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Wait, What?

IT STaRTS TOday?Cannes woke up a little rough from its year-long hibernation, staggered aimlessly down the Croisette with its shirt buttoned Moyshe Kapoyer, and, once at the Palais, delivered a sleepy Sunday matinee kind of performance. Sunday has always been the mixed-stream recycling day of the Cannes calendar, and this one was no exception. The celebrities on stage fit right in, having each been reduced, reused, and recycled. David hasseLhoFF ran down the orchestra aisle holding a Baywatch life preserver. Fortunately, there weren’t that many folks around to see that bit of creaky-kneed theater. Many of the delegates are just arriving, the rain has just let off, and those who went down to the festival halls…well, let’s just say they didn’t have to stand in line.

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the thread

Of an Idea BrandOpus spent its lunch hour talking Greek mythology—a tactic generally not recommended if you want to have company while you eat. Yet they pulled it off, entrancing a multitude of creatives with a story about the multiplicity of creativity. Ariadne’s thread let Theseus travel all possible routes back through the labyrinth as he sought out his freedom. A pluralistic cast of mind does the same when you’re hunting for a solution or the best expression of an idea. Ideas can’t be forced or dug for. They must be entertained and explored and seen from multiple points of view. Creativity comes into play next, for it is what you do with the idea once it happens that matters. Creativity is the journey; it is the work itself.

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dISTRIbuTedCreativity The pluralistic nature of creativity can apply to creatives as well. Instead of trapping creative in a silo, smart companies are learning to nurture innovation in every corner. Permission to be creative is like a soaker hose for grass seed—it helps it germinate everywhere. We call that Pervasive Creativity here at O&M (and we’re damn proud of it, too). For us, everyone is a creative—not just the unshaven guys who show up at work to play ping pong at 11 am. Twitter, especially for storytelling purposes, is distributed creativity in action, and that is embodied by Sir Patrick Stewart, prince of stage and screen, who blew the last vapors of The Hoff out of the auditorium with a gust of respectability. Only two years into his Twitter life, and Stewart has already used the platform to turn his public perception from stuffy Olympian figure to hiLarious gooFbaLL, in part by putting himself out there and letting the audience decide what was funny or not. In so doing, he and Ian McKellen co-created the story of the new Patrick Stewart.

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When did hr beCome

a baTTlegROund? You didn’t know it, but while you were watching Desperate housewives, the Talent Wars broke out. Today was Creative Talent Day at Cannes, and the speakers were lined up like penguins on an ice floe to give their tips on how to attract the best ones, appeal to the youngsters, and get rid of the crappy losers. Millennials are the choice prey these days, and attracting them takes more than just hard currency. According to Charles Day of The Lookinglass, “They are not motivated by money. They want to make a difference.” (That sentiment drew a snort of derision from the nearest millennial, by the way.)

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fail it

fORwaRdThe guys at Latinworks also wanted to make a difference, which was why they came to Cannes with the worst work they’ve ever done. Their orgy of failure was trotted out to teach the audience the lessons of failure, and we’re not talking about the sanctimonious bullshit we usually hear: the romanticization of failure and gauzy stories of people who failed and then went on to found eLeventy-biLLion dollar companies. We learned from these brave souls the true value of value. “Experience,” said Sergio Alcocer, “is the real prize of failure.” In a world where information is accessible to anyone, you find the most value is the one item that isn’t a commodity. The experience born of failure is just that thing. It is your competitive advantage.

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