Welcome to Episode 43 of Navigating the Fustercluck—a podcast full of snackable insights to help you navigate the tangled-up world of creativity & marketing.My name is Wegs, like eggs with a W, joining you from Deaf Mule Studios in Dallas, where we’re just settling into the New Year. And people are already talking about the upcoming award shows. Kinda insane. But I get it. As a former creative, at least I think I get it.Full disclosure, as a planner, I’ve been part of multiple Lion-winning efforts. Everything from business travel work for an airline to beer work,right down to everybody’s Yellow Brick Road to hardware: philanthropies.I’m proud of those efforts. Excited as hell for the first ones.Yet over the years, I’ve had to mull over what place they have in my heart and in the industry- both good and bad.Let’s take a minute or two to talk about the granddaddy of them all…CannesIf you’ve never gone, go! (I’ve been a grand total of 1 time.)If you work for a holding company, you’ll see where the bonus you were hoping for went. (Unfortunately, I’m only semi-joking.)But now that clients are increasingly in on this boondoggle, you can expect Cannes to keep on growing.The funny part is that every year you have to go to Europe to find out that everything is, will be or should be online. But since sand tends to mess with one’s keyboard, I guess you need to go directly to France to hear this message in person.That said, some of the workshops are amazing. I remember Marc Landsberg from Social Deviant blow away the audience that came to see him speak with straightforward actionable insights and practical tools. Picked up a few tricks from the Pop-Up Agency, too.As for keynoters…It’s pretty much the same ol’ speakers circuit. Celebrities and bigshots giving the same speeches they give everywhere. “Customizing” their talks like a rock star customizes their audience shouout…Hello Cannes!!!!!Funny enough, most of these talks are available- da, da, da tuh-dah!- online.I guess starpower sells. Or the organizers and VIP’s are looking to upgrade the “Like” counts of their selfies.Don’t get me wrong, there’s good stuff to see, but not as much as you might think. And since everyone is looking to upgrade their personal network, the people you want to network with are usually too busy to give you much time.However, the parties you attend are amazing. I can only imagine the parties that I couldn’t get in. Who knew how strong the yacht market was. “Yachting” is still a thing in that neck of the woods. Or water to be more precise.And Hell, it’s the South of France. The French Riviera, dammitt! It’s simply gorgeous.All that said, as a face-to-face guy, it’s kinda cool to have so many people gather in one place at one time. Makes you feel that you’re part of something semi-important.ClientsEarlier, I mentioned clients at Cannes. Cannes was long the refuge of agency and production types. Last decade, more & more clients started to attend Cannes. Is that a good thing? It is when they’re truly interested in making the work better. Not so much when they come unprepared for their panel appearances or talks because they’ve either been to a party or are headed to a party. Rose goes down easy, but it eventually catches up to you.Like SXSW in Austin, Cannes has become Spring Break for cool nerds and ad types. The only noticeable difference is one features skinny black jeans and the other Capri pants. Six of one, and a half-dozen of the other.When it comes to award shows, and the Award Show Industrial Complex, that keeps increasing the number of shows and awards to the point where participation awards are right around the corner, Cannes is just the tip of the iceberg. And coming on the heels of the Cannes Film Festival, the Cannes Festival of Creativity- the ad version- is the elephant of the room per...