Some 9,000 ad industry artisans are expected to descend on Cannes for the 48th International Advertising Festival (6/18-23). The creative work of more than 65 countries will be represented in the competition.
The number of overall entries has reached a record high for the festival. In the film portion of the Cannes Lion competition, there have been 6,117 entries as compared to 5,757 last year. Despite the bottom-line increase in commercials submitted, there was a 9.6 percent decline in U.S. entries—from 1,358 spots in 2000 to 1,238 this year. Probably contributing to this decrease was last year’s six-month-long actors’ strike against the U.S. advertising industry.
Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi, will serve as president of two juries for this year’s fest, heading the film and the press & poster judgings. Isherwood, who works out of Saatchi’s New York office, has been a Cannes mainstay over the years, overseeing Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase, which is annually unveiled during the International Advertising Festival. Earlier, while a founding partner in the Campaign Palace, Sydney, Isherwood had a creative hand in Australia’s first Gold Lion for cinema at Cannes. Isherwood was at the Campaign Palace from 1982 to ’86. He then joined Saatchi, London, moving up the ranks and becoming worldwide creative director and a member of the agency’s executive board in ’96. Before his tenure at the Campaign Palace, Isherwood served as a creative group head at a pair of London agencies: Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners, for 10 years, and, prior to that, Young & Rubicam, for six.
The two U.S. delegates appointed to the film jury are Michael Lee, managing director/creative partner, Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schemetterer Euro RSCG, New York; and Dennis Ryan, executive creative director, J. Walter Thompson, Chicago.
Also set to serve on the film jury headed by Isherwood are Robert Saville, chairman of London-based Mother; Mark Tutssel, joint executive creative director, Leo Burnett, London; Marie-Catherine Dupuy, president and executive creative director, TBWA/Paris; Vincent Ledabart, chairman of Australie, Levallois-Perret, France; Carslen Hentzsch, chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, Frankfurt; Emilio Haimann, partner/creative director of Milano, Italy-based Hil; Jose Maria Pujol, founding partner/ creative general manager of Madrid-headquartered Cathedral, The Creative Center; Martin Spillmann, creative director, Advico Young & Rubicam, Zurich; Peter Dimberger, exec. creative director, Lowe Lintas GGK, Wien, Austria; Michel de Lauw, creative director, DDB Brussels; Lorenzo De Rita, creative director, 180 Communication, Amsterdam; Peter Frohlich, creative director, Ogilvy & Mather CPH, Copenhagen; Arni Hassan, partner/creative director, Hasan & Partners, Helsinki, Finland; Warren Brown, creative director, Brown Melhuish Fishlock, Surry Hills, Australia; Minoru Fujii, creative director, Hakuhodo, Tokyo; Bhanu Inkawat, chairman/executive creative director, Leo Burnett, Bangkok; Robin Heisey, executive VP/creative director, Harrod & Mirlin/FCB Toronto; Juan Cravero, VP/executive creative director, Craverolanis Euro RSCG, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and regional creative director of Euro RSCG Latinoamerica; Silvio Matos, president/creative director, Newcommbates, São Paulo, Brazil; and Ana Maria Olabuenaga, creative services, Teran TBWA, Mexico City.
The film awards ceremony is slated for Sat., June 23, the concluding evening of the festival.
Carla Hendra, president of OgilvyOne North America, New York, heads the Cyber Lions jury recognizing creative achievements in online communications; and Chris Ingram, chairman of London-based Tempus Group, oversees the Media Lions judging, which honors excellence in media planning, strategy and execution.
Web sites and online ads accounted for 1,471 Cyber Lion entries, a whopping 40 percent more than in 2000. The Cyber Lions ceremony is being held Tues., June 19.
"WHASSUP?"
August A. Busch IV, group VP/marketing and wholesale operations of Anheuser-Busch (A-B), will receive the "Advertiser of the Year" honor at the International Advertising Festival. The prestigious award will be bestowed during the last evening of the fest.
The Cannes kudo recognizes Busch’s major contribution to the company’s domination of the U.S. brewing industry, and particularly to the consistently outstanding quality of its advertising campaigns over the past several years. The Budweiser "Louie the Lizard" campaign out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, won a Silver Lion at the 1998 Cannes Festival, and Bud’s "Whassup?" campaign from DDB Chicago took the coveted Grand Prix at the Cannes 2000 competition.
Anheuser-Busch got off to a fast start this year in adding to that spot tradition. During the Super Bowl telecast, several of its commercials scored well, according to industry and consumer polls. They included the "Whassup?" yuppie takeoff, Budweiser’s "What Are You Doing?," directed by Lloyd Stein of bicoastal Headquarters for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco; Bud’s "Come Home," in which an alien, who has been disguised as a dog, returns to his spaceship to share what he learned from earthlings ("Whassup?)—a spot helmed by Rick Schulze of Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Productions, San Rafael and Los Angeles, for DDB Chicago; and Bud Light’s "Cedric-Date," directed by Richard D’Alessio of New York-based Shooting Gallery Productions via DDB Chicago.
Among other events during the festival are several sessions hosted by ad agencies. For example, on Wed., June 20, multinational ad shops Leo Burnett, DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi will present seminars. The following day, FCB Worldwide, Euro RSCG Worldwide and Tokyo-based Dentsu are scheduled to make presentations. The Saatchi session will be for its aforementioned New Directors Showcase.
And on Thurs., June 21, the third annual Heads of Production meeting will take place in Cannes. This year’s get-together of agency heads of production from around the world will feature director Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA as guest speaker. The theme of the event will be "Advertising in the Future." Moderating the discussion will be Ken Yagoda, executive VP/director of broadcast production at Young & Rubicam, New York.
