Bawadi Halawa Commercial #1

Bawadi Halawa Campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K242bgwpr48

        
While listening to Ali Ali, the Creative Director of Elephant Cairo, during the thenetworkone seminar, he had mentioned the Bawadi Halawa campaign for Harvest Foods. The bread that that Elephant Cairo was pitching is known to be given to prisoners by their families as in-cell presents. Ali explained Elephant Cairo’s thinking while creating the campaign; prisoners dominate the proportion of the Egyptian society that eats halva. Each of the five commercials of this campaign shows a prisoner telling society what makes a great halva so amazing compared to the others. 

Although controversial, this Harvest Food campaign caught society’s attention because of the uniqueness of the casting. The clip shows an entrance into a prison, walking through a dark, concrete hallway with iron bars protecting he prisoners’ cells. One would believe that this is a commercial for a new movie or documentary because of the fear characterized with prisons. Once the voice over explains, “it works well with all kinds of breads,” continuing with a list of the different breads eaten with halva, the viewer realizes the innocent motives of the clip. The screen switches to a close up of the prisoner talking with his face blurred out, allowing the viewer to concentrate on what he is saying rather than his appearance. Obviously still set in prison, the star of the commercial is wearing a deep blue uniform that is contrasted with the bland walls behind him. He continues to explain how some halvas out there just crumble “like dust”; however, he passionately analyzes why Harvest Food’s halva outshines the rest. The commercial cuts to a deep focus while a voice yells from a small, bared in window, “tell them about the texture”, showing the shared adoration of the brand throughout the prison. The prisoner originally talking replies, “stay out of this butt head,” adding humor to the already bizarre tone of the commercial.

A continuous stream of mug shots are shown of prisoners smiling holding Harvest Food’s halva. The commercial ends with reiterating the point of this interesting casting, “those who know halva, love bawadi”. The blocking of the commercial allows the viewer to become curious about the setting. After the viewer realizes that it is a commercial for halva, they understand the humor. I think that the suspense of the continuity result in an effective commercial. It’s unique, yet true. The casting is different from any other commercial; therefore, successfully keeps the viewers interested in the message. 

#4 "Fuck the money, leave the world better than you found it"

Interscope Records:
Jennifer Frommer, SVP of Client Relations for Interscope Records, spoke to the group about her work with various famous artists and described how the process of booking companies with different bands or actors went. Eminem apparently is very creative, and brought his own idea for Red Bull. She told us that some hip hop artists can be very difficult to work with. At the end of the session, she handed me a flash drive that had some funky beats that Interscope sponsored; any one is welcome to come copy them from my computer!! I noticed that some of the songs have been 


David Simon's dark perspective towards politics and the film industry was interesting. He was extremely synical about everything, which fit my mood today after the Young Lions party last night. As the writer and producer of 'The Wire' and 'Treme', he let us in one how he views things inside hob. I found it interesting that he makes sure his characters are the most realistic he can make them, including the beer they drink. He knows if he puts an Abita beer in the hands of an African American, it will look unnatural. I liked his final advice, "Fuck the money, leave the world better than you found it" that he advised Esquire magazine. He stressed to follow what you love.


All of the speakers we have met with emphasize being tech savvy and stay current.


Social blurp from last night:
Where are we? Cannes is the most beautiful, savvy place I have every been to. They must be spending more money on these parties than I could even imagine. Last night, we attended the Young Lions Party on the beach. When you checked in, you were given a Nokia lanyard with three guitar picks for free drinks. Naturally, I thought that I could be best friends with the bartender...which did not actually follow through. The djs were playing only American music, fueling our group to dance. Everyone at the party was thrilled to give any sort of advertising advice that they had, and it was less intimidating to speak one-on-one. Besides our 10 euro cab ride home, what a fun night!

#3 "Risk"

IPG & WLN:
Waking up an hour earlier for day three was worth the extra shot of espresso. The day opened with IPG & Women's Leadership Network was an inspirational experience for women of all ages and races. Martha Stewart, Soledad O'brien of CNN, Kimberly Kadlec of Johnson & Johnson, Gail Heimann of Weber Shandwick, and Carol Lam of McCann Erickson Shanghai reflected on the struggles for females in the creative world. Although frightening for my dad, I was proud to learn that women control 85% of purchases around the world; ladies have more buying power than India and china combined! One would think that the gender holding so much power would sweep the high powered positions in this industry; however, this is not true. Stewart reported that while she was growing up, she never was intimidated about working in a high powered position, "work is work". Kadlec, a mother of three, stressed the importance of mentors throughout life. 
She assured that male mentors can provide valuable information to women, if not better than fellow women. "They are wired differently, and put a whole new perspective on life." She stressed the importance of having a confident swagger, and not second guess yourself. 


