FESTIVAL DAY 2

Summary:

My favorite talk of the day and maybe the whole festival was definitely Polaroid: The analogue revolution and age of AI. Pat talked about concepts that I’ve been preaching for years now about the importance of staying present and the beauty of shooting analog. I really liked what she said about life not being pixel perfect so why are we demanding that are documentation of it be too? I also loved her points on how we are no longer allowing ourselves to be bored. I vividly remember there was a point in the talk where she asked the audience if they go to the bathroom with their phones and nearly everyone raised their hands, proving her point. Polaroids recent campaign was genius and did such a god job in solving not only their brand problem but a current world problem, and opening the conversation up again to the important of human connection and experience.

Another talk I loved was Meryls on her new book. Some quotes that stuck with me were: that you have to love the process more than the outcome andthere is always a silver lining in every project. When I think back on my favorite projects I’ve worked on, the one thing they have in common is that I loved the process of creating them. Of course I loved the outcome too, but that isn’t what I’ll tell stories about or reminisce on. Its the challenges, the brainstorming, and the solutions I came up with.I also loved the reference to “The sport of creativity", and that if we don't work on our resilience then we can't handle the intensity that's to come.

I went to a lot of talks this day but overall I liked the format of these two. They were a lot more intimate and the presentation structure was very intentional and easy to follow. I actually felt like I was learning something useful I could apply to my future.

AWARD SHOW

Favorite Campaigns:

  1. “Resize the Price” Aguila, DAVID Bogotá & DAVID Madrid

  2. “Who’s Waiting for You?” Cerveza Victoria, Weiden + Kennedy Mexico (THIS ONE HAD ME IN TEARS LIKE ACTUAL TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE)

  3. “I’m Not Remarkable” Apple, Apple Cupertino & Somesuch London

  4. *Notible Mention Oprah Winfrey

  5. “Apple TV Rebrand” Apple, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, LA

  6. “Bullet Machine” La Union Newspaper & Article 19, Grey Mexico City

  7. “Your Way Out” Coinbase, Isle of Any NEW YORK

The award show had also some of my favorite campaigns this day. One that I will never forget was the Cerveza Victoria one which had me crying at the award show. It was beautifully made and so creative. —————————————> as seen

PRE-FESTIVAL
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
ADVICE

Schedule:

THE NEW ENTERTAINMENT ERA: WOMEN DRIVING INFLUENCE

FQ

Speakers-

Frances Berwick, Chairman Bravo & Peacock Unscripted, NBCUniversal

Rachel Zoe, Cast Member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Alison Levin, President of Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal

Liz Jenkins, CBO, NBCUniversal Entertainment

Key Takeaways:

  • Fans want connection with the brand & others. They want entertainment to feel like a communal experience.Nowadays it’s very hard to connect about stories & shows IRL because people are on different seasons & episodes vs. theatre that is inherently more communal.

  • Frances talked about the need to create creative urgency in entertainment, for example like in Love Island. People want to rush to see the next episode so that they can talk about it and follow up on socials.

  • Allison touched on creating culture not chasing it. Getting in early is the key, even if not everyone gets the reference in the moment.

Polaroid | the analogue revolution and age of AI

THE FORUM

Speakers- Patricia Varella, CD Polaroid

Key Takeaways:

  • Fact #1: Tech is dulling our brain power.

    • Blackout in Spain for 10hrs = no teen, no GPS, no Apple Pay.

    • "The image you are taking on your phone is too perfect for you to even remember".

    • We outsource our memory to our phones.

    • Principle #1: Don't let tech make you dumb.

  • Fact #2: The world is the opposite of Pixel Perfection.

    • Young people aren't dancing anymore and social surveillance affecting how we behave.

    • Life is imperfect... like Polaroid. Campaign that owned this: a love letter to what life is about, which is waiting.

    • Principle #2: Be Pixel Imperfect. Don't hide, embrace.

  • Fact #3: Optimization is killing creativity (& fun).

    • We keep our brains busy & distracted all the time; have no time for our own thoughts.

    • We need time to be bored. So they implemented analog days within the company. Going against what we know in modern day social media marketing and started paying influencers not to post.

    • Principle #3: Do less & do it slower.

  • Fact #4: We are analog creatures.

    • Human metrics are more powerful than metrics.

    • Shooting w/ polaroid is an emotional choice (Anti-digital & Pro human).

    • Principle #4: Use human metrics.

Scaling the Fan-Verse

CANVA

Speakers-

Alan Cumming, Actor & Filmmaker

Frances Berwick, Chairman Bravo & Peacock Unscripted, NBCUniversal

Cynthia Littleton, Co-editor in Chief at Variety

Key Takeaways:

  • Mention of Peacocks strategy for shows that build up the conversation, create a FOMO moment, and are unscripted.

Coach and Forsman & Bodenfors| Inside Coach's Playbook: Turning a Product into a Cultural Platform

ROTUNDE STAGE

Speakers-

Joon Silverstein, CMO COACH

Key Takeaways:

  • Build with people not for them.

  • Gen Z searching for meaning & connection and Coach wanted to stop trying to be a brand for everyone.So they set a new goal which was to be Gen Z’s 1st luxury brand.

  • Products can't just carry value they must carry meaning.

  • They acquired the insight that Gen Z talks to themselves in narrative terms; storytelling is how we connect. From there sparked the campaign idea which was to creates stories people could carry (e.g., Book charms).

iHeartMedia| Unscripted: How Stories Earn Attention across Culture and Media

ROTUNDE STAGE

Speakers-

Malcolm Gladwell, Author

Questlove, Producer & Musician

Key Takeaways:

  • People use music to nuance who they are as a person. Recently Questlove has been trying to explore writing songs w/ intention vs. just jamming out & spark of an idea.

  • Survival makes you turn up brain & down heart. Through his creative projects he has been undoing trauma of survival to live in the moment & have a more open heart.

  • How we can miss our future makes us miss the now.

  • Mix of luck, timing, & just showing up.

University of Miami & Droga5| G.R.I.T. or Get Out: The Untaught Craft of Creative Endurance

CAMPUS STAGE

Speakers-

Meryl Bleu, Mindness Coach and Professor

Mia Rafowitz, CD at Droga5

Key Takeaways:

  • AI flattens your ideas till it doesn't even become yours.

  • In advertising everyone will try to change your voice. All you have is your unique nuanced perspective.

  • DROGAS Insights:

    • 1) Small things that piss us off as humans have insights in there.

    • 2) Something you care about that most people don't.

    • 3) A belief you hold because of your shared experience.

  • You can't prepare for what obstacles you're going to face.

  • You have to love the process more than the outcome; there is always a silver lining in every project.

  • For all the work you see there are 1000+ dead campaigns.

  • "The sport of creativity": If we don't work on our resilience then we can't handle the intensity that's to come.

  • Just because something worked for you before doesn't mean it will now