Category Archive for ‘Uncategorized’

Clearly the most interesting session that I’ve seen to date was the Dark Knight case study presented by 42 Entertainment. A monster campaign on steroids, it demonstrated the potential to create powerful brand interactions through what they define as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). Through the case study, Susan Bonds and Alex Lieu recounted how the campaign combined both offline [...]

I have a headache. I am surely dehydrated. And I am broke. The perils of Cannes. And we are only on Day 3. Standout moments from day two? Clearly, H&K’s chat with Biz Stone in front of the largest and most energized audience I’ve yet seen, showed the extraordinary level of attention being given by agencies and [...]

I have jury withdrawal this morning, missing my newfound friends as many return to their countries or elsewhere.  Still, Cannes goes on and much more to look forward to in terms of sessions & workshops.
Our session yesterday with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone was packed to standing room only.  Folks were sitting on stairs and pouring [...]

Uber full and satisfying day kicking off with the press conference to announce embargoed PR Lions and Grand Prix to over 60 journalists.  So much interest great to see! Then this afternoon’s sell-out for our H&K-sponsored Biz Stone session was tres magnifique!  Twitter co-founder Biz strutted his stuff, answering questions from a live, scrolling giant screen tweet brilliantly, [...]

Day 5 of judging fully lived up to expectations, with plenty of debate, persuasion, and yes, even a little bit of “PR-ing” for Lion “picks”.  Examining each and every shortlisted entry for every angle possible, I can firmly say hand-on-heart that we, as the first-ever PR jury, should be very proud of our selections – [...]

Given the enormous visibility and exposure of Twitter in recent months, H&K was delighted to be able to sponsor a Cannes Festival Tweetup featuring none other than Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. This morning, Biz was interviewed for Cannes TV and offered up some useful insights into why Twitter has suddenly become as popular as it has, and glimpses [...]

 
Musing over the last 2 days, there has been an interesting small number of submissions built on a hoax. I’m not talking tongue-in-cheek, April Fools initiatives or stunts. I’m talking about a blatant disrespect for the public’s intelligence. How can organizations - commercial of otherwise – think that a jury comprised of senior PR professionals condone such a lack of [...]

Things got a bit crunchier today when a debate ensued in my group with the chairman of the PR jury, Lord Tim Bell, about the definition of PR, the ownership of the ideas being judged and whether or not an idea could be truly holistic (& not owned by any one agency or client).  You’d [...]

The Cannes Lions Festival’s jurors dinner for PR, Promo & Direct kicked off well last night with an enthusiastic welcome from Festival CEO Philip Thomas and lively dinner discussion amongst judges.  It all broke up rather early since we had no way of knowing what our 1st day had in store for us!  This morning [...]

On my way to Cannes by train from Italy today for the Judges dinner this evening.  I’m looking forward to meeting such an international group and learning what they all think makes a great PR campaign.  Having judged so many PR awards in the US and UK, it will be intriguing to see where they net [...]