Cannes Predictions Part 2 - What the judges say

Following up on our Cannes Predictions Part 1, I thought it would be interesting to see what some of the Cannes judges are expecting or looking for this year.  See what four of the judges have to say below.

Debbi Vandeven (@debbivandeven), Global Chief Creative Officer at VML and Promo & Activation judge is expecting that the most interesting things will come out of the product space.

“There is increasing interest from agencies and clients to go beyond expected communication channels and explore the creation of Intellectual Property and Product Design area to solve business problems. With the new Cannes category for product design I believe we will see new interesting ways that agencies are taking steps to create connections for brands and consumers in this space. As well agencies are doing more in experiential solutions and internal projects that can positively change and improve peoples lives. And yes, I do believe we will see more in 3D printing solutions.

A few standouts in the Product area are the Superformula to Fight Cancer by JWT/VectorZero/Hungaryman Sao Paulo and Project Daniel: 3D printing prosthetic arms for children of war-torn Sudan by The Ebeling Group/Not Impossible Labs/Venice. Also, The Donor Cable Project for Nar Mobile by Y&R Moscow is an interesting idea on driving awareness of blood donation by donating battery life to another phone by the innovative use of a new cable.

I agree that we will see an increase in the amount of work that agencies and brands are doing in the social space. And it will be especially interesting to see to what level the advertising campaigns needs or relies on consumer participation to be successful. I will be looking to see which brands found and used a true insight to drive not only brand connections but peer-to-peer connections with the social campaigns. We should be well beyond likes as an industry and it appears that consumer generated content is moving well beyond the social space. “

Here are the 7 predictions from Mobile Judge Stephanie Sarofian (@globalchatter), Executive Director, Brand and Agency Partnerships NA at InMobi:

1/ Messaging apps as brand messengers

2/ More brands using app-utility as brand ambassador

3/ Mobile-unique content for trade, for reward, and as advertisement

4/ Rise in the use of location devices to target and engage consumers one-to-one and at scale

5/ Advertisers taking advantage of amazing smartphone technology as a tool to create immersive experiences

6/ An explosion of educational and healthcare mobile solutions - both profitable and not for profit -many beneficial for consumer messaging

7/ New global-mobile services that provide engagement and advertising platforms without geo-boundaries

Gaston Legorburu (@gastonleg) is Executive Director & Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at Sapient Nitro and will be judging Titanium and Integrated this year at Cannes.

“I specifically react well to the ‘hacking the everyday’ and ‘selfies and the importance of me’.

Others things I would look for: 2nd year in innovation? Wonder what those entries will look like, little birdie told me everyone and their mother thinks they have a winner. Product or Service or service product design is now part of this business. Also the wholesale changes in Cyber. I really think they were well thought through, but you will hear tons of noise.

Jaime Robinson is Executive Creative Director at Pereira & O’Dell and Mobile Jury President this year.  She’s hoping to see mobile used to reach people in surprising ways at the right time.

“I suspect the quality of craft will be very high this year. Which is a wonderful thing, and I am looking forward to it. But in the end, I believe mobile’s greatest strength is the ability to reach people in surprising ways at just the right time. I think we’ll be saying, “Oh, that’s really clever” a lot this year.”