There is an interesting debate going on now. It was crystallized for me while judging a recent awards program. In this time of tighter budgets, will the creative product suffer or flourish? Many professionals will tell you that a tight brief and budget can focus ideas and execution while others like to avoid any constraints. What is your opinion?

Posted on March 11, 2009 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Believe it or not, you can spend a week in Mayakoba without ever wanting to go to the beach.

Please don’t take me wrong. The Riviera Maya is a beautiful place that offers its visitors probably the best beaches in the world. The weather is spectacular, the food is great and the resorts are just amazing. But when you have the chance to spend five days discussing incredibly inspiring ideas, together with a group of some of the most talented creative people in the world, the beach becomes the least important of the reasons to be there.

I knew the Andys was an important festival, but to be honest, I didn't know much about it before judging this year. Compared to other festivals, I’d say the Andys are the toughest, purest, creatively driven I’ve seen, and also one of the best to enter when you really want to measure the quality of your work compared to others. It is “the first of the season”, so that in itself is a good reason to enter because I believe it can be a good thermometer as of how your work will do in other upcoming shows. At the Andys, it is the president of the jury who has the right to decide who takes part of the jury, and it is “by invitation only”. It’s not about networks, countries or number of submissions. It is about people and about talent, and I think that is reflected in the results.

I was amazed by some of the cases presented. From integrated ideas to launch a new cd for a band, to generating a movement that can change the course of a presidential election or one that can help educational programs improve, the Andys have proven to me that the 30 second spot, while still necessary in some cases, is also becoming old and has gone from being “the soul of an advertising campaign” to just a small component in a much bigger equation.

I came back from the jury motivated and wanting to do better work. Other than the awards, which always end in a shelf somewhere at the office, I believe that is what festivals should do: Motivate people to do better work, to come up with better ideas. When you see the results from this particular festival, what won and why, I’m sure you will be motivated.

DDB 2009 Andy Winners

Raúl Cardós, DDB México

Posted on March 23, 2009 5:30 PM | Permalink