Everyone knows the real reason ad people go to conferences and awards festivals is for the networking and the parties, right? Oh, and other un-printable things too. So what would happen if, suddenly, there were no parties at say, for example, Cannes?
Oh wait, there are no parties at Cannes this year. BBD? No. Publicis? No. Havas? No. Leo Burnett? Unlikely. Oh sure, there will be smaller get togethers but this year’s Cannes, no thanks to the economy, may end up being as much fun as a life insurance conference.
So what’s DDB doing instead of hosting its annual party? CEO Chuck Bymer says he hopes people will find…wait for it…a seminar with Barak Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe just as exciting. Um, no.
While we’ve never been to Cannes and we have no idea what we’re talking about but, even to a non-Cannes, it seems the famed gutter bar just might be a bit busier than usual with the serious lack of parties at this year’s festival.
As depressing as all this sounds, hopefully, there will still be all kinds of this going on.
