Rose Herceg’s Cannes Diary #1

Rose Herceg, country president, WPP, Australia & New Zealand is this year’s jury president for the Cannes Creative Data Lions. Herceg, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors, writes exclusively for CB.

DAY ONE: THE CREATIVE DATA JURY

Here we are. Our own mini–United Nations. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, South Africa, The Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. Nine of us in a room. The tenth, beaming in virtually due to a passport mishap. Whoever said travel was glamourous clearly didn’t do it for work.

Put simply, our first day is the reason why if you’re asked to be on a jury, say yes.

I can divide the why into three parts.

Part 1: The Jury
This jury is kind. Smart, funny, and warm. Above all, honest. Everyone is polite. No one talks over anyone else. There is a desire to be respectful. A desire to learn from each other’s cultures.

The most admirable of qualities I’ve always believed is an individual who is willing (and able) to have their mind changed. One of the things I respect the most in a human being is the power of a cogent, credible argument to convince them that their POV (after a robust debate) can evolve. Even change entirely.

Our jury is made up of people willing to debate an idea on its merits. Willing to concede that their POV has changed. This is gold to me. If everyone was able to apply this, our world would likely be in a better shape.

Part 2: The Work
The shortlist we’ve selected is as varied as it is globally representative. It comes in many stripes. Culturally relevant, socially conscious, economically ambitious, and plain-old funny. When you see a piece of work that makes you laugh out loud, you fall in love with this incredible industry all over again.

There are some knockout pieces of work. Some that need more work. We sat in a room together for nine hours. We debated and discussed the work. We added pieces we believed may have been overlooked. We’ve voted on work that deserves to be on the list.

Part 3: The Industry
Watching and hearing ten people reaffirm their passion for our industry is a wonderful by-product of this first day’s judging. When you see work that changes lives, an economy, the law, politics, and the environment, you know you are very lucky to be working within this industry. Even more so when you see a piece of work achieve something so spectacular that you feel like clapping out loud.

There are (still) those who question the value of creativity.

If we’d had any of those sceptics in our room today, they would have walked out more than a little changed. Especially when you see how the highest calibre of work can deliver serious results. When all is said and done, the fundamental truth is this: the best CFOs and CEOs love creativity. Why? Because when done to the standard we saw today, it’s money in the bank.

Tomorrow, we transform the shortlist into winners.