Incredibly Cool New Technologies Make Me Optimistic About Advertising's Next Act

A new breed of creative minds is changing the face of advertising and communications with technology capable of creating immersive experiences that blur the line between the physical and digital worlds.

Featuring technology that might have been considered science fiction just 10 years ago, the Innovation Lions selected at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity were developed by a new and unusual cast of characters.

More than 200 entries were reviewed by this year’s jury, an international group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and advertising technologists. In addition to the usual suspects of Madison Avenue ad agencies and Hollywood filmmakers competing at the annual Cannes Lions event, the Innovation Lions attracted entries from software engineers, architect firms, product designers, hardware companies and big data consultancies.

With a global mix of entries, including a very strong showing from the BRIC countries, the jury reviewed everything from Japanese robots in space to 3D-printed prosthetic limbs in Africa, inexpensive mobile media for rural India, smart bikes in Italy and wearable devices in Singapore. Streaming media concepts were plentiful and we discovered just about every place that one can stick a GoPro camera – including robots, soccer balls, helmets, bicycles and on a stick.

Not surprisingly, entries also represented a breadth of ideas dedicated to social causes: blood transfusions, water purification, rape prevention, energy conservation, highway safety and child protection.

The Grand Prix Winner

Our selected Grand Prix winner was the MegaFaces Pavilion at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, a unique 3D kinetic billboard aimed at stimulating mobile Internet trial by MegaFon, the leading Russian mobile phone company.

This installation perfectly reflects the blurring of the physical and digital worlds, as photographs taken of guests to the MegaFaces Pavilion were stitched together with software to create 3D images (“selfies”) and transmitted to the large kinetic billboard where LED lights driven by robotic servo actuators created the illusion of 3D “MegaFaces” on the Pavilion wall.

MegaFaces scored on all of the jury’s key award criteria: work that represents breakthrough technology never seen before; a scalable concept with many future potential applications; and something that empowers creativity and enables communication. Jury members also asked, “Would I invest in this business idea?” (Several venture capitalists were seen to be exchanging business cards with the winners after the awards ceremony.)

Not only was MegaFaces the first Grand Prix winner from Russia at Cannes Lions, but it was also the first time that an architect firm was the Grand Prix winning project author and creative director (Asif Khan Ltd from London). Certainly, MegaFaces represents the changing face of advertising.

Additional Winning Entries

Many of the 30 shortlist entries also reflect the changing ad industry and the other winning Innovation Lions are the best examples. Babolat Play is a connected tennis racket and data platform that allows tennis players and coaches to 'see' and understand what is happening at ball impact on the racket head. This information also provides detailed analysis of forehands, backhands, serves and overhead smashes for sports broadcasters, and this technology has been approved by the International Tennis Federation for Grand Slam play. This is now a commercially available product that currently sits in the window of my neighborhood tennis shop.

Developed by a team in Brazil working with Fiat, the Fiat Live Store represents a new kind of retail experience that blends an online digital experience, combined with a physical showroom experience and topped off with augmented reality and data feeds of additional features and options. Car buyers can experience a personalized tour of a selected Fiat automobile by a sales consultant wearing a helmet with video camera and microphone. The live feed is combined with layers of additional information provided on the screen of the smartphone or computer used by the shopper. Consumers can choose to experience a live demo, or watch curated examples available for browsing.

One of the best-designed entries was Points, labeled as “The Most Advanced Sign on Earth.” This connected digital sign post “points” in the direction of your desired destination with long, LED-lighted arms that spin in fluid movements controlled by specially designed servo motors. Today as product design delivers brand communication, Points is a stylish advance in street signs that we anticipate cities, shopping malls and theme parks will embrace.

Future Winners

One of the other events at Cannes Lions that helps point in the direction of future developments in creativity and communication is the Future Lions seminar hosted by AKQA. You can see all of the Future Lions winners at www.futurelions.com but one example worth noting is called Google Gestures, a project created by students at the Berghs School of Communication in Sweden. The idea is to translate sign language gestures into speech in real time – and the student team is already looking to bring their concept to life.

Summary

What’s most exciting to me is that these new concepts show how rapid technology development is shortening the distance between imagination and creation. Our dreams are becoming our reality – and that’s amazing.

(Photo: MegaFaces Pavilion; Credit: JSC Megafon)