The who's who of DM agencies partied the night away at 72 La Croisette, known more affectionately as the Gutter Bar, on the first evening of the awards. But this mood was in sharp contrast to the subdued one noted a few hours earlier, when the 2007 Direct Lions winners were unveiled.
Fourteen UK agencies made the shortlist with 30 entries. But only a handful emerged as winners, with the coveted Grand Prix going to a viral-based campaign for a Spanish bank (see box, right). Shackleton, the Madrid-based agency responsible, also scooped the Direct Agency of the Year gong, leaving UK DM with little to celebrate on the creative front.
While the swirl of drinking, networking and more drinking has become de rigueur in Cannes, winning a Lions is still regarded, in the words of one Ogilvy Group creative, as "one of the DM industry's top accolades".
There were also questions raised over the quality of direct category entries. Judges deliberated for hours over their choice of Grand Prix winner, as, according to one creative, there was no single entry they unanimously deemed outstanding enough to win. Which begs the question: how relevant is Cannes for the UK's DM industry today?
Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of Ogilvy Group and president of Direct judges, says the industry has much to benefit from a presence at Cannes.
"The below-the-line industry has benefited incalculably from inclusion at Cannes, and the festival has done more to drive the integrated agenda in creative departments than almost anything else," he says. "From simply rewarding great television spots, it now recognises agencies that can do great work across all disciplines and media. The best DM work, for example, usually uses more than just DM; it might embrace great promotional and viral thinking too."
On the face of it, the numbers appear to support this. One agency head returned to Cannes for the first time in three years and was pleasantly surprised by the turn-out. There was certainly a richer mix of direct and digital representatives than in recent years, and the days when the festival was monopolised by the ad industry and their large budgets are long gone.
Cordell Burke, executive creative director at Tequila/London says the festival still has more of an above-the-line slant than a below-the-line one, but that there will be more of a level playing field in years to come.
"We are seeing many more ad agencies entering the categories that were traditionally the domain of below-the-line ones," says Burke. "Since the direct category was introduced, there has been a steady rise in entries."
DM entries increased by almost 12 per cent compared to last year, with 1,689 entries, up from 1,509, yet the UK took home only one gold - for Ogilvy Group UK's Department of Health/Cancer Research UK Smoke is Poison campaign. The work also bagged two silvers and a bronze, while Harrison Troughton Wunderman and RMG Connect picked up three bronzes and one bronze respectively. So why did the UK fare so badly in the face of international competition?
Sutherland believes that UK DM might be paying the price for the way different disciplines are siloed within agencies.
"Overwhelmingly, the gold winners arose from great media and creative thinking working in parallel, not in a sequence," he says. "Or do we just need to do more great work? There is no shortage of talent in the UK, so we should do better next year."
Other creatives believe that the results at Cannes represent what is happening in the wider sector.
"The Grand Prix Direct Lions winner shows that the lines are really beginning to blur," says Barney Cockerell, joint creative director at WWAV Rapp Collins. "In future, it will be campaigns rather than the lines they lead on. The entries show that if a campaign didn't incorporate viral or use PR to generate free media, it didn't stand a chance."
Tim Hipperson, chief executive at RMG Connect, says the digital marketing industry is making an increased impact at the festival.
"We're seeing a marriage of direct skills with integrated communications, where accountability is more easily measured. It's what clients are demanding," says Hipperson.
"The week seems to build to a crescendo with film and TV executions, but more importance needs to be attached to digital and direct media, as they are influencing the shift in spend and communications," he says.
Creativity may have suffered this year, but the networking and meeting frenzy that Cannes is best known for was alive and well. That night at the Gutter Bar was one of Sutherland's highlights of the week. Many a DM creative was spotted sloping off from the bar at 5am that night - not by choice, but because, in keeping with tradition, the creatives had drunk the bar dry. This problem was swiftly avoided the next night at the Carlton Beach party, just one of the many soirees on offer, where crates of Kronenburg were wheeled across La Croisette at 2am.
But the lasting impression that many in the DM industry will have taken away from this year's festival could be summed up in a more sobering way: must win more awards next year.
CANNES GRAND PRIX AND UK DM AGENCY WINNERS
CAMPAIGN CLIENT AGENCY
Grand Prix Lopetegui Deposit Banco Gallego Shackleton
Gold Smoke is Poison Department of Ogilvy Group UK
Health/Cancer
Research UK
Silver Smoke is Poison Department of Ogilvy Group UK
(x2) Health/Cancer
Research UK
Bronze Smoke is Poison Department of Ogilvy Group UK
Health/Cancer
Research UK
(x2) Work of Art Rolls-Royce Harrison Troughton
Wunderman
Pass it On Greettomatocars Harrison Troughton
Wunderman
Embossed Letter Listerine RMG Connect.