Storyshitting: Cannes Edition
I’ve only been to Cannes once.
It was eye-wateringly expensive.
So we got back in the car and headed inland where our Vauxhall Nova didn’t look out of place amongst the Supercars and the Rose was sold in jerry cans, not jeroboams.
We almost ran out of petrol somewhere in the Alpes Maritime above Grasses and coasted on fumes in the dark into the next campsite we came across. Fortunately for us, we managed to get the last space on the site. Finally, we could relax and enjoy a glass of wine.
Then we went to the toilet block.
It was the perfect reminder of why my mother refused to check in to any campsite without first checking the state of the toilets.
There was shit everywhere.
Which brings me back to Cannes.
Specifically last week’s Festival of Creativity.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much shit being talked.
It felt at times as if the industry was having a nervous breakdown.
Almost everybody bitched about pretty much everything.
While supping Rose.
In the sun.
On a yacht.
I was experiencing the whole thing through the medium of Twitter so perhaps I shouldn’t be entirely surprised.
Now I’ve spoken in person to people who were actually there, I’ve heard nothing but positives.
About supping Rose.
In the sun.
On a yacht.
(OK, and maybe a bit of business was done over a glass or three)
Yes, I’m jealous.
I’m not entirely sure how much good it does the industry to perpetuate stereotypes of the worst of the 80’s excess that seems to have characterised us in the minds of outsiders.
And that image isn’t helped by the “death” of this or the made-up words of that — Storytelling is dead, it’s all about Storyliving or Storydoing now — errr, what?
Maybe if there were less “woke-washing” (more shit-talking) and more work with actual purpose — you know, like selling more of the brand it’s advertising — we (maybe it’s just me?) wouldn’t be having this mid-life crisis.
But the thing that glaringly stood out last week was how much shit-talking the industry does about itself.
And now I’ve just done the same fucking thing myself.
If we can’t even talk positively about what we do then why the fuck would anyone else?
