "it was an idea whose time has come") to "eh w chou fiya?" (yeah so what) as a local Lebanese ad man once bluntly told me (he is known for nicking practically all his concepts from other international agencies - or worse the portfolio of university students!)... But all of these are just us hiding behind our finger.

At advertising awards we should know better. Some of us - Joe La Pompe, myself, others as well, we try to pinpoint the originals either from our archives or our memory. Also, just to be clear, you cannot copyright an idea, what you can copyright and defend is the execution of the idea (Of course, some people copy the executions and laws be damned!). Small note though, we must not confuse copycats with homage as in the excellent case above of Cap48 which smartly played on the fantastic Eva Herzigova Wonderbra "look me in the eyes. I said the eyes" (original here) to support Cap48 which battles against disability in Belgium (here) using disabled model Tanja Kiewitz who is missing a limb and which gives the headline a totally different meaning.

Or perhaps, the best way is - if you can't beat them, join them as Rosa Parks Paris did for its client Grand Frais - which was copied by Monoprix in Doha in Qatar - and you can see the comparative of the two ads here... So what did Rosa Parks Paris do for its client? It diffused the ad logo free so as for the other brands to take it and insert their own logo without the hassle harnessing a lot of free ads for Grand Frais and replying to the whole issue smartly and with a lot of humor...

Well, now that's a campaign worth a lot of awards.

Lebanese agencies are killing it in the awards scene. Yes, so what?

Annahar - newspapers inside the newspaper edition (a multi-award winner campaign)

 If you follow the international awards scene - the Dubai Lynx and now the Cannes Lions - Lebanese agencies are killing it there. The press is already regurgitating the lines of "resilience", "back on top", "Beirut shines" and so on and so forth.

Just to be clear. Good for them. Honestly.

I mean poor Leo Burnett Beirut - their whole wall of row after row of awards which stood at the entrance of the agency in Beirut was smashed and demolished with the August 2020 explosion. But surely they rebounded (case in point, the above mentioned very expensive to enter Dubai Lynx), and bravo!

Now, of course, when one looks at the awards one imagines a vibrant, kicking, and exceptionally performing local industry. Come again? Well, I said it several times prior. The whole local industry is in tatters. On television the ads prior to the news are barely existing, the ads on the streets is much more ebbing that flowing (here), the whole industry state in 2022 is more delusional than logical (here).

Which brings us of course to the whole awards thingy in itself. We know that entries can often be very limited run ads just for the purpose of qualifying for the awards' requirements, or can be printed/displayed again in a very specified format just to fulfill terms and conditions or entries. Which means that not a lot of those ads are actual general reach as they claim to be (here is a prime example) - and we know that admen/women are master story tellers. A Lebanese agency claimed it has substantially increased the number of elected female politicians due to its ads putting an obscene triple digit number in their presentation as a "proof".

Baloney indeed.

I wrote about the awards scene before (here). And I stand by every word. But here's the conclusion - right from 2022:

"To those who did not win at Cannes, worry not. It seems someone did win in the past and returned his award anyway (hello Gustav Martner) and someone else auctioned an unetched award for the benefit of the victims of the Afghanistan earthquake at USD 10,000 (it was snapped immediately thankfully).

The point? The point is that someone now owns a Cannes Lions award for no ads at all but he has actually helped the victims of the Afghanistan quake. No ads awards in the world can bring such joy."

Climate activism is now down to stunts.

Italy's Ultima Generazione (the last generation) have done it again. After gluing their hands on the Botticelli apparently without ruining the artwork itself as they only glued their hands on the glass (here) now they have glued their hands again on the base of the sculpture Laocoön and His Sons - in the Vatican museum.

In a statement Ultima Generazione (which had banners saying "ultima generazione no gas no carbone" in both "actions") said " “As witnesses of a crisis ignored for decades, we have chosen to draw attention to our message by drawing close to the figure of Laocoön, the seer who suffered extreme repression for having tried to warn his fellow citizens of an impending catastrophe, there will be no open museums, no art, no beauty in a world plagued by the climate and ecological emergency. Drought, floods, fires, pollution and scarcity of resources will take over if radical choices are not made in this regard.”

Add this to Gustav Martner handing back his Cannes Lions award (here) because he had previously won it working for Volkswagen, and well, I do sincerely think that environmental activism is now down to gimmicks and stunts. Sure, there are people (here's looking at you staunch republicans in the US) who deny that the climate is changing despite it happening under our noses.

You know that Andy Warhol saying "in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes", except that between all the stunts happening simultaneously, and what's with everyone vying for our attention at the same time, and everything happening in different sectors and fields (did you know one in three children in Tigray in Ethiopia is malnourished due to war?), the "15 minutes" have dwindled to 15 seconds.

We barely skim through the headlines. Here's a confession, for someone who is an avid reader (my library is about a thousand books strong) who does nothing but read and analyze all day, I have not - repeat, not - read any article about Ukraine and the war there since it started. Am I suffering any direct effects of the war? I think I am - it seems wheat is not reaching us because of this (though with all the machinations and back-deals on high echelons of Lebanese authorities I can never be sure of that).

So why am I not reading about Ukraine? Because in the echelon of problems and issues I face it barely scratches the surface. I keep reading "provocative" titles such as "the horror of being in Bucha" and whereas I sympathize, I also know that atrocities just as bad are happening in Gaza, Palestine. I do read more about Gaza mind you, but again not as before, because once more, I am drowning in problems and eventually I end up truly stretching the limits of my empathy.

