Cannes 2013: Learning- Titus Upputuru: '60 years is a long time'

Governments fall. Geographies undergo a sea change. Men live almost an entire lifetime.

A man’s life, according to the Bible, is three score and ten. A score, an ancient measure of time, is 20 years, so it adds up to 70. We all wish we live longer and God willing, we will.

But to think that Cannes Lions festival is those many years old!

And a stunning mirror to this perspective is the Game Changers Exhibit that celebrates the ideas from the last 60 years.

So you go inside the hallways of Time, a little curious, a little careful, lest your shoes make a sound bigger than your heart beat.

You come out feeling only one thing. 

Humble.

The truth about our business is we all come and go.

What remains longer, in our minds, in our hearts, and in museums like this, are Ideas.

And Words. And Visuals.

Ideas, Words and Visuals that are giant.

I am sure it was tough putting it all together.

And one had to be really, really picky.

How else would you compress 60 long years in a few hallways?

But it’s a brave effort.

And all the work that has made its way into the glorious 60 is brave too.

Brave for its time.

In fact, it all looked a bit like James Dean.

Timeless.

Classy.

And Cutting Edge.

Even today.

And that’s the thing about it – that the work on exhibit, could belong to anytime.

It could well be from the year 2019.

Avis No. 2 campaign looks and sounds so current, it would have picked up the Grand Prix in print tonight.

Its honesty cuts through all the decades and comes piercing your gut.

The iconic 'Think Small' campaign is refreshing like fresh lime soda.

The BMW films that broke the media barrier of Television and went on Internet are so stunning, they could be from the future.

Jonathan Glazer’s epic Levis film is as yesterday as the coming Monday.

And Apple’s 'Think Different' campaign is as cool as its phone’s latest version. 

The more recent Old Spice campaign, Dove 'Evolution' and Nike 'Fuel Band' deservingly adorn the walls.

Towards the exit of the hallway, you read a message that says ‘The next 60 years start here’.

And for a moment I thought, if I turned around, and began my tour from there, and went all the way back, it could well have been the next 60.

Titus Upputuru is NCD at Dentsu Marcom. The views expressed are the author's independent views as an ad professional and do not reflect the organisation's viewpoint.