Posted by Patricia Marinho, SVP, Account Management, Giovanni + Draftfcb São Paulo

I've already been to Cannes enough times to understand that you can't come here expecting to see something really new. But it is always rewarding to give yourself a full week of creative references and the chance to listen to some of the most important names of our industry talking about their opinion about what's next. That said, I believe there were two highlights here yesterday. First there was the discussion about new digital technologies and how they can be used to enhance offline experiences. DDB was the third agency to bring this topic on stage, but was the first to give the microphone to a partner, in this case a company called OOOII.Us, who made a live demonstration of high def large scale screen that can be used, for instance, in stores, to change the buying experience - you look through this lenses and the product appears in a different context. Or, these can be used as gigantic posters that seen to be static, but as soon as you get closer, detects your presence and interacts with you.

It was also very interesting to see the debate promoted by PwC, with Michael Roth and Brian Perkis, VP of Corporate Affairs Johnson & Johnson. At some point they were questioned " what would be the first thing you would do if you change positions?" Mr Perkis said that if he became IPG's CEO he would first look seriously at taking the holding company private, because the wall street pressure is too hard in our type of service, that relies on talent. He also said that he would move together some talents and remove the separation you still find out there - we should be talking about reunifying some areas. Finally he said that the agencies have to deliver great creative, but they also should be developing Analytics as a point of differentiation: clients need help to get better with numbers. Mr. Roth, on the other hand, said that if he became the client, he would introduce a new compensation model in which the agency would be prepared to be accountable if it meant being paid accordingly - what raises the question about how much our work really values. These are only examples of the type of discussions we find here. The best thing is to see that our network is somehow tapping or already finding our own answers to a lot of them.