Yahoo:
Yahoo was the next seminar, and there were yahoo advertisers sitting next to us! Ross Levinsohn introduced actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, and my new hero, Robert Redford. His eloquence filled the room when he calmly walked onto the stage. Two  of my close friends attended Sundance and raved about this festival that opened opportunities to undiscovered film producers. When asked his advice on becoming so successful, he advised, "risk. I see risk as not a dangerous thing. It doesn't have all positives, but it's life and you experience new things." 
He also told the crowd that you must have persistence. "Go to the other corner" was his adapted philosophy describing his inspiration for success. You must bring the undiscovered to the limelight. I also really enjoyed his mindset while he was going through college (which obviously would never work for me). He explained that he knew college was not his thing, so he left and went to learn through experience. He traveled around Europe, hitchhiking as much as he could in order to broaden his perspectives. In his opinion, everyone needs to get away from society and be alone in nature and simply...think. Towards the end of Redford's interview, he explained, "we don't know what happens after life so why not take risks, take chances". I admire his fearless fashion. Maybe if I take on his mindset, I will be as successful as he is. Maybe. 


Speakers:
Julie Winski, Global President Porter Novelli was interesting. She advised to be well rounded and be optimistic. I thoroughly enjoyed Noelle Cottrell, Creative Director for Fitzgeruld & Co in Atlanta, Ga. He stressed the importance of social media and making your own website. I might look into the advertising schools that he had mentioned as well. 
Nancy Seller of Fleishman-Hillard and Greg Pinelo of GGMB in Washington DC advised to stay current and connected. They also gave interviewing tips. Great people!

#2

BBDO:
To start off my second day of Cannes Lions, I attended the BBDO seminar. Vice-President of Microsoft, Richard Dunmall, and Chief Marketing Officer of BBDO Worldwide, Simon Bond, spoke about how to make your next billion. It was interesting incorporating the information that we had read about BBDO in Adland with the information during the seminar. The agency's headquarters are located in New York City and focuses on the philosophy of "the Work encompasses every kind of creative content that can touch the consumer and reinforce the brand." 
Microsoft and BBDO researched in five countries that had not been as popular in the advertising world to look at how people relate to screens (as well as relating them to different Star Wars archtypes). A person's relationship with various screens are a platform of completely unconscious behaviors. The first was the television screen. They described it as a jester and the everyman, meaning it entertains and is a comfortable part of an every day routine. The next was PC, that was described as a sage or an older sibling with wisdom. An example of this was how the ATT World Cup interactive header game informed the participant. Described as a new lover, the mobile phone followed. We become obsessed with our phones (as the South Africans informed us the first day). The Nike app that tracks running distance was an example of the mobile relationship. After was the tablet, or the wizard. I enjoyed both of the speakers during this seminar as well as the visual design of the powerpoint. 

Kraft:
Kraft foods was interesting, but was not what I was expecting. Dana Anderson, SVP, Marketing Strategy and Communications for Kraft Foods introduced author Malcolm Gladwell. It might have been my jet lag or my short attention span for history, but I could not pay attention during his lecture. He analyzed the Middle Eastern War and proved the point that number three typically comes out strongest because of their ability to improve earlier experiences' mistakes. 

Mindscapes Workshop:
I attended my first workshop, Mindscapes, about how to sabotage one part of the advertising strategy unique creative strategies. Different strategies that were shown were MTV Australia youth mistrust advertising with Snoop Dogg, Gilette's India's stubble look, and Doritos bring slow dancing back. 

Microsoft Advertising speaker:
My favorite part of the day was venturing to the Microsoft Advertising Tent. The Global Creative Solutions showed a picture showcasing some of today's most relevant and inspiring artists that look like a giant collage of pictures. It allows a person to adventure through every tiny experience, leading to another. I think this would be valuable for different music festivals to look into for marketing strategies in the future. I wanted to steal the Microsoft surface Samsung SUR40. When I own a huge company one day and am famous, this will be extremely useful to use during meetings or practicing on clients. 

