• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 8, 2015

Wait, what? I'm not the only person who thinks Cannes is an overly insular celebration of self-absorbed egos who wouldn't understand a regular American's needs, wants and desires even if they were posted on a gigantic creative brief outside the Gutter Bar? It seems not. Penning an epic takedown of the Festival of Creativity, Havas Media Senior VP of Strategy and Innovation Tom Goodwin argues that Cannes may actually be celebrating the worst in advertising, not the best.

Noting the formulaic nonsense and flimsy measurement of most Cannes entries, Goodwin writes: "I’ve never met anyone who has seen a vending machine reward them for laughing, I’ve never walked through a door marked ugly, got a Coke from a drone, or been offered a crisp packet with my face on. I’ve never had a friend share their personalized film, I’ve not seen outdoor ads that are also street furniture or had an ATM give me a funny receipt. I’ve not received a magazine with a near field communication thing and I’ve not had a virtual reality experience outside advertising conferences. I’ve not once seen a member of the public 3D print anything."

And finishing, he adds: "The one thing that binds together the more than 200 Cannes winners I’ve seen, is that they are ads only advertising people have a good chance of seeing. I’m not sure that’s what the industry should be about."

Is he right? Are we an industry creating epic advertising that is only epic to those of us working in the industry and created only for the sole purpose of winning a Cannes Lion?

Mostly, Goodwin thinks work seen at Cannes has become "a self-serving fetishization of the newly possible and the highly improbable" but of the kind of work Goodwin is excited about -- Protein World, Uber integration with Google Maps, Finnair automated SMS upgrade and Sonos, he writes, "...where do these belong in the Cannes award system? A SMS to a contact list isn’t advertising because it’s not paid media. Can a UI win a Cyber Lion? Protein World can’t win because the ad was ugly and Uber’s thing isn’t an ad because it’s just an API in an app."

He's right. Though, as we all know, Cannes Lions brass would be more than happy to add more award categories and charge ad agencies even more obscenely high fees to pander their work to juries. 

The basic point is the same as it ever was. A Cannes Lion is awarded to people who work in advertising by people who work in advertising exclusive of any input from the people these ads were seemingly created for -- the consumer. 

Don't get me wrong, though. Cannes in fun. Cannes is really, really fun. It's a great event held in a great place and it's 7 days of advertising awesomeness you can't find anywhere else on the planet. But it's just that: a celebration for advertising people with zero regard for the people for whom the work was created to influence.

So as you're accepting your Lion inside the Palais this year or sipping your rose on the Carlton Terrace or downing a beer at 3:30 a.m. at the Gutter Bar, remember this: Cannes is a self-esteem club for advertising people, not a business event which awards you for work that actually appeals to consumers and sells stuff for a brand.

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