In an over-saturated world, our span limit is decreasing and stunts get much less eyeballs and interest than they used to. And yet, the world is full of more and more gimmicks and stunts.

With #RedressLebanon, AlNahar aims for awards not readers.

I am starting to detect a pattern here (har, har) - I mean with the way AlNahar newspaper is advertising itself.

First the campaign itself - in their own words:

"Emanating from the mesh that covered most wrecked and destroyed buildings in Beirut following the explosion of August 4th, Zuhair Murad creates a design to transform this fabric into art and dress the city in a befitting gown. To this day, the AlNahar building, which was heavily affected, remains enveloped in this fabric.

In support of the victims of the blast and their families, #RedressLebanon is selling 10452 NFTs of this dress to raise funds for them. All proceeds will go to “IDRAAC” NGO."

Now, fresh from their Cannes Lions win, AlNahar goes for another award-worthy idea. OK not them, their advertising agency. But I digress.

Look, if AlNahar wanted to target readers, they'd be printing top-notch articles rather than clickbaits. If AlNahar wanted to target readers, it would have promoted mid-level journalists to higher positions. And I go on, indefinitely. But AlNahar and its advertising agency are vying for awards, not for readers.

You know, if they really cared about simple communication, they would have unified how their name is in Latin - is it AlNahar or Annahar (as their website goes?). 

See? Before the awards, address those simple rules.

But then again next year's Cannes Lions await.

Everyone went to Cannes Lions and all I got was this t-shirt

Art by Tarek Chemaly

So Cannes 2022 came - and went. Linkedin was exploding with congratulations. I myself, was invited to the annual Epica lunch but declined (considering I need a visa to go to the bathroom as a Lebanese, a lunch on the beach in Cannes was way above what was logical to ask!). 

Of course, everyone posted about the wins, congratulated the agencies, the teams and no one said anything about those who lost. I got reminded of the Academy Awards which no longer says "and the winner is" but rather "and the award goes to" because supposedly all nominees are winners (yeah, right).

Rachel from the sitcom Friends put it eloquently when she said "everyone I know is either getting married or getting pregnant or getting promoted, and I'm getting coffee! And it's not even for me!" - look, let me put it this way: Do I have a Cannes Lions? No. Would it be nice if I had one? Well, it would be on the agency shelf - which probably got smashed on the day of the August 2020 explosion in Beirut (but I digress). Do I have awards? Yes, I had to break one in two when I was doing the major cleaning (see here) to fit in the trash bag.

To those who did not win at Cannes, worry not. It seems someone did win in the past and returned his award anyway (hello Gustav Martner) and someone else auctioned an unetched award for the benefit of the victims of the Afghanistan earthquake at USD 10,000 (it was snapped immediately thankfully). 

The point? The point is that someone now owns a Cannes Lions award for no ads at all but he has actually helped the victims of the Afghanistan quake. No ads awards in the world can bring such joy.

Gustav Martner just returned his Cannes Lions - yes, but what does it mean? UPDATE

Interesting, Gustav Martner who - according to his Linkedin profile - works as head of creative (Nordics) at Greenpeace just returned his Cannes Lions awards which he won in 2007 for an ad for Volkswagen (he actually crashed the opening ceremony). My research led me to this ad as the winner in question (here). Mr. Martner even had a lovely "No Awards On A Dead Planet" banner with him as he crashed the stage.

His main gripe is with ads about cars using fossil fuel. Which according to new laws are to be banned by 2035 as per the European Union. Just the fact that am writing this means that Martner managed to stir the conversation.

Being very very eco-friendly even before the word, I can understand his gripe.

Yes, but now what?

Someone on Linkedin wondered how Martner managed to travel from Sweden to Cannes and still uses a smart cellphone (here) all while being anti-fossil fuels (presumably Martner travelled by plane, which, interestingly uses fossil fuels). Someone else chimed in that "it is not up to him to come up with answers" (here). So perhaps Martner's main aim was just to protest then.

But is protesting for the sake of protesting worth it?

I know it seems I am defending the use of fossil fuels, I am not. I am just trying to comprehend how Martner's return of his Cannes Lions Awards can have a ripple effect (except clearing space on his mantle). Kind reminder, John Lennon returned his MBE award in 1969 which he was awarded by the Queen in 1965 so Martner is not alone in this league, at the time Lennon was protesting Britain's involvement in the "Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts" (source) - for information about Biafra please go here. Well, Biafra no longer exists but I am not sure how much Lennon's involvement had anything to do with it.

So whereas today many of us are talking about Martner's act (or antics?), I wonder what his award returning (and show crashing) repercussions will be on a wider scale if there will be any.

Also, remember the saying (which I used in my own ad by the way - see here), "awards are like hemorrhoids, sooner or later ever a**hole gets one". I am not implying Martner is an a**hole just to be clear however.

UPDATE:

Gustav Martner just answered direct via a Linkedin comment:

Just a note: No, I did not go by plane to Cannes. I co-shared a electric car with 3 other activists and drove from Sweden. However - focusing on individual consumption instead of the big issue (which in this case is the billion dollar ad industry and the even bigger fossil industry) is a greenwashing technique mentioned by the IPCC as a huge distraction when it comes to make the planet better for all of us. Yes, it is a complex issue and we have to look at different angles - and obviously you can't drive from Japan to Cannes Lions etc. Cheers!