There was much fuss this year when the Cannes Lions announced it was to run a ‘best use of creative data’ competition, surely a nod to WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell and his contention that the use of data can be just as creative as..well..coming up with a really good idea.
So there’ll be much amusement that the jury, headed by David Sable of WPP-owned Y&R, couldn’t come up with a Grand Prix winner, although they did dish out some other Lions.
Sorrell, of course, is always trying to boost ‘math men’ instead of the old despised breed of ‘mad men.’
But creative data is surely on a par with creative accountancy. Don’t touch it with a barge pole.
** The Cannes Grand Prix for Innovation went to What3words, described as a ‘global addressing system.’ Apparently it’s being used by Nestle and others.
