Let Creativity Do Its Thing at Cannes Lions 2011

While this is my first time at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this marks the 10^th year Microsoft Advertising is sponsoring the event.

You will see and hear a lot from us this week – at our business conference, in our technology experience center and on the main stage in our keynote.

Many discussions will take place around what makes great advertising. What is the essence that make brands come to life or stories real on any screen or device?

We think it boils down to three things: Creativity, Context & Connected Experiences.

To give you a glimpse at what we have going on:

How do you reach the next billion consumers? Today at 10:30 am (Palais de Festivals Debussy Theatre) we’ll share unique insights from a global multi-screen study we worked on in partnership with BBDO Worldwide and Ipsos. We took an approach that has never been done before to better understand how people emotionally connect and interact with each screen – the TV, PC, and mobile devices. To find those consumers, you need to get personal! Check back here later today for an update on the study findings from Marc Bresseel, who is co-presenting with Simon Bond of BBDO Worldwide.

How can technology let ‘creativity’ do its thing? On Tuesday at 2:30pm (attendance by invitation only – media welcome) we’ll host our Microsoft Advertising Business Conference and unveil the vision for new interactive ad formats on Kinect that will take TV advertising creativity to the next level. Stephen Kim will ‘unleash’ the creative and show some never been done before campaigns, Rik van der Kooi will outline how we taking a data-driven approach to understanding user intent to provide more context, so that advertising can be more relevant to consumers. Plus, special guest Danielle Sacks of Fast Company will host a roundtable with the Team USA winners of our Young Marketer of the Year contest in partnership with USA TODAY.

Come ‘kick the tires’ and get hands-on demos of our latest advertising innovations and custom campaigns across devices and platforms at our Microsoft Advertising Experience Center at our Beach Club throughout the week (Le Grand Hotel, 45 La Croisette).

What does the future of entertainment in your living room look like? Kudo Tsunoda, creative director of Kinect for Xbox 360 will take the main stage on Wednesday at 2:30pm (Palais des Festivals, Debussy Theatre) to share latest Natural User Interface (NUI) technologies and possibilities for the future of home entertainment.

Cocktails on the Beach … We’ll kick up our heels at our cocktail party at the Microsoft Advertising Beach Club on Wednesday at 10:00pm, where all are welcome (Le Grand Hotel, 45 La Croisette).

And that is just the beginning. I am thrilled to experience Cannes for the first time and hope to have many conversations this week and beyond about how we can help advertisers and agencies tell great stories. Whether you are attending the festival or not, check out our Microsoft Advertising at Cannes Lions microsite, which will feature all our news, videos and pictures from the event throughout the week. I look forward to sharing my perspective on the event and hearing how we can help you make a difference with your consumers.

Regards,

Frank Holland - CVP of Advertising & Online at Microsoft