Page 47 - The EDIT | Q3 2017

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It’s not Mike's first time chairing an international awards Jury, having served as president on previous Dubai Lynx and Spikes Asia panels.
“I guess my number just came up eventually,” he modestly adds.
However, he admits that it can be quite a daunting challenge due to the massive amount of responsibility of cutting down three thousand submissions, all with high hopes and even higher entry fees, to a shortlist of under four hundred, without incurring the kind of scandal around improper behaviour that has tarnished juries
in the past.
“I think you’ve got to make sure the process is cleaner than clean,” Mike adds, detailing the new tech that has been introduced to detect irregular voting patterns, as well as preventing any one party from dominating the process when discussing and debating the work. “You’re trying to achieve a degree of balance in the voting, which isn’t always easy, because you’ve got some very senior, clever people and some quite big egos in the room.”
Another of his responsibilities includes keeping to time: “You’re constantly hurrying people to come back into the room to judge a piece of work. It would be nice to have endless amounts of time to discuss the work but you don’t. You always get some people who are not as good at time keeping as others.”
Whittling three thousand two minute videos down requires a big commitment from a wider jury of around forty people even before the festival starts. “You pre-screen a lot of the work, then you spend two days going back, looking at the work and putting it in some kind of order, and then you spend the second two days really deciding how you are going to allocate the Lions so you have a very, very thorough opportunity to go through all the work,” he comments. “You’re very familiar with the best work in the world at the end of that process. It’s the best work that always rises to the top.”
Mike Cooper Worldwide CEO
The president of the jury doesn’t actually get a vote, except when casting, so Mike feels that, aside from leading the discussion, he couldn’t really influence proceedings. However, a highlight of chairing is giving out the gold Lions and Grand Prix at the annual event. “It’s an amazing experience, you get a chance to give a little speech about the jury and the judging process and the broader environment of Cannes which is really, really thrilling and an amazing privilege,” he adds. “There’s really nothing to complain about, I’d highly recommend it.”
A lot of work this year focussed on politics and fake news following the Trump election, with brands taking a position on championing and welcoming foreigners through a more liberal outlook. Mike also saw a slew of campaigns where data insights claimed to inform creativity, but not many in his opinion hit the nail on the head.
“I would imagine it’s a trend you’ll see a lot more in the future, but it does lead me to think that people are not using data as much in developing campaigns as you would have been led to believe.”
According to Mike, successful entries stand out if they have a brilliant idea with great results and high quality video assets. “Everything hangs or dies by the quality of that film,” he says. “You’ve got some very busy people in the room, they’re trying to sift through a huge amount of work so you need something that’s really going to stand out. The making of your entry film is an art in itself because it’s like a two-minute commercial for your idea.”
However, he concludes that the experience gave him a good perspective of where the bench mark
of quality in the industry is. “I’d have to say overall that it’s incredibly high, it reaffirms one’s faith in
our business.”
Mike Cooper
THE EDIT ISSUE 7 | Q3 2017