As a first time visitor to the Cannes Lions Festival (or to Cannes at all for that matter) I still find myself (three days in) a bit wide eyed and slack jawed, much like I would imagine from the proverbial starry eyed Midwestern kid arriving on the bus to Hollywood... And I'm already from Hollywood!



So it would seem that Cannes Lions is enough to impress not only this rookie, but even the veteran industry elites who have arrived by the hundreds to take some much deserved rest, relaxation, and celebration for the amazing work they create in the commercial industry worldwide.  During a year in which almost every industry has felt the pressures of a difficult economy, advertising is no exception, and it's a testament to the professionals in this business that the quality of the work has persisted through these tough times.    


Case in point... Today I attended the Young Director Awards, hosted by the Commercial Film Producers of Europe (CFP-E) and Shots at the Hotel Palais Stephanie.  Kodak had the honor of being a primary sponsor for this event again this year, and it was an impressive reminder of the talented people that we at Kodak are fortunate enough to work with day to day.  With often limited resources, these emerging commercial directors were able to create funny, heartwarming, thoughtful, and even at times gut-wrenching narratives, in just minutes (or less) of screen time.  As a member of the Kodak team, I'm proud to be a partner in these productions, and as an audience member, I was quite simply blown away.  Of particular note was the spot "Stars", which was beautifully shot on Kodak film, and was given a special YDA jury award.  We will be hosting the YDA winners on the Kodak boat as well, and truly our congratulations go to all the filmmakers, along with our best wishes as we look forward to working with you on future projects!

And as these new filmmakers enter the marketplace, I'd also like to give a shout out to Matt Miller and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) as well as Francois Chilot and everyone at the CFP-E for working so hard to build, maintain, and foster an environment which welcomes and facilitates the creativity and hard work of all the directors, producers, and commercial industry professionals.  The AICP and CFP-E hosted a lunchtime forum with some of the top commercial producers in the world to discuss the increasing challenges faced during these difficult economic times.  Ideas, perspectives, and strategies were exchanged across borders, with representatives from six continents and a variety of countries in attendance.   Kodak was proud to once again be the sole sponsor of this event, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the AICP and CFP-E.  Moreover, having now been at this meeting for the first time myself, it's this rookie's opinion that these organizations are more important than ever in creating and maintaining a shared vision throughout the industry.

Enjoy a great week everyone!

Check out Nicole Phillips blog post from Cannes over on Plugged In Blog.

Last Saturday the Podcast Conference Niche09 took place in Munich and Kodak was one of the main sponsors. At Niche09, organized by Alex Wunschel, 150 producers of podcasts, web video content and video blogs got together in the publishing house Süddeutscher Verlag in Munich. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's largest national subscription daily paper, was also one of the sponsors of the event.


The Niche09 Podcamp's focus was on conception, production, distribution, and promotion as well as marketing of audiovisual and digital content. The participants had to choose between 18 different workshops (length 1 hour) that took place in three parallel tracks.


Kodak provided three yellow Zx1 Digital Video Cameras to be raffled off to the attendees. Furthermore, Kodak provided 6 Zx1 and 5 Zi6 Digital Video Cameras for the attendees to try out the products, to interview each other, and to document the workshop. When Alex Wunschel announced that 11 of the participants would get the chance to test the Kodak Digital Video Cameras, they all ran up to me and grabbed the cameras. Within seconds all Pocket Video Cameras were taken.


Here you see the results of what happens when camera kids show their video skills: http://www.vimeo.com/5290201

At the workshop "Conception, preparation and planning of video productions" Alexander Franz Köllner - ifranz.tv - presented the Kodak Zi6 as the perfect tool for video production. As some of the main advantages of the Zi6 compared to e.g. Flip Mino he mentioned the unbeatable price, the great audio performance in close-up range, the SD HC card slot and the fact that it runs with normal AA batteries, so you can even use it in the "outback".

Talk about inspiring! Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Spring Forum event of the WFKE, the Women's Network at Kodak. It is an annual educational event where they also announce the Jane Lanphear Legacy Award winners. The award goes out to women leaders across the company who exemplify Jane Lanphear's qualities of leadership, work life balance and helping other women grow and achieve their full potential. This year 5 remarkable women whose accomplishments are too numerous to note here, were award receipients!

Here are the finalists and the recipients of the Jane Lanphear Legacy award.
Congratulations to all of the nominees, finalists, and recipients! You are role models for us all!!!

Finalists:
Toni Carfagna
Cheryl Knauf

Recipients:
Diana Chen
Nancy Kot
Martha Le Cars
Jeet Mehta
Julia Mills

The educational part of the evening was dedicated to learning about Social Networking. It started with a presentation by Tina Clark, about the various tools how Kodak was using them. Tina's presentation was an excellent overview of growth in social media as an emerging and important element of the marketing mix and showcased how Kodak was looked upon as an industry leader in this arena. There are many ways in which Kodak is leading in the area of social media. From the Plugged-In and 1000 Words blogs, to an active @KodakCB (Chief Blogger), to our very own @JeffreyHayzlett tweeting all things Kodak! Kodakers are innovators in this game-changing way to communicate with consumers at a level like never before.

Below are the links where you can see how we are out there starting the conversation and using tools like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Delicious.

www.kodak.com/go/followus

A panel discussion followed the presentation. Shruti Goradia and I joined Tina on the panel.


Pic: From left to right, @shrutigoradia, @kodakchallenge, (or @tostina), @maryirene, and Amanda Dingman, President-elect, WFKE.

We spoke about how we use social media on a day to day basis and how it plays an important role in our lives both personally and professionally.

If you don't already have a Facebook or Twitter account, sign up and see for yourself!

And by the way, you can also follow the panel members on Twitter, and we'll follow you back : )

Tina Clark: twitter.com/kodakchallenge , and twitter.com/tostina
Shruti Goradia: twitter.com/shrutigoradia
Mary-Irene Marek: twitter.com/Maryirene