Storyboard18 Insider: Adland's food influencer, cottage industry of Cannes Lions, and more

Bon appetit

Folks in advertising have always been good at multitasking. Not work but jobs. Adwallahs moonlighted well before the term became super popular in post-Covid times. Back in the day, many advertising professionals worked in theatre, music and other arts. But a digital age calls for more digital pursuits outside of work. We hear a certain famous foodie in adland who is known for his tweet-takes on everyday food like chai, paratha and whatnot, has got offers to do some food-influencing. It seems he hasn’t taken any up yet, but who knows.

Raise the bar

We heard that at an advertising industry festival there are two tiers when it comes to bars. One is the single malt crowd - suits and senior executives who get to partake in expensive tipple, the single-malt kind. And then there’s everyone else - the Kingfisher crowd. But one creative chief rues this beverage class system, adding that he’d rather take a bottle or five of the good stuff and share it with the younger ones. The adman has a point. He says he meets the suit-kind all the time. So then why not take the chance to mix it up. A cocktail anyone?

Mad men to bored men

An agency head heard the playlist playing at an advertising event recently and wondered if the festival plans to move to Delhi next year! Make what you will of that. Meanwhile, another agency head, who showed solidarity by sending entries for the marquee award show this year, said his idea of an advertising summit is not listening to ex-cricketers and actors. But others seem to disagree with him given the dragged out sessions with industry stakeholders that had nothing new or particularly illuminating to impart. Going from Mad Men to Bore Men?

High hopes?

The whole of global advertising will be descending on the South of France next week for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. There’s already buzz in the Indian contingent about a couple of entries and their world-class case studies to be presented to juries. Indian agencies have come a long way from rudimentary case studies to presentations that are now made by specialists here and abroad. An entire cottage industry has emerged within advertising with specialists whose only job is to create Cannes-worthy cases for campaigns so global judges are impressed. But at the end of the day, as one adman says, it’s who bats (and who doesn’t) for you in the judging room. And that needs some good old lobbying.