And the winner of the Cannes Lion award for "Press" goes to... …definitely not the festival’s press room “facilities.” Honestly, I’ve covered lots of conferences in my career, but I haven’t been to many where the technical set-up has been worse for people trying to cover it. It’s almost as if the Cannes organizers don’t want the press to cover it. Among other things, there is no wi-fi in the actual presentation rooms, which means any journalist hoping to cover the sessions “live,” must do so by watching it on a closed-circuit screen in the press room. That …

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Madison Avenue's most inspiring figures – Ogilvy & Mather founder David Ogilvy – O&M released findings of a survey about the most inspiring places, people and things. You probably don't have to be a genius to figure out who the most inspiring person is, but he is: Albert Einstein. The most inspiring place is they Pyramids in Egypt. The most inspirational brand is Disney, followed by Coca-Cola and Google. The data, which was released as part of a presentation commemorating Ogilvy's centennial, featured author and creative …

Okay, so that's not exactly what people have been uttering in the streets of Cannes this week. But that hasn't stopped the folks from the Effie Awards and WARC to release some new research showing who the most effective advertiser, brand, holding company and agency in the world are. And the winners (drumroll please) are: Procter & Gamble, McDonald's, Omnicom and BBDO. The findings, which are based on the results of an index compiled by WARC, and based on the Effie Awards results, are drawn from 40 worldwide Effie competitions. (In case you didn't get it, Effies are named …

Tod Machover gets credit for inventing the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" game platform, but he actually credits a faulty electrical glitch. Machover, speaking on a panel about creativity hosted by McCann Worldwide and MRM Worldwide at the Cannes Lions Festival, said the inspiration that led to the creation of "Guitar Hero" came when he was developing a "hyperbow" for renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma, and the apparatus created unusual feedback, because Ma's body was actually absorbing electricity and acting like a human antenna. "We had a mistake in the lab," he said, which got Machover thinking about how …

That's my assessment of the battle between the two hip-hop stars/music produces featured on panels during this week's Canes Lions Festival. That's just my perspective, mind you. And it's not because will.i.am isn't really smart, and didn't say some important things on today's "creativity" panel moderated by McCann WorldGroup chief Nick Brien and co-hosted with MRM Worldwide. I just think Pharrell Williams did a better job of authentically communicating is views of the role of media, marketing and creativity during the panel he did with Digitas and Vevo earlier in the week. will.i.am was a bit slicker, and, well, …

JWT North America CEO and Worldwide Digital Director David Eastman is doing his best to draw a connection between the human drama of the Arab Spring uprisings and Madison Avenue, but it is an awkward and tenuous one. Eastman, who is moderating the "power to the people" panel at the Cannes Lions Festival, just asked Egyptian filmmaker Amr Salama if he would ever consider producing an ad campaign, and Salama's response, surprisingly, sounded as like that of any top Madison Avenue creative: "First of all, I have to say what I want to say. I want creative control," though …

So far, the only surprising thing I've learned during JWT's "power of the people" panel at the Cannes Lions Festival this morning, is that actor and filmmaker Fischer Stevens has only been arrested once in his life, and it was for a traffic violation in North Carolina. Stevens described his single misdemeanor "sadly," because he was throwing a nod to his fellow panelsits, Kuwaiti filmmaker Jehane Noujaim ("The Control Room") and Egyptian Filmmaker Amr Salama, who literally risked their lives filming the power taken by people during the "Arab Spring" revolutions. Stevens, whose film "The Cove" nonetheless shed …

I’m confused by the ad industry talent crisis panel discussion organized by Havas' Arnold Worldwide during this morning’s session of the Cannes Media Lions. The talent management gurus from places like McKinsey and Spencer Stuart are saying that things like paying higher compensation and spending more money on training people are actually antithetical to retaining good talent and motivating them to be better. That’s a problem for agencies, they say, because Madison Avenue historically has spent too much energy focusing on compensation and training as methods for motivating and retaining talent. Moreover, Spencer Stuart media chief Grant Duncan …

Actually, it owns the top paid search ranking for on Google for the term "Cannes Media Lions." The search ad gave some clues when I landed on the results page: "Hire me now/malinoski.com/br. Check out my work and then meet me at the Cannes Festival Palais. Now." Turns out that when you click on the search ad you get to the portfolio and resume page for Vinicus Malinoski, an enterprising Brazilian creative director who is looking for work at the Cannes Media Lions advertising festival. He got my attention, but I'm not looking ot hire an enterprising creative …

R/GA chief Bob Greenberg and his chief growth officer Barry Wacksman just painted a portrait of the digital agency of the future during a presentation to attendees at the Cannes Lions Festival, and not surprisingly, it looks a lot like what R/GA will look like two years from now. Actually, Greenberg said it will be the culmination of an initiative the agency began back in 2004. “There is no really global, digitally-centered agency out there,” Greenberg asserted, offering that to get there will “require a different organizational structure” than any major digital shop has today, including R/GA, which will …