Creative Matters.

This being the third week in June and, same as ever was, the Cannes advertising festival is sending too many of the wrong signals, in too many of the wrong ways, and to far too many.

Pink slips in the office, rose on La Croissette being the least of the litany.

But no need to go there, because, as I’m sure you already know, floods already have. 

So maybe we talk about what the legendary DDB art director Helmut Krone called “the dark side of the moon, what's never been seen.”

As in whether Cannes — along with its award show peers — could deliver something more useful to the industry, and, while we’re at it, more than that? 

How about this burst of clarity:

We repurpose these events from adland-staring-at-itself-in-a-faded-mirror-while-admiring-the-view to something more profound.

Call them "Not Dead Yet" festivals.  

All combining to address a sense that the advertising industry has become an irritating, obsolete, deaf in tone, devoid of ethics, deck-chair shuffling, iceberg-colliding irrelevancy that’s lived long past its extinction-by date. 

Note I said, the “advertising industry" which is distinct from a category projected to cross the trillion-dollar mark in the next few years, give or take the latest White House idiocy.

Of course, fostering awareness that the industry is still making good things happen, still worth the investment and the trust, and still worth a career shot, would require a huge change of focus. 

As the remarkable Bob Brihn mentions, awards shows have historically been a celebration of interesting work. "Interesting," of course being what the judges find that way, which is why these things can be so maddeningly fickle — the campaign that won at Cannes and London, in the Andy’s and CA Annual, but only scored a stinking merit in the hometown show. 

Happens.

But that was then and if you buy this now, NDY would focus on what makes the industry interesting to more than our own damn selves, as well as our vendors, media, and trade press symbiotes.

It’s about being interesting to the world at large.

Imagine presenting the arc as a hero’s journey where overcoming both outside-in injury (MAANG sucking up all the golden goose eggs) and inside-out indignities (myriad self-inflicted wounds) as proof there’s still a there, there. 

Imagine talking about what made survival possible, and the work and the people behind it fascinating. 

Imagine shifting to where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

Avoiding AI not enabling “deluge the zone with crap, any crap” attention-killing toxicity.

Recommitting to creative, not content, being king, queen, prince, court jester, and crown jewels.

So, admittedly, I’m being Pollyanna giddy.

But wouldn't it be cool if our brightest celebrations were more than overpriced, over-puffed, and over there?

Wouldn't it be even cooler if we realized the message has to be that creativity and creative is what makes the difference?

Wouldn’t it be coolest of all if we stopped missing the chance?