• by Gavin O'Malley , June 21, 2016

Has our media consumption evolved such that ideas no longer need to be attached to a specific medium?

Not according to Sir John Hegarty.

“We live in a world today where everything is fragmented, which is incredible in many ways,” the British ad vet told a full house at the Lumiere Theatre in Cannes on Monday afternoon.   

 “What you need in that fragmented world is a big idea that holds everything together,” Hegarty said.

Of course, “people talk about media neutrality … ‘Oh, I’m media neutral,” said the Bartle Bogle Hegarty founder. “An idea has to appear and start somewhere … an idea can’t be media neutral.”

“You write a book, you do a painting, you put up a building … an idea has to start somewhere,” he stressed.

As for mediums, cinema is Hegarty’s personal preference. “I think cinema offers us the most amazing place to start an idea, because it’s culturally important,” he said. “What you’re trying to do if you’re in brand marketing is you’re trying to make your brand culturally important, and [so] cinema is the place to do that.”