Tuesday - June 26, 2007
"All Cannes'd out."
That's what Mary said when she escaped to Grasse
and the Fragonard shop.
I am no longer a Cannes virgin. I did the agency party thing, the schmoozy thing, the stare and ogle thing, and the boo and hiss thing. It was an experience I wish we could afford for everyone in the agency who actually cares (or who could care a little more) about the industry that puts money in our ATM accounts. I think that's all it would take, really. Care a little more. It's easy to trivialize what we do in relation to what doctors and firemen and writers of the great (put country here) novel do.
We are only as trivial as we make ourselves.
Creativity in the service of capitalism has always been what advertising's about. However, creativity can be more powerful than this particular master. My imagination is for rent, but it is never for sale. When brands advertise, they tap the power of storytelling; as everyone knows, the one who hears can change the story.
I thought about this while Mary and I walked inside the Palais des Papes in Avignon. This was Pope Clement V's Home away from Rome in the 12th century, and it became more fortified and grand as more and more popes came to reside there. The audio guide told us, with a serious British History Channel accent, that it was also home to the treasury, which was spent on pomp, pageantry and papal steam baths until the papacy went into debt. (I am paraphrasing here, people.)
A reproduction of one of the documents found in the Palais des Papes. I admired very much the embellished "I," with its tail of rosary beads. This parchment is big enough to be a tablecloth.
This is one of the better-preserved interior paintings. Many others, especially in the papal chambers, have faded, victims of fugitive pigment and apparently France's Third Republic, which used the Palais as stables.
These were commissioned works. A scribe here, a fresco artist there - trading their skills for a little gold and a shot at eternal salvation. In a sense, they were advertising the might and influence of the Church at Avignon. (Which goes to show that who the client is matters.)
"Lead us to salvation." Indeed.
I am no longer a Cannes virgin. I did the agency party thing, the schmoozy thing, the stare and ogle thing, and the boo and hiss thing. It was an experience I wish we could afford for everyone in the agency who actually cares (or who could care a little more) about the industry that puts money in our ATM accounts. I think that's all it would take, really. Care a little more. It's easy to trivialize what we do in relation to what doctors and firemen and writers of the great (put country here) novel do.
We are only as trivial as we make ourselves.
Creativity in the service of capitalism has always been what advertising's about. However, creativity can be more powerful than this particular master. My imagination is for rent, but it is never for sale. When brands advertise, they tap the power of storytelling; as everyone knows, the one who hears can change the story.
I thought about this while Mary and I walked inside the Palais des Papes in Avignon. This was Pope Clement V's Home away from Rome in the 12th century, and it became more fortified and grand as more and more popes came to reside there. The audio guide told us, with a serious British History Channel accent, that it was also home to the treasury, which was spent on pomp, pageantry and papal steam baths until the papacy went into debt. (I am paraphrasing here, people.)
A reproduction of one of the documents found in the Palais des Papes. I admired very much the embellished "I," with its tail of rosary beads. This parchment is big enough to be a tablecloth.
This is one of the better-preserved interior paintings. Many others, especially in the papal chambers, have faded, victims of fugitive pigment and apparently France's Third Republic, which used the Palais as stables.
These were commissioned works. A scribe here, a fresco artist there - trading their skills for a little gold and a shot at eternal salvation. In a sense, they were advertising the might and influence of the Church at Avignon. (Which goes to show that who the client is matters.)
"Lead us to salvation." Indeed.