BRILLIANT SUN, PLEASANT AMNESIA, ODD GRAND PRIX WINNER A Look Back on a Tame Week in Cannes June 25, 2001 By Stefano Hatfield CANNES (AdAgeGlobal) -- So that was another Cannes Festival then. A week of near perfect weather and amnesia in equal measure -- the travails of a global ad industry, being led by the U.S. into recession, a hazy memory after the 16th bottle of Domaine d'Ott. Photo: SEMEC, Cannes.. As the harbor at Cannes fades in the distance behind him, Stefano Hatfield reviews Festival events. As Cannes gets ever larger and more corporate it gets tamer -- certainly, the awards gala was a walk in the park for both the new British presenter, Martin Bowley, CEO of Carlton Sales, and the jury president, Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi. Bowley had come prepared with a white towel to wave at the baying crowd and quips about only being the "messenger." But the crowd didn't bay. Much. Nasty response The worst reception was for a British Stella Artois ad by Lowe Lintas that tells the story of a man returning home to his village at the end of the First World War whose father begrudges giving his friend, who had saved his life, a celebratory Stella. The French did not like it, one can only guess at the Germans. Perhaps too many in the crowd recalled Sir Frank Lowe's time as jury president, when he was deeply unpopular because he failed to award a Grand Prix, and his agency and client walked off with the big "of the year" prizes. And that was pretty much it in terms of the booing and whistling, apart from a strange Gold award for a Swiss Medecins Sans Frontieres commercial. August Busch IV was a popular advertiser of the year. The crowd only really got going when the festival chairman, Roger Hatchuel, gave an interminable, obsequious speech about his great friend, the adman mayor of Cannes, the delightful Bernard Brochand, and then came back to present him with a special award. How they howled. Emotional British outburst The Argentine gold winners hugged on stage, the Brazilians from F/nazca Saatchi & Saatchi were wonderfully over-emotional, and even one of the eight British gold-medal winners was seen to punch the air in a rare outburst of emotion that will have him ridiculed in London for the next decade. Sheesh! The crowd even gave a huge ovation to a schmaltzy Leo Burnett Disney ad that in "normal" years would have had them whistling the roof off. Tame is the best adjective to describe both the night and the reel of winners. Many attendees said they loved the collection, and, well they would, wouldn't they? It was all very clever, very nice, very well-crafted, very safe, and very much the same kind of stuff that we saw in 1991. There was a really edgy campaign for Brandt home appliances in which people go to extraordinary lengths to destroy their existing appliances and then blame someone Previous Stefano Hatfield Columns from Cannes 2001: A CONSPIRACY OF GOD-AWFUL COMMERCIALS The Real Story of the Cannes Ad Festival GERALD LEVIN AND MICKEY MOUSE DO CANNES 'Media Man of Year' Nominee Meets the Ad Hacks DEAL-MAKING, DECENT COFFEE, TOPLESS BATHING Why the Cannes Ad Festival Matters HUMBLE PIE & HAIR SHIRTS ONLINE Cannes' Interactive Advertising Forum a Year Later ADMAN AND MAYOR OF CANNES An Interview With DDB's Bernard Brochand else in order to get a new Brandt. The Levi's "twist" film was stunning, and included body parts being twisted off and thrown around. The wonderful Fox Sports campaign featuring white geeks playing basketball really stood out as fresh. But Brandt aside, the stuff that made us uncomfortable -- like Reebok's "belly" chasing a runner -- did not take gold. Strange Grand Prix winner In the end the Grand Prix came down to the other Cliff Freeman Fox Sports campaign about strange foreign sports and John West tinned salmon's "Bear" from Leo Burnett London in which a fisherman has a knockabout fight with a bear to get the salmon. Giving the Grand Prix to Fox Sports did make me a little uncomfortable, but I was in a minority. Only one juror apparently shared my unease that perhaps, just perhaps, Fox mocking these funny sports in -- by clear implication -- strange countries (India, China, Russia, Turkey) was at best patronizing, and at worst racist. They were funny, though, which always helps. It was a popular winner. Nevertheless, if we were to take the jury at its word ahead of the judging that it would stamp down on "scam" ads -- which it did -- and reward serious advertising for grown-up, real clients, the top award is a little strange. The Fox campaign is a wonderful series of station identifiers, which will be seen most of all on Fox. It does not have the same competitive requirements that a tinned salmon spot has in the open marketplace. And, hey, when did you last see a memorable ad for tinned salmon? 'Funny foreigners' element I would have gone for John West for degree of difficulty, and because of the "funny foreigners" element inherent in Fox. But I was not on the jury. I think the crowd would have been happy with either, but then this crowd might have been happy with Priceline.com. That's what too much rose wine and sun can do for you. Until next year. Stefano Hatfield is managing director and editorial director of Ad Age Global © 2001, Crain Communications Inc. Editor@AdAge.com ..