Hasta La Creative!

The handwringing has begun. No sooner were we all a twitter over marketers taking over SXSW (myself included), it seems the backlash is now in full swing.

Several years ago (maybe 2010) when I saw Pepsi erect that gigantic playground and CNN take over that restaurant, I knew the quaint geek-fest days of SXSW where over and we were in for a very different SXSW. But even then, SXSW was still an orgasm of epic digital awesomeness.

Having attended SXSW long enough to know what it was before brands and agencies invaded, I see this as a bubble. And bubbles don’t last forever. Like every thing else in the ad business, every cool, new thing is chased. Every single one. Longer than any sane person would chase.

But even insane, trend-chasing ad agencies wake up one day and realize, “Oh yea, this shit isn’t making a dime for us” and they move on to the next cool thing. This will be the fourth year of the SXSW Agency Invasion and while I’m sure next year will be just as big, I’d have to agree with this mystery Digiday writer, we’re going to see a decline in attendance by agencies from this point on.

Not a complete exodus because agencies should always be present in any environment where new ideas and innovation are at the forefront of the conversation. And, SXSW is, indeed, that place.

Having said all that, it’s been a great past few years from one respect. Prior to the SXSW Agency Invasion, one had to pay for everything oneself. Now everything is sponsored. It’s entirely possible to stay in Austin for five days and never spend a dime on food or drink.

So thanks for that, Madison Avenue.

Last year, JWT launched a pop up ad agency at SXSW called Walter. It’s aim was to meet with 25 startups with the goal of working with a few of them. This year, JWT Atlanta will launch an experiential marketing effort called Pennzoil Presents Mario Karting Reimagined which aims to pimp Mario 8. All SXSW Gaming and Interactive attendees will be able to race their friends on a custom-built track.

Set outside the Palmer Events Center, the custom-built track with a Mario Kart-world feel will be open and free to SXSW Interactive & Gaming attendees. The live racing will use RFID technology to communicate between the track and the karts to provide the driver and the audience with an interactive, real-life Mario Kart experience.

The races will be simulcast from the driver’s point-of-view to screens throughout the activation and the Austin Convention Center. The kart’s performance is controlled by RFID technology as drivers interact with icons on the course. These real-life power-ups will either boost speed or slow the kart down in real-time. The goal is to collect all five icons in order to receive complete protection.

It’s all to promote Pennzoil’s Platinum oil, a first of its kind synthetic oil made from natural gas.

The track will be open Friday, March 7th, 12PM – 6PM, Saturday, March 8th, 12PM – 6P and Sunday, March 9th, 12PM – 6PM

Cannes Lions is closer than you think. Many of us will be basking in the sun in Cannes, France come June but do you have all your plans in place? Do you know where you will be staying?

If not, we can help. We’ve partnered with Cannes Apartment Rentals which has many apartments in the area from studios to four bedroom residences.

Here are three of their swankier offerings:

La Parisienne Cannes
Villa Leona
Square Merimee Superior

You can check out all their rentals here.

So it’s February. It may seem like June is a long way off but it will be here before you know it. What’s special about June? Cannes Lions, of course! Are you ready? Flight booked? Accommodations all set? Event planned? Event location secured?

Wait, what? You don’t know where you’re going to host your entourage and your events? What, are you new? OK, sorry, We don’t mean to be mean. We’re actually here to help.

AES Events Groups manages a place called Villa Oxygen which is just off La Croisette. It’s got 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a kitchen, giant TVs, ocean views, jacuzzis, a garden house, a pool, wireless, an elegant terrace, a bar and everything else you’d need for a week of luxury in Cannes.

Yes, we are helping promote the place. Why? Because the venue’s management is giving us a free place (studio or one bedroom) to stay during Cannes Lions. But guess what. We can’t go this year so…we’re going to give that away to one lucky reader. Stay tuned for more details on that.

But in the meantime, if you need a nice place for a week for you, your friend, your company or your clients, check out Villa Oxygen.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, we can turn our attention to the next big ad industry event on the horizon, Aside from the Academy Awards — because, let’s be honest, the broadcast is really just a playground for Super Bowl wannabees — there’s Cannes.

The 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the first nine jury presidents, out of a total of 17, selected to chair this year’s juries.

“As the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications, we are delighted to welcome such an outstanding group of people to lead the juries to champion innovation across the industry. As visionary leaders, they will steer the debate that will impact the future of their respective categories,” says Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals.

