Rose Herceg’s Cannes Diary day #1 and #2
Rose Herceg, president of WPP represented Australia on the Cannes Creative Strategy Lions jury. Herceg, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors, writes exclusively for CB.
Creative Strategy Jury: Day 2 Judging
There are times when I feel very proud of this business and this industry.
Today was one of those times.
We debated. And then we debated some more. The discussion was nuanced. Intelligent. Kind.
In the end, we selected 25 winners worthy of attention, each presenting the very best of our industry.
Each doing one or more – or sometimes all – of the following:
- 1. Solving a business problem with clear, articulated results.
- 2. Changing the law.
- 3. Creating a new business model.
- 4. Creating an entirely new revenue stream.
- 5. Making us laugh, and then making money.
- 6. Making us feel profoundly moved, and then selling a product.
- 7. Focusing narrowly on a single audience and winning them over.
- 8. Demonstrating that businesses, as well as consumers, can both make money at the same time if the model is beautifully created.
- 9. Showing purpose where it makes absolute sense and drives a return.
- 10. Making any CFO sit and take notice of advertising.
For me, today’s session was a reminder that clear and simple – yet ambitious – ideas are often the most elegant of solutions. For all the talk of tech, and especially AI, in our jury, humanity won the day.
Finally, there is enormous value in being entertained by work that works. Work that makes us laugh out loud at the same time.
To anyone considering whether to be on a Cannes jury, say yes. You will never regret it if you get a jury like mine.
Rose Herceg’s Cannes Diary #1
(Creative Strategy jury hard at work, mid-debate)
Rose Herceg, president of WPP is representing Australia on the Cannes Creative Strategy Lions jury. Herceg, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors, writes exclusively for CB.
Creative Strategy Jury: Day 1 Judging
I’ve already met my 10-people judging panel over several Zoom calls. Plenty of juice in this group. It’s already got its vibe.
We are the United Nations. All corners of the world: Singapore, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, India, Kenya, the U.S. and Australia. Debates will be substantive. Our jury President, Amrita Randhawa, knows what she’s doing.
As I get ready to meet them all properly in person, I reflect on the 429 entries I’ve judged to get our short-list down to 104.
This short-list is what we are debating, and we’ve certainly done just that. Dissenting opinions. And something that we can all do more of: listen to someone construct a persuasive argument and as you listen, change your mind. Thrilling to watch it unfold. Entrenched positions give way to substantive debate. As a lifelong minority opinion holder – this part I loved the most.
For anyone looking to enter next year’s Creative Strategy category, here’s what I’ve learnt so far:
1. Never underestimate the power of your upbringing and culture. Context matters.
2. Be gutsy in your strategic intent.
3. If you try and back-engineer a strategy, you’ll get busted.
4. Less on vanity scores.
5. More on fact. Read that as solid business results, or lasting change. Like changing a law or saving a life.
It was a 12-hour day, but a great one. More tomorrow for day two as we start to debate the winners.
(Creative Strategy Jury Room. 10 jurors. One room. No sunshine)