The Cannes festival has become like Disney Land.  45 minutes in queue for a 45 session.  What is remarkable however is that the sessions start and finish bang on time.

I started the day with a workshop on sound branding. A fascinating talk by Walter Werzowa, the creator of the memorable three second Intel tune and Zanna Lopes from Brazil. Apparently, Intel sales went up from 24 to 94 per cent after the tune was introduced.  Seems hard to believe. We learnt about the ways in which retailers use music to manipulate the customer’s buying behavior. Mc Donalds plays fast paced music so that the customers eat fast and leave early while seven eleven scared off the homeless people hanging around their shops by playing classical music.  

X Box Bing –ESPN please.  You give this command and your meek TV obeys your voice and shows you the latest soccer match that is taking place.  Gimme More.  You gesture with your hand and the TV shows you glimpses of all the matches in the tournament.  Not fantasy. These are just a few innovations revealed by X Box that will revolutionize the usage of TV in the world.

In this fun session, we learnt about Active TV where you can change the outcome of the show and even Jump In TV where you can literally enter the programme and help the characters go about their work.  The best thing is that these technologies are now available and will be in operation in the next six months.  Wow! We are waiting. And when you find such a TV in the market, remember you first heard about it here.

Cadbury discontinued their chocolate – Wispa Gold. People unhappy with this move, started conversations on Twitter.  By tracking these conversations, Cadburys realized that the brand was still popular and decided to re launch it. In the same way a “I want an Audi” hash tag by an Audi fan became such a rage that the company started a programme by which the car’s enthusiasts could drive it for the weekend.  This increased the brand’s engagement with its customers and led to even more conversations on Twitter.   

 By citing such examples, Dick Costolo, CEO Twitter, illustrated how brands can initiate programmes – both online and offline just by being responsive to conversations on Twitter.  Don’t just plan campaigns on Twitter he said. Adapt the campaign to the moment. 

A standing ovation, the first I’ve ever seen at Cannes was given to a young street artist –JR who  with his excellent oratory skills enchanted the audience with his thoughts on how art can turn the world inside out.

The award ceremonies were next on the agenda.  The Design Lions were the first to be announced.  Mudra won a Gold for their campaign for The Ministry of Tourism, The Hinglish Project.  Other interesting examples of design were – A cook book with a difference.  Different because it was made of pasta. Put the book in the oven and bingo, your meal is ready. Another beautiful example was the sun bathing shower. A huge shower on a beach where you see the dancing rays of the sun instead of water. The Solar Annual Report won the Grand Prix.  An annual report made with special ink so that it can only be read in the sun. What an idea sirji.

Other categories awards were announced.  Jack Dorsey, the founder and chairman of Twitter received the media person of the year award.  He gave a short speech. Thankfully, it was already very late, where he urged people to tell their stories and share them with ‘a small world.’ “The entire world is waiting to listen to you.”  After such persuasion, I think I just have to open a Twitter account. 

It was really late but the legendary Times of India party could not be missed. French girls in saris greeted us along with loud Bollywood music and the delicious aroma of Indian food.  Advertising industry hot shots present in Cannes were all here.  Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi, Colvyn Harris, Madhukar Kamath, Pratap Bose, Josey Paul, Vivek Suchanti – everyone seemed to be having a good time.  The music was good and more than the Indians, the French seemed to enjoy gyrating to Sheela ki jawani, jalebi bai and such songs.  

As we left the party, we saw people on the croisette moving to the Indian beats.  Music knows no barriers.   

Authored By: Vandana Kakar, she is representing Mediavataar @ Cannes.