So this week I’m in Singapore for the SPIKES – and even though it’s focus is on the ‘digital’ side of communication life – for all intents and purposes, it is Asia’s Cannes.
Now as I’ve written in the past, I feel Cannes often ends up being a self-indulgent wankfest … but to be fair, most ad conferences end up that way and it drives me nuts because as much as it is important to enjoy and celebrate what this industry can do, its continued reluctance to address some of the fundamental issues that are undermining its value and potential shows a mixture of arrogance, delusion and downright fear.
To be honest, I have high hopes for this conference because putting aside the speakers who attend the opening of an envelope [ie: me and David Droga, ha!] they’ve got a really good cross section of speakers including the inspirational creative advocate, Sir Ken Robinson … however there’s still no company CEO’s or member of the general public being allowed to vent on stage, so there’s still that danger the only debate that will occur is that age old – and to a certain extent – irrelevant ‘the future of ideas’.
I still hope that one day there’ll be a conference where they literally get people from opposing sides of the fence debating against each other – think Michael Moore vs Bill O’Reilly – because not only would it be entertaining, but the audience would get breadth and depth of debate rather than the usual one-sided and gentle approach.
Hell, it might also mean people end up leaving the event feeling both inspired and questioning their own initial views – which given the current state of communication conservatism, might be a great thing.
Anyway, here’s hoping this conference has debate as well as celebration – though I might not be able to tell as I intend to have my head right up Sir Ken’s arse. [Metaphorically, not literally – unless he promises me a romantic dinner]