Advertising Romania in Cannes
Romania had a palpable presence at the 52nd edition of the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival – but not as a journalist, or as an attendant at a seminar. No, Romania was an attendant country – a competition contender, and in the words of British Telecom’s Martin Percy, we are ‘a country that Cannes Lions will hear more from in the future.’
Although we came away without an award, 2005 is the first year when Romania has been officially represented in Cannes, along with nearly 40 other countries which come to the French Riviera for this yearly festival. This year the Romanian delegation numbered 40 people, unlike past years when there may have been just one or two.
At this 52nd edition, eight Romanian agencies submitted the 24 entries for categories such as Film, Media, Press and Outdoor and Direct Marketing. The two shortlisted works were in Film (Corporate Image Category) for ‘Coffee’, a TV spot created by McCann Erickson for the Agency for Government Strategies, and in Best Purpose Built Media Category, with ‘Prigat Activ’ from Leo Burnett. The Romanian presence did not stop there; a team of two young Romanians competed against 39 others, in the Festival’s Young Creative Cyber Competition. Also, the third edition of the Roger Hatchuel Academy, initiated three years ago by Roger Hatchuel, the then president of the festival, has had a Romanian among its attendees. Terry Savage, the Festival’s CEO, made a point of thanking the Romanian representative, Teodora Migdalovici, for the 2005 Romanian presence.
Although it is 52 years old the Festival seems as young as ever, with two new categories, two new awards and a new Film category have been added to the competition portfolio. With all this, as well as 36 fascinating seminars on worldwide advertising issues, it looks like Cannes Lions will be around for the good of the communications industry for many more years to come.
