Oct 6, 2011
My experience as a judge in Cannes 2012. By Laurence Klinger
It's mostly a solitary thing. Being a Radio judge, you spend most of each day with headphones stuck to your head. You see the other judges but you don't communicate much until the final days when the lions and the grand prix are decided collectively.
My group was fantastic; fun, smart, fair, and always in high spirits even after listening to about 2400 entries. There was a lot of bad work, like copies of copies of copies of ideas you'd heard a million times before. Such a waste of the client's money.
There were also some amazing pieces from Asia, South Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and even countries you're not used seeing great work coming from. I guess the same thing happened in other categories.
We were looking for great use of the media, like original ways to experiment with sound, but we ended up falling in love with the quality of the writing in some of the work. I guess when the writing is really good, it can grip you just as much as the cleverest sound gimmick, or the most wonderful music.
My colleague Jenny Glover from BBDO South Africa left with a bunch of lions and the Grand Prix. She is the nicest, most humble person you can meet, especially in a place like Cannes. I was very happy for her.
I was also happy that Latinworks won a Gold for their wonderful Cine Las Americas radio work. It was very well deserved, and their win benefits all Hispanic agencies.
After all the hard work is done, the rest is? well, parties. And parties gave me the opportunity to meet wonderful people like David Droga, and reunite with dear old friends like Donald Gunn and his lovely wife Sara.
Advice? Well, be honest with yourself. Don't overthink. Don't try to find flaws in something that you loved as soon as you heard it. Don't try to find merit in something that turned you off in the first place. There was one certain piece this year that made a lot of sense in theory, so some people were defending it. This is what I said: When you take a great idea and make it boring, somehow it's not a great idea anymore.
Laurence Klinger.
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