Promo & Activation Awards:
The Promo & Activation, PR and Direct Lions Awards looked like the Oscars! I left the list of my favorite campaigns upstairs; however, I remembered being fascinated with uncovering Jay-Z with Bing. The point was to reveal random parts of Jay-Z's autobiography on various objects that pertained to his life such as on plates where he dined with Bill Clinton. This would be interesting to come across as a person outside of the campaign, and resulted in a lot of buzz in the press.

Tomorrow, I plan to spend more time at the Google tent, and win foosball against Belgium advertisers tomorrow. I've learned not to get an espresso martini; they give you heart attacks.

#1 "If you do what you always did, You will get what you always got."

GoViral:

The group rushed into the GoViral seminar, anxiously awaiting Jimmy Maymann and Martin Lindstrom's advice on "The Long Idea" vs. the big idea. I had no idea what to expect with my first experience, but I was thrilled to learn about their opinions regarding European football. Lindstrom compared advertising strategies with religion. It was interesting (yet embarrassing) to learn that 37% of our conversations were focused around brands. Lindstrom performed various tests on the brain in order to prove that 60% the time our brains shared the same activation while talking about religion and advertising. In Lindstrom's opinion, any subject that included grandeur, vision, rituals, symbols, sensory appeal, belonging, evangelism, mystery, storytelling, and power would be the most effective with people. Apple vs. Pc was a familiar example. This was an appealing seminar to open my festival experience, and I will look into buying  Lindstrom's book Brandwashing.

USA Today:

Susan Lilley from USA Today was delightful to hear from. She explained the process of choosing the judges for Cannes Lions. Very Interesting. 

Thenetworkone:
"If you do what you always did, You will get what you always got."

Networkone was my favorite seminar today. Ali Ali, John Matejczyk, and Rob Jack provided an energy that kept the crowd interested while constantly making the audience laugh. Their dry humor captured everyone in the room. Jack listed his three values of advertising: 1. If it makes you nervous that's good. (showing an example of New Zealanders playing music) 2. If it looks like and ad start again. (showing an example of Smirnoff night project and the end parties) 3. Make a lot of noise (example of a giant rubber duck in a New Zealand marina). I completely agree with all of his points, and hope one day to work with an agency with the same simple values. Matejczyk listed his values next: 1. Don't identify with a trend (advertising is always expanding) 2. Creativity is too important to restrain in ad briefs (Vincent  Van Gough and IMeet). They showed the Google ad "Pizza". Ali was last (my absolute favorite) with his ideas: 1. Don't be afraid to have fun and try new things! 2. It's not rocket science 3. Most consumers are smarter than the average client. He showed a tribute to the "Like" button on facebook and showed the importance of feedback and positive energy after the turmoil in Cairo. Right before ending the seminar, he showed a wonderful commercial for Panda cheese. The panda destroys different settings, making the people know that you can not resist the panda.

Oh, and saw Nick Jonas.

I ventured into the Entertainment & Leisure screenings with Mary Catherine, Claire, and Suzanne. I thoroughly enjoy commercials and film, so this was interesting to me. I wish that I had sat closer to random people talking so that I could get their insight on the screenings. I have a list of the commercials to look out for throughout the festival. Most, I noticed, had a more serious tone; however, I could not stop laughing during the Planet Fitness "Not his planet. It's yours" commercials. 

Overall, today was amazing. I am exhausted from the first day, yet anxiously awaiting tomorrow. Maybe I'll get to dish out some business cards. A few of the UGA students were filmed today; not my greatest shot...http://www.lionsdailynews.com/archive.htm?lid=146

la première journée du festival

(A packet of sunscreen from our Cannes bags filled with invitations to seminars and parties)

Walking into the swarming facility, a rush of adrenaline overcame my body. I held my Cannes Lions badge out for the french man to scan while peeking inside at the escalators filled with people from all over the world. The moment that we had been waiting had come!! Downstairs, there were kiosks of various creative activities to participate in; the smoothie bar obviously was my favorite. A blank room was waiting for the Young Lions' imaginations to explode and design the white walls, refrigerator, and energy drinks with different colored sharpies. Claire thought it would be hilarious to scribbled my phone number on the wall, but was thankfully drawn over shortly after. Television screens, sponsored by Nokia, showed tweets trending about the festival. Youtube had an interactive video that allowed anyone to participate in the most viewed videos. I might try to sleep in the facility tomorrow because there is so much to do!  

The Riviera Times

Today, we ventured to Nice to hear about how an English speaking paper survives in the South of France.
http://www.rivieratimes.com/index.php/contact.html