True blood = Blue Blood

A week after the event, when the ideas and feelings properly settled down, it is the time to write down the impressions after an event that went out from established patterns and offered a few glimpses on how things might be if you just decide to open to the world.

Blue Blood was an experiential event about creative thinking, creative feeling and everything in between, organized by Bitter Almonds ( (the alchemic laboratory that is promoting Cannes Lions in Romania ) and Friends For Friends Foundation.

With a focus on the last edition of Cannes Lions learning and fun atmosphere, the three days of Blue Blood were the 1st from a series of events that will come with unexpected experiences for the ones that decided to participate.

Organized at Friends For Friends Foundation’s headquarters, in a nice and cozy garret of an old building close to Bucharest’s Old Center, the 1st edition of Blue Blood was a “memento” for this year’s Cannes Lions Creativity Festival, with Romanian delegates and winners telling their stories and sharing their experiences and with valuable projections from highly known and appreciated personalities of the worldwide advertising industry.

Day I

Bucharest at 19.00 hours is a place where people in a hurry to get at home from work generate a noisy perpetuum mobile mix. If you add small cars and public transportation to the mix, the result is a very tiresome way from work to anywhere and some added stress.

In spite of all that, 4th Brezoianu street building received its guest with a nice cozy feeling and with an atmosphere that didn’t had anything in common with the craziness and noise mix going on the streets at that hour.

At the 4th floor, up close to inspiration clouds, the 1st night of Blue Blood gathered the speakers and the 1st Cannes seminary projection and 80+ people eager to find out more about Cannes Creativity Festival and what really happens there.

The seminar of the evening brought the WSGN expertise on consumer trends to the “blue blooders”, with Susanne Kempe explaining how and what will be “the thing” in the following period, until 2013. To remember:

• people will start de-teching
• they will redefine the luxury concept
• adopt global culture trends
• be their own in any way or manner, from seeking a balance between the tech world and spirituality to adopting new fashion trends (an interesting thing mentioned here was that clothes will became “neutral”, as women and men will start more and more wearing whatever they feel good in, with no limitation to gender).

Among the speakers of the night that shared their Cannes Experience were people with experience both in agency’s side and on client’s side (Andreea Teodorescu, representing the client Scandia, was among the speakers with relevant insights). For them, Cannes was an awesome experience, the kind of experience you can reminisce about or hear about from other people, but definitely the kind of experience one must live to understand it to its full extent and in all its substance.

Razvan Pascu, the lucky student from The Alternative School for Creative Thinking that attended the first edition of Young Clients Academy in Cannes in the name of Impression Graphics, shared his once-in-a-lifetime experience. Few of his memories from relevant speakers like Patrick Collister, Martin Lindstorm, Rob Malcom or Rob Guenette: Advertising should be crafted after the “want to see it again” principle and on “pull, not push” philosophy / “We should all understand that people are driven by emotions and explain their decisions by ration”. / “Be a person, not a business person”.

In the presentation focused on Cannes’ experience, Mircea Tomescu, Managing Director Graffiti PR, spoke about seminaries and the conclusion he got from them, Carlton and its mirage and Robert Redford’s experience with seeing that place and actually being on its terrace. The conclusion, of course, Cannes experience must be lived, the stories aren’t enough!

Day II

Blue Blood’s second day was the day when Ken Robinson’s seminary was screened, with his every word being absorbed by the audience, even more numerous than the previous day. Sir Ken Robinson held a very catchy seminary, talking about the development of creativity and the way it evolves. According to him, humans are born with creativity, is part of their “kit”, but developing it is a thing that has to be done with commitment.

Ioana Manoiu, Managing Partner GMP PR and Romania’s juror in Cannes this year, spoke about her experience in Cannes, sharing some insights about how is to judge for the festival, especially in PR category.

According to her, the limits between PR and advertising are blending more and more each day, that also being a reason why many agencies that won awards in PR Lions weren’t even specialized ones. Another reason would be the money, as PR agencies are bound to work with smaller budgets than advertising ones and do not have the financial power to pay for entering their works in Festivals.

When it came about the judging process, Manoiu said that the members of PR Jury were on the same page when it came about the works that were chosen to receive one of the most wanted Lions.

Stefan Teodorescu, from Ursus, was on the Blue Blood stage to explain how Cannes can be relevant not only for agencies, but for clients as well. He told the audience that creativity is a must for any marketing office willing to keep its brands close to consumers and shared its opinion on the most relevant seminars.

Calin Marcu, from Ogilvy, part of the Romanian team that won an Ogilvy regional competition, had an unexpected presentation about winning and losing in Cannes in the very style of a stand up comedy evening.

Day III

The last day of Blue Blood included a retrospective of Cannes Lions in ads that, along the time, won festivals’ accolades. The mix was like an exquisite treat for the audience and brought back memories or showed to new eyes how advertising, real one, looks alike. Teo Migdalovici, the Cannes Lions ambassador, said her selection was based on the beauty of cultural diversity, intelligence and emotion that only Cannes can offer in such an intense mix.

Evening’s seminary came from BBH, with Sir John Hegarty speaking about the major changes needed to generate growth for brands and examples of such things. The legendary leader of the agency that is living by the principle “when the world zig, zag”, explained with relevant examples his exponential growth theory: “in order to evolve, brands need space”.

This night’s agenda included also McCann Erickson Romania’s experience in Cannes. This year, they won 9 prizes in Cannes for ROM campaign. According to Catalin Dobre, Group Creative Director, the agency team missed the awards gala for some of the trophies and celebrated in the plane, over Cannes, the awards.

The experience that students from Alternative School for Creative Thinking was also on the agenda, with Adrian Rusu presenting the way the next generation of Romanian creatives perceived Cannes Creativity Festival – an unique mix of learning from the best, making great friends and having the time of their life.

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