Creative Effectiveness Lions Jury President
David Sable, Global Chief Executive Officer, Y&R

“In an age of data obsession, there is a misconception that somehow advertising hasn’t been accountable. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best advertising, the most memorable and creative advertising has always delivered. The beauty of data is that it makes it more apparent. I’m honoured to be chosen as this year’s Jury President for the Cannes Effectiveness Lions and to serve with such an esteemed team of judges. I hope that we will be accountable to deliver the best to the Cannes community.”

Cyber Lions Jury President
Susan Bonds, co-founder and CEO, 42 Entertainment, USA

“As Cyber Lions move into 2014, it’s exciting to see new categories emerge that embrace the reality of digital’s role in everyday life, creative craft and innovation.
Novelty has been replaced with excellence in execution, authenticity, reach and impact, and creating a user experience that connects.”

Film Lions Jury President
Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide

“It’s a great honour and a big responsibility to be the president of one of the most important categories in Cannes. I look forward to seeing a lot of great work, to have great discussions, and to set a signal on what we believe should the bar for Film will be in the next years.”

Innovation Lions Jury President
Tom Bedecarré, Chairman, AKQA and President, WPP Ventures

“To inspire creative excellence in communications we increasingly need to develop new technologies, and the Innovation Lions celebrate creativity in technology. I’m super excited to see the apps, tools, hardware, software and platforms entered in this second year of the Innovation Lions awards.”

Media Lions Jury President
Matt Seiler, Global CEO, IPG Mediabrands

“It has become increasingly challenging to find time amidst all the exciting goings on during the festival to focus on the real reason we are there…as Jury President I can’t wait to get in deep with some of the world’s best work.”

Outdoor Lions Jury President
José Miguel Sokoloff, President, Lowe Global Creative Council & Co Chairman and CCO Lowe SSP3 Colombia

“Outdoor is possibly where most of the best ideas in contemporary advertising come to life. To be honoured by Cannes Lions, having been given the responsibility to preside over this jury makes me very excited and proud. I am already looking forward to the sessions.”

Promo & Activation Lions Jury President
Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, USA

“When I look back at 2013’s winners in Promo and Activation, I see work that also was honored in Film, Outdoor, Titanium. This is absolute evidence that the best work being done today drives participation. Channel agnostic ideas are the most modern ideas in our industry. And they tend to show up in Promo and Activation. I look forward to getting the week off to a great creative start.”

Radio Lions Jury President
Tony Hertz, Proprietor and Creative Director, Tony Hertz: Radio & Brand Sound, The Philippines

“For a guy who’s been in love with making radio ads for as long as I have, this is obviously a massive thrill and privilege. I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow jury members to choose – perhaps even unearth – radio work which is not only great and fresh advertising, but is also impeccably conceived and crafted for this unique medium.”

Titanium & Integrated Lions Jury President
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, India & South Asia, McCann Worldgroup

“I’ve enjoyed a long association with Cannes Lions Festival and I very much look forward to June 2014. Titanium brings the world’s most respected and eclectic set of people to the jury, and there is immense learning. The bar is raised and new benchmarks set for the world in advertising and communications. It will be an honour to work with the jury, and I hope I can humbly contribute to our quest for the best, the most breakthrough, transformational ideas the industry has to offer. And celebrate those ideas that challenge and inspire us all.”

Cannes Lions will take place 15-21 June 2014. Entries can now be submitted into all categories including the new Product Design Lions introduced to reward the applied use of physical products in aiding the communication of a “brand ethos” as well as its use to have a positive impact on improving people’s lives.

This is rather amusing. The .GIFYS, the first annual awards show celebrating the animated file format has opened online voting today as they work towards determining the all-time best GIFs. The nominees are the selections of a panel made up of people from Buzzfeed, Gawker, Tumblr, Mashable, Joystiq, The Daily Dot, Engadget and others who have pulled from their own archives, reached out to their hundreds of thousands of twitter followers and scoured the Internet to curate the best of the best animated GIFs.

The mission of The .GIFYS, which was created by a team of creatives and developers at CP+B LA, is to immortalize the best GIFs, a medium that otherwise is generally viewed only once before it’s lost in the abyss that is the internet. At www.thegifys.com, everyone can vote on their favorite in each category, ranging from Cats to Art + Design, to WTF?!

Of the show, .GIFY Co-Founder William Sawyer said, “The GIF is now 26 years old, and there are millions of them online. It’s time they received their due respect with a proper awards show. We recruited some of the top names in internet culture to curate the best, and we’re looking to the whole internet to decide the winners.”

