Steve Coll’s Cannes Diary: Day Two
Steve Coll, ECD at Euro RSCG Australia is Australia’s representative on the Cannes Lions Promo and Activation jury. Coll, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is of course reporting exclusively for CB.
I do love listening to the French. French sounds fantastic. Even when the French bloke is on TV is celebrating Spain’s fourth goal against Ireland at Euro 2012, I find myself persuaded to believe something wonderful has just happened.
I can tell the locals aren’t quite as keen on listening to me speaking French, given the speed at which they break out their best English when I try to order ‘deux bier’.
Oddly, there are no French speakers on our Promo jury. Today, I am teamed up with Peta from Argentina, Damon and Ove from Germany, and Pratap from India.
Nor do the French feature highly on the list of countries with the most entries in the Promo and Activation category. Surprisingly, it’s the Brazilians who top the list with 273 entries, followed by the US. Australia has a decent amount of entries at 118, more than the UK, with NZ coming in at 42.
And, even though it would be easy for people to be drawn towards their local entries, everyone has been incredibly even-handed. There is a general agreement on the best ideas, although there has been a little bit more debate today than yesterday. Again, it’s a pretty full on nine hours of judging.
We saw something close to 200 entries. Every single category has thrown up a few really excellent ideas, and I reckon it will be a pretty lively discussion for the shortlist on Saturday and the winners on Sunday.