Cannes Vox Pop: James Mok, Radio Juror
CB catches up with New Zealand Radio Juror James Mok, executive creativedirector, DraftFCB New Zealand
HIGHLIGHT OF JUDGING CANNES 2009?
The jury. What an outstanding group of people. Judgingawards can be fraught with challenges because you’ve got really smart people,and opinionated people, coming together and you’ve got different culturestogether and you could have a real clash of ego going on there but this jurywas an absolute pleasure to deal with. Everyone was generous, warm, friendly,communicative and involved. Matthew Bull, chief creative officer, Lowe Worldwide, South Africa, was a fantastic jury president. He wasa brilliant leader because he asked us to think of ourselves as a single group,not as 16 individuals. He asked us to constantly talk about the work and shareour thoughts either as a wider group or one on one and thatwas liberating because he set an agenda that was an open and generous agenda.
No one knew who did what work, so there was no protection of anyone’s work and no one talked about, well I did this campaign. That never came up until after judging was finished. That was a perspective on how un-ego driven or how apolitical the judging was and that was probably the greatest highlight of all. Not to mention coming to judge Cannes for the first time. We learn whenever we come and interact with these type of people and we very rarely get this type of opportunity to learn and understand what another creative, especially a creative from another culture, thinks and how they perceive an idea. It is surprising how similar and yet sometimes how different we are.
LOWLIGHT?
Didn’t have any. How can there be? We are here in the Southof France in 30-degree heat. I wasn’t disappointed in anything that eitherdidn’t win or did win. It’s just been a great experience and I have to say thatI think Matthew Bull determined that. As the jury president he has an enormousresponsibility to create an atmosphere that is convivial yet challenging at thesame time and he did a great job.
BEST ADVICE?
Don’t drink too much.
PERSONAL FAVOURITE FOR GRAND PRIX?
The jury was unanimous that the Grand Prix winner (Net#work BBDO, Johannesburgfor Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class ‘Dancer’, ‘Dog’ and ‘Ferret’ campaign) was byfar the best work. To me it was fresher and a more clever idea in the end. Itwas a retail ad for first class being sold at business class fares that wasbeautifully done. One of the journalists commented that it looked like an adtailored for an advertising jury – it might look like that but I think that thead was Virgin, which by nature is a very cool brand. If that’s going to be inthe zone of an advertising jury, then so be it. A great ad is a great ad. Three commercials all beautifullywritten, all treated with an execution that was totally right for each script.It was amazing.
WHAT’S NEXTAFTER JUDGING?
Because itis my first time here, I’ll wander around like a fool, I suppose. I’m lookingforward to the shows to see what else wins. This is a great opportunity to stepback for a moment and see what the rest of the world does. We get buried in ourday-to-day stuff all the time. I’d like to take back some constructive thoughtsfor my creative team.