The .GIFYS panelists include:

– Chelsea Marshall – Editor, Buzzfeed Animals
– Fernando Alfonso – Writer, Lead Illustrator And Comics Editor, The Daily Dot
– Paul Budnitz – Kidrobot Founder, Artist, Filmmaker & Serial Entrepreneur
– Christine Erickson – List Editor, Mashable
– Ann Friedman – Columnist For New York Magazine And Gif Enthusiast
– Cord Jefferson – West Coast Editor, Gawker
– Amber Gordon – Creative Strategist, Tumblr
– Dianna Mcdougall – Live Giffer, Shorty Awards Finalist, Community Manager, Dots
– Lil Bubs + Mike Bridavsky – Internet Cat And Her Human
– Rachel Binx + Sha Hwang – Founders, Gifpop
– Ivan Perez-Armendariz – Chief Digital Officer, CP+B
– Dan Milano – Gif Maker, Partnership Manager, Dailymotion USA
– Jess Conditt – Senior Editor, Joystiq
– Ryan Block – Head of Product, Engadget / Co-Founder, gdgt
– Brian Morrissey – Editor-in-Chief, Digiday

And we are told because of the complicated nature of who “owns” a particular GIF, the award show will not be awarding the content creator, but rather the GIF itself. Voting lasts a week, with winners announced online later in the month. For updates on The .GIFYS, follow their twitter @thegifys or visit thegifys.com.

Yes, people. It is that time of year again. Time to start planning your trip to the South of France where you will put a large dent in your expense account, sip champagne on the Carlton Terrace and squeeze in a few late night visits to the gutter bar. Oh, yea, and hopefully bring home some metal. After all, that’s why we go to Cannes, right?

But what does Cannes Lions CEO Philip Thomas have to say about the event? “Cannes Lions offers delegates the opportunity to step away from their day-to-day work and truly immerse themselves into a unique environment of creativity for a few days. With exceptional inspiration, learning and networking opportunities, it’s a chance for the global creative communities to recognize accomplishments, and take the industry to new heights.”

If you’ve ever been, immerse is an understatement. You will be enveloped by all things advertising in a way that is impossible any other time of the year in any other place in the world. If you can, you should really go.

Want a taste of what it’s like? Check out the photos below and then dig into the photo album from our 2011 visit.

Youth marketing agency, Camp Craze, will produce the Craze Conference February 5th in New York City at the 92nd Street Y. The conference will focus on broad aspects of marketing and social media with a focus on youth marketing.

Keynote speakers include Pencils of Promise Founder and CEO Adam Braun and Former Virgin America VP of Marketing Porter Gale. Additional speakers include Zappos Culture Evangilist Jonathan Wolske, Twitter Design Manager Marty Ringlein, New York Mets Director of Marketing Mark Fine and many others.

You can check out the whole line up here as well as other information on the conference. If you choose to attend, use the discount code TIER1PRICECRAZE which discount the $285 price by about $60.

Clickbooth, CPAWay and adknowledge are at it again with their Industry Legends Unite Affiliate Nation Party to be held during ad:tech New York November, 6, 2013 from 9PM to 2AM. As is always the case, the party will be awesome and it’s the only late night big party scheduled for the evening at this point. So it should be packed and rocking!

The party will be held at LQ which is located at 511 Lexington Avenue in New York City. the featured DJ will be Ghost and as is always the case, it will be open bar all night. Additionally, there will be dancers and there will be dwarves. And, we are told, other surprise entertainment.

Check out pictures from the last party they held during Affiliate Summit in Philadelphia.

RSVP here.

In an upset that is sure to ruffle the feathers of perennial Battle of the Ad Bands winner, JWT’s Jam With Toast, Davis & Gilbert — a law firm, no less — won last night’s Battle of the Ad Bands performing as Generator Honey. The annual event, held during Advertising Week, pits ad bands against one another in a battle of musical supremacy.

For a time, McCann’s More Fucking Cowbell (yes, that was the band’s name) held the top slot. For the past few years, JWT has held the honor of best ad band. That changed this year when the advertising practice of the Davis & Gilbert law firm put up a band called Generator Honey which, true to the band’s name, feature a couple of very talented honeys, one of whom confidently strutted the stage in a delicious mini dress and heels.

We have to say all the bands were great. It was truly awesome to see so much talent on the stage from people who do this on the side. Kudos to all for participating.

See all the pictures of all the bands here.