I was sad to leave Cannes yesterday, Thursday, 25 June 2009, because each year for a few days in my hectic life schedule I get to sit and listen and marvel at the amazing innovation that is shaping our advertising, media and communications.

This year was no exception. I was exposed to many campaigns that honoured integration and took real consumer insights and applied them in inspiring ways. www.thegreatschlep.com showed how a simple consumer insight could influence a presidential race; a brilliant campaign for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef will change tourism communication forever; Gillette’s Campaign for men showed there are no-holds barred online in demonstrating (pretty tastefully I have to say) how men should trim their pubic hair. And the campaign for Distracted Drivers/Road Safety got everyone talking.

I sat through fascinating insights on how 20 million consumers around the world interact with Xbox games each month and even Unilever use Microsoft’s Free Interactive Games to sell margarine. The Sagami Original campaign for the world’s thinnest condom was a beautifully crafted and thought-out story that won a Grand Prix in PR. The work on the Deadliest Catch was riveting with very smart media integration and I just have to see that show!!!

We were told that men go online for fantasy and women for reality - sound familiar?

I learned about Microsoft Surface, Bing, the Long Nose, The Natal Project, the Eyeblaster Project to end traditional advertising, Skimmer, MagCloud and a whole lot of other really fascinating stuff - so much so that I was told I was becoming a technology slave one night at dinner by a techie (talk about calling the kettle black) who was watching me Tweet away.

Slave or not, I cannot emphasis enough to communicators, marketers, advertisers and media specialists to get closer to the technical innovations that are changing our world. Find ways to bring the understanding into your business - collaborate with others, particularly technology partners, create campaigns that engage and most important become part of the conversation.

I started Tweeting from the time I arrived in Cannes and just this involvement and engagement shifted my absorption of information and clarity of thought and interaction with others. I warn you though; it is addictive (that’s the technology monk in me speaking).

My highlight was Twitter and the young and unassuming Biz Stone. Forget the US$500 million. How incredible it must be to have been part of creating something that is changing the world so fundamentally.

I say this because, for the past few days, CNN has been a Twitter with the coverage of the riots in Iran and Twitter has been a key feeder to this (see #iranelection). Twitter is becoming the news agency of the world and people are finding a voice that would otherwise be censored. All it takes is a mobile device and you can find your voice. Where major news corporations cannot be present or report the repressive tactics of governments, Twitter will make their voices heard.

It’s unstoppable and profound and I count myself lucky to live in this age where the individual can participate in this global conversation.

Cannes Lions stories on Bizcommunity.com (which hyperlink to relevant Cannes Lions content):

• SA makes final Cannes Lions shortlists 26 Jun 2009 11:12
• Gold again for TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Joburg 25 Jun 2009 08:09
• Cape film industry at Cannes 24 Jun 2009 13:32
• TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris caps record success with Grand Prix 24 Jun 2009 11:20
• Net#work BBDO - “Yes, we ‘Cannes’ again” 24 Jun 2009 10:29
• Two Grands Prix for SA at Cannes Lions 24 Jun 2009 09:13
• SA makes Design Lions shortlist 23 Jun 2009 15:00
• Silver Direct Lion for TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris 23 Jun 2009 09:32
• 2009 Cannes Lions SA shortlists so far 22 Jun 2009 11:30

Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, FNB head of media
Bizcommunity.com guest blogger

The techies will continue to change our world. I’m more convinced of this than ever from my time here at Cannes.

Sorry to say, it’s not the creative talent or marketers who are setting the agenda here. Sure there are cool ideas, but it’s the geeks who have created and will create more and more tools, unlocking a world of free and flowing communication and importantly captivating consumer attention.

The media-savvy Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, confirmed this. He exuded power and confidence as the paparazzi snapped away and Fortune fired off live questions at him. Later at the Cannes Awards, Ballmer was named Media Person of the Year? Yes, indeed (see Gold again for TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Joburg).

