Judgement on Leo Burnett, Lisbon, entry reversed <font face="Verdana" size="1"><b><font color="#FF0033"><u>Cannes Special!</u></font></b></font>

The seemingly endless queues in shades of complete black outside hotel Carlton Beach, the venue for the Print & Outdoor gala, could easily remind you of the lines for kerosene during the Ration Raj. Such dedication to duty by the advertising brat pack was truly inspirational.

It was here, more than anywhere else, that Prasoon Joshi's (of McCann-Erickson) newly acquired Golden Lion came to good use. A friend, having misplaced her invite, borrowed the statuette and waved it at the all-suspecting, extremely intimidating security guards. It worked! She was ushered in with much flourish. To get past the venerable French guards fed on a regular diet of desperate gatecrashers, paparazzo etc is no mean achievement. Final proof - if you still require one, that is - that Advertising Works.

What lay ahead was truly classic festival hospitality - indifferent champagne in tacky plastic glasses. Colvyn Harris, president, Contract Advertising, had this to say, "This must be the only place where you could actually throw your champagne glasses behind you and nobody would mind." The gourmet experience included boiled potatoes in rare symmetrical shapes on a bed of salt, a la French vegetable pakoras minus the vegetable, bread shashliks and other such wonders.

But none of these minor irritants could dampen the collective bonhomie of the Indian contingent. The current first family of Indian advertising - the ever so venerable P (cube), Prasoon, Prasoon, Piyush - are still suffering from a serious case of "Jhuppie-Puppie" syndrome.

The gorgeous Dutch young creatives were willing partners on the dance floor. The party for the lost souls continued the well-trodden path - from the Carlton to the Martinez bar, about which I remember reading somewhere, "If assholes were aeroplanes it would be the biggest airport in the world."

Earlier in the day there was this added excitement - a controversy to keep the hacks in good humour. The judges at the Print & Outdoor categories reversed their judgement on a Grand Prix contender from Leo Burnett Worldwide (Lisbon). A series of ads for Ferin Bookstore were discovered to be ‘inappropriately entered' because they ran only on donated space, raising the spectre of "ghost-ads" that continue to haunt major advertising shows abroad as well as in India. Applicants regularly enter fake ads or scam ads that skirt rules to win awards. Leo Burnett issued a statement saying an "honest mistake" had been made. "Our Lisbon office did not know the media had to be paid." Applying the same stringent standards to Indian advertising would be akin to stirring up a hornets' nest.

Another highlight of the day was the presentation of the new director's showreel by Saatchi & Saatchi. The now legendary director Tarsem Singh was billed to be the star speaker. The curtain lifted to have the master conduct a full-fledged 60-member symphony orchestra. The only defining moment at Cannes 2003 so far! Thanks also to Tarsem for putting it ever so eloquently - so controlled and precise in teamwork. And completely at odds with another director Bakersmith, the contender for Fox Sports' ‘Celtics' campaign. He is of the opinion that "making a commercial is like staging a ballet in a phone booth … it's complete chaos, for if you remain calm and focused, you won't deliver…" My philosophy!

The much-vaunted seminars at the Festival have been a bit of a non-starter. My vote for the most disappointing of the lot was the "Create to Innovate" presentation by Brent Hansen, president and chief executive, MTV Networks Europe. It also premiered the "exquisite corpse" multimedia campaign to the Lions delegates. A series of unrelatable five-second cuts, joined to make an unintelligible 30-seconder, all in the guise of edgy creativity. I must add, our own MTV India is leagues above some of the banal stuff we saw at the presentation. As Hansen said, "Although the MTV brand and logo are very flexible, we are very conscious of the dangers of diluting the brand." I guess they'd better ask MTV India to help out.

Another non-starter was the Kodak & Boards magazine one on "Behind the Boards" (read storyboards, where advertising creatives go about the lordly task of drawing pictures as fill-in-the-blanks on 30-second storyboards). Five completely banal bunch gave you irrelevant gyan on non-descript, mediocre commercials some of which were done years ago.

Meanwhile everyone has been complaining about the complete listlessness that pervades the Festival this year. The standards are down, the halls are empty, with the creatives on the beach. Hopefully tomorrow (June 20) when the first shortlists are screened the mood will brighten up and the excitement will be back. © 2003 agencyfaqs!