On the Ground at Cannes
You guys, I am exhausted. Four days of total immersion in a dizzying display of creativity, and now I’m supposed to sum it all up in a few words. I have snapped and scanned hundreds of case studies. My Evernote is bursting. I’ve listened to scores of speakers, met a whole bunch of rowdy characters and I have eaten way too much cheese.
Right now it feels like a big, beautiful, blur but there’s one takeaway that is already crystal clear: I have no idea what is PR and what is not anymore.
Wandering through the basement of the Palais, where the boards for every shortlisted submission are on display, you quickly see that a good idea has a home in nearly every category on the floor. The same work appears, and is rewarded, across Direct, Promo & Activation, Outdoor, and yes, PR. In order to win in any category, your idea now has to earn attention, have purpose at its core, be social-by-design – everything we strive for in an Edelman idea. PR is everything, and everything is PR.
So, my big takeaway? We have a lot more playground to play in next year. John Clinton and his fellow jurors said it in today’s “Inside the Jury” panel: There are no swim lanes. We’re all in the same pool. And to compete, we have to be fast freestylers.
I’m bringing home dozens of examples of work that I am jealous of, mad at and inspired by. They come from every kind of agency you can think of, but there’s not a single one of them that could not have come out of a brainstorm back at 250 Hudson St. We’re starting the next year with a wide open path before us and, with last night’s Samsung wins in Cyber, actual proof that we have everything we need to walk it. So let’s get going.
See you Monday.
Kristen Kusterer, vice president, Creative Director, New York.