Earlier on, I listened with keen interest to the HP and RG/A team talk about cloud computing. Coming from a magazine publishing background I marvelled at MagCloud. This enables wannabe publishers to publishing virtually without the usual financial risks of magazine publishing and the revenue model is on demand. So the only real costs to the publisher is the content generation - the rest is sitting in the cloud, only activated and printed on demand when a consumer buys the title.

It’s really exciting for small niche publishers and even larger publishers who are testing new products. More importantly, it puts the power in the hands of the individual and no longer in the hands of printers, distributors or retailers.

I’ve spent a good deal of my time with digital media strategists and tech-savvy people and they are all saying the same thing. Technology will continue to set the agenda and we will have to constantly try to work out how we effectively join the ride.

Don’t forget to follow my live tweeting from Cannes!

Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, FNB head of media
Bizcommunity.com guest blogger

Yesterday, Tuesday, 23 June 2009, confirmed that collaboration is key to communication success. Current market conditions and the growing influence of social media and participatory culture requires all of us - agencies, marketers, media houses/owners and the rest - to humble down and collaborate. Clients are also going to have to take the lead and look at new models of remuneration to encourage and reward a more collaborative approach to their business.

Listened to case study on cool campaign for Sagami Original, the world’s thinnest condom and winner in PR category. Great digital campaign!

I spent a lot of time in tech sessions.

Bill Buxton, a scientist working for Microsoft and creator of its latest innovation Microsoft Surface, managed to get a laugh out of a weary crowd when he made light of the weighty topic of tech development (www.qvivid.com). He told us three screens is child’s play - we are heading quickly for a multi-screen environment where technology will change consumer interactions around multiple touchpoint tech offerings.

We heard about the Long Nose (forget the Long Tail), how environmentalists will ensure that Print dies (they gotta save the trees), God being the founder of advertising and flowers being some of his greatest work… Well, it certainly beat the prior experience of listening to the Principle Platform Evangelist who failed dismally to live up to her passionate title and content on integrative technology platforms to manage cross-media implementation. Theme again - collaboration and integration, although poorly explained!

Later on at a party on the Carlton Hotel beachfront I got talking to Finweek’s specialist editor Tony Koenderman, considered South Africa’s leading expert on marketing and advertising. He confirmed that, for the first time in many years at Cannes, there’s proof in the campaigns that collaboration and integration has become a reality. That’s great news, along with the two Grand Prix Lions SA agencies TBWA\Hunt\ Lascaris Johannesburg (Outdoor) and Net#work BBDO Johannesburg (Radio) picked up (see Two Grands Prix for SA at Cannes Lions and SA makes Design Lions shortlist)!

Don’t forget to follow my live tweeting from Cannes!

Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, FNB head of media
Bizcommunity.com guest blogger

Well, I’m back in Cannes. One year later and ready to learn some more. Just arrived and went straight to a session with one of Twitter’s founders, Biz Stone (@biz). The Debussy Hall was packed wall-to-wall and floor-to-floor and the place was tweeting so much I was sure at one point I felt the room vibrating.

Stone looks about 16, very charming, friendly and speaks in this naive and very honest manner. What did I learn? Well, that he’s learning still (yes, he’s honest enough to admit this). The company is still in its infancy and it won’t sell now even at US$ 500 million. He sees collaboration with other social media as key and can’t say what’s Twitter’s biggest threat. Admits to not really knowing.

Check out @JetBlue - company started out small on Twitter, but Stones cites its as doing a great job. He also doesn’t see Twitter as a competitor to big news groups, even though Twitter is now breaking news faster than most newswire services (just type ACCIDENT if you don’t believe him) and he wants to be friends with all.

No real answers on how it’s going to make money, but hey, this is not unusual… FaceBook can attest. Stones is evangelical when he says, “Twitter is a truimph of humanity and not a triumph of technology” - sound familiar?

Don’t forget to follow my live tweeting from Cannes!

Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, FNB head of media
Bizcommunity.com guest blogger

Time and again, industry commentators have made the point that the South African advertising industry punches well above its weight. Our industry is smaller than those in many other countries, and yet we give them a run for their money in our creativity and quality of production - and that is across just about every category. A case in point is our performance in the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival so far. The festival kicked off this weekend in Cannes, France, and SA features in six of the seven shortlists issued so far. Keep up with the latest on the festival, which officially starts tomorrow, with Bizcommunity.com and Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, FNB’s head of media, who will be blogging for us live from the seaside town (you can also follow her Cannes Lions tweets). To all the SA entrants out there, good luck and do us proud!

In this week’s Ornico Ad Showcase (something we’ve been running for a year now, can you believe it?), we feature TV ads for Jungle Oats, Absa, BP, Vodacom and Wimpy, and radio ads for Car magazine, TV licences, the Mail & Guardian, Business Day and Morula Casino. We invite you to view/listen, rate and comment upon these ads.

Lastly, were you wondering about the yellow ribbon next to our logo? It’s National Drug Awareness Week, 19 - 26 June 2009, and we’re doing our bit to raise awareness and call on you to play your part in combatting drug abuse.

Here’s to the SA ad industry!
The biz editorial team

Marketing news: marketingnews@bizcommunity.com
Opinion pieces: contributors@bizcommunity.com

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This column originally published 22 June  2009.

The five remaining SABC board members appear to be intent on hanging on to the bitter end. The question is: Why?

The board was apparently asked by the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, to do the honourable thing and resign, and if last week’s resignations were anything to go by at least four members complied. It seems that thus far, however, the remaining five have been deaf to his call. In addition, there have been calls from many other quarters for the board to resign.

Meanwhile, IOL reports that Ismail Vadi, the chairman of the portfolio committee on communications, said the board is now “wholly dysfunctional”.

Hence, there are not only very clear messages from a number of sources to the effect that what’s left of the SABC board is not wanted, and at least one message to the effect that what is left, cannot function anyway.

There are times when one should stand one’s ground, but there are other times when it’s just as well to bow to the inevitable and step down. See SABC board members hang on; Mpofu has last laugh.

The biz editorial team

Marketing news: marketingnews@bizcommunity.com
Opinion pieces: contributors@bizcommunity.com

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This column originally published 15 June  2009.

Like the Loeries, D&AD starts off with interminable inscrutable design awards. Packaging design. 2D design. Design with papier mâché. Design using bits of bats and a wooden spoon and treacle.

London doesn’t look a thing like Margate. No one’s wearing shorts, and the role of John Vlismas is played by Richard E Grant (he’s the guy from the Allan Gray ad). “Please don’t laugh at anything I say,” says Richard, who is hosting because Susan Boyle wasn’t available. No one does laugh, except when he calls it D&DA. Twice.

The design awards keep on coming like it’s Sky News. Didn’t I see exactly all of this just 15 minutes ago? Never mind. Environmental design. Book design. Excellence in kerning. Excellence in leading. Most sensitive use of a serif.

By the time the advertising awards roll around, just like in Margate, some people are jeering, everyone’s slurring, and someone has vomited in a handbag. A couple of Saffas win: Lowes’ immaculately entered Wally, and JWT’s “Researchers Wanted”. There’s a word for ads like “Researchers Wanted”. I can’t remember what it is, but I seem to recall it rhymes with “scram”.

Black Pencil time. Glasses break, dreams shatter, and somewhere a septum dislodges. No one except the winners pays any attention. Oh look, it’s those German designers again, picking up another Pencil for, um, Best Design by People that are German.

You emerge from the Roundhouse into a summer’s evening in Camden Town. It doesn’t look a thing like Margate: the people outside are much odder than the people you’ve just left inside. Some are wearing shorts.

• Deon Wiggett was a copywriter at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris\Johannesburg and King James. He moved to London last year, sold his soul to Satan and now works for the Daily Mail.

See also: Yellow Pencils for Lowe Bull, JWT