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• 5 Cannes Conclusions

  

  I spent last week in Cannes for my first ever Lions and am still too jet-lagged to type anything too highminded about the festival. But here are 5 conclusions I walked away with:

  1. Digital is the core of every Integrated campaign. It's simply too powerful and offers up too many tools to play an incidental role any more. I'm not saying that most campaigns out there use digital effectively. I'm just saying that those impressive enough to win a top Lion will largely be earning that honor based on a central role for online and/or mobile. Even though the Obama campaign, this year's Grand Prix Integrated winner, was largely grass-roots focused, it was still MyBarackObama.com as well as strong presences across social media channels that added scale and organization (and brought in the cash).

  2. "Interactive is becoming less about the computer". I'm sure I bastardized the quote but Lars Bastholm, who led this year's Cyber jury said something similar to that and I could not agree more.The best work in interactive media is becoming less about impressing with fancy technology and more about facilitating things people want or had previously never dreamed of. Campaigns like Best Job in the World and Fiat Eco Drive really illustrated this.

  
   

• The 2009 Coachella Report

   

  
  

  It's that time again when I spend stupid amounts of time recalling this year's Coachella through my eyes. If you went, tell me where I went wrong (other than missing the end of The Cure, I already know). If not, close your eyes, cue up some of these tracks and imagine you were there.

  The Coachella Report (or “Bring the Noise!”)
  2009
  
  Rating Scale
  ***** Seriously Classic
  **** Excellent
  *** Good
  ** Disappointing
  * Like seeing Perry Farrell for the tenth straight year
  Note: ½ indicates ½ star so ***1/2 = 3½ starts
  
  Key:
  PS = I only saw a partial set
  FAWE – Watched act from afar while eating
  
  Friday
  Artist: We Are Scientists
  PS
  Rating: ***1/2
  Because Why?: We are Scientists got screwed – a super early start time in the blazing sun. These dudes deserved a later slot in the tent with a light show. Luckily, they seemed less worked about it than I was. They delivered a rocking set that sounded like they deserved a bigger spotlight.
  The Best Part: We somehow missed “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” despite only missing two songs. Did they open with it? “The Great Escape” was a solid closer though.