Direct from Cannes: Steve Elrick, BBH

Editor's note: Our 'Direct from Cannes' reports are presented in unfiltered form.

Cannes. Haven’t been for a while, but this is one I didn’t want to miss.

One big reason: This is the  30th anniversary of not just BBH but Wieden and Kennedy, and the promise of a Wieden/Hegarty duet on the Cannes Stage meant I really couldn’t miss it.
 
That’s a pretty special double bill. Sir John and Lord Dan.
 
Looking forward to a Keep Walking, Just Doing It in a Vorsprung Durch Technik look at me, look back at him, now look at me, celebration.
 
I’m also looking forward to how Cannes has changed - or at least how people have told me it’s changed. This time I’m actually going to see the talks.

There’s a fantastic line up of speakers and talent and I’m hoping that I’ll really be able to come away from the event rejuvenated and inspired.

Going to try to soak up the creativity. Like a sponge. SpongeSteve Cannespants. That’s the new nickname I’m trying to cultivate.
 
First afternoon on Sunday - which I only just made due to a missed connection didn’t disappoint as I caught the chat by PARTY from Japan - a spectacular Agency doing brilliant work with one of the founding partners being an old colleague Masawa Kimura. The talk was by Morihiro Hirano, and he got the audience on his side straight away by basically saying - we all pretty much produce shit…. and a lot of it. And at Cannes we are often just celebrating producing the same old shit and not genuinely interested in changing the way we create and interact with brands.
 
You can see some the ways in which PARTY are most certainly not in any danger of being accused of producing more shit. Traditional or otherwise at http://prty.jp/
 
Last talk day 1, and it was a cracker.

This article first appeared on Campaign Asia