© Havas Worldwide

There’s no discussion, no standing on ceremony – 25 judges immediately split into 5 groups of 5, and let the case studies commence. 200 per group. Each day. Simply score out of 9, and move on. And on. And on.

And at the end of the (loooooong) day, among many things, I have observed the following:

• There should be an entire category for best (by which I mean weirdest) use of a drone in a promo. At least they weren’t blowing shit up, although every last one of them went down in flames in the judging.
• The clone effect is very much in evidence. We’ve had at least two ideas featuring dogs digging up promotional items bones-style, another two featuring potential tourists phoning random people in the countries they’re thinking of visiting, and a bunch more – and I really don’t believe anyone’s ripping anyone off – it just happens. Suck it up & move on.
• The Japanese are crazy.
• The best & worst are easy to judge. Sh!t is sh!t and great is great, but probably 80% of the work is neither one nor the other, and that makes it tricky. In a way, the sheer volume of work helps – at this stage, there’s no time to overthink anything – just make the call, press the button and move on.
• Your average Cannes judge is (to my surprise) not a rock star. Everyone I’ve met, without exception, is super-friendly, normal and really just there to genuinely assess and reward great work. If there are politics in play, I haven’t seen them yet. Long may that continue.

Unfortunately I can’t share any work, since it’s all super-secret till the results come out next week, but I’ll keep on with random observations and general yakkety-yak til then.

Right. I’m knackered. Off to bed.
Well, maybe a quick beer down the road.
But like I said, just the one.

Til tomorrow...