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Andy Garnett and Dan Cole of Havas: our Top Tips for Cannes

Andy Garnett and Dan Cole are ECDs at Havas London.

Top Tips for Cannes

If you’re lucky enough to get to Cannes and see the work and not just the roadworks outside the Gutter Bar, we think a good barometer of the best stuff is what stays in your head while all around you people seem to be getting out of theirs.

We’ve rarely been as jealous as we were the first time we saw Channel 4’s idents full film. We were completely mesmerised by the words of John Joseph Holt and the looping scenes of modern Britain captured within the iconic 4. This is one campaign everyone in Cannes will be raising their glasses to.

With its own Humour category these days, funny is making a comeback in Cannes thankfully. The Super Bowl always throws up a bunch of funny (and unfunny) ads and a few of them go on to pick up. BMW’s ‘Walkin’ like Walkern’ was a highlight but our pick was the Michael CeraVe spoof. The ad is great but there was so much commentary around it, social spin-offs and interviews, teasers, denials etc it’s going to make a great case study. And Cannes loves a case study!

Closer to home is Yorkshire Tea’s song of last summer ‘Pack yer bags’. This might go down on the Croisette like a cup of cold something else, but it’s funny and had Dan’s kids singing it when they packed their bags for somewhere slightly less posh last summer. Surely that’s a good sign. Will it translate to an international jury? We really hope so.

Finally, Dan was put off his bacon sarnie by PETA’s film by Jeff Low – hopefully forever. ‘Pig Farm’ deserves the attention it’s been getting. It’s not the only purpose ad to employ a cartoon to hammer home its message (think back to the brilliant NSPCC work from years ago) but it is definitely the most powerful we’ve seen in a while.

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