Nancy Hartley’s Cannes Diary #2

Nancy Hartley, founder and creative partner at Rumble Strategic Creative / Rumbletown is representing Australia on the Cannes Outdoor Lions. Hartley, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors writes exclusively for CB.

One of the first-time jurors in the Outdoor category remarked at the end of judging, “Having seen what it takes to win at Cannes makes me really appreciate the Lions I have received.” Congratulations to everyone who will experience that feeling (probably around 3am Oz time?) with the Outdoor, Health & Wellness, Print & Publishing and Radio & Audio awards first off the mark at the Palais.

In our jury room as we voted up from Bronze, to Silver, to Gold and eventual Grand Prix there was plenty of debate, all of it eloquent and often hilarious, and plenty of scrutiny of the true merits of each piece. As the category encompasses way more than the traditional billboard, one guiding principle from jury president Eugene Cheong was that the outdoor should always be “the tip of the spear” for the campaign. An important touchstone as it’s easy to fall in love with a great idea, well presented, that just doesn’t quite meet the criteria. Looking forward to seeing those pieces pick up in other categories.

Yesterday was our first day off, so went with my lovely Mexican and Brazilian jurors up to beautiful Antibes, home of the Musee Picasso. Much to be inspired by in the South of France.