Cocktail Hour: June 22, 2012

Forget the Academy Awards and its slim statuette of a man. Forget the Emmy’s and their winged woman. Who needs a shiny gramophone? This week is the time of the golden lion as the advertising world descended in Cannes for the International Festival of Creativity. We didn’t worry about pregnancy announcements, leg phenomenons or dresses made of raw meat. We judged the work, and some left with a desk ornament or two.

Watch Party

Maybe you don’t care about the awards or judges — just the creative. Here’s a list of some of the best from the festival thus far:

• Austria Solar: Solar Annual Report [Design Grand Prix] - Serviceplan Gruppe
• United Colors of Bennetton: Unhate [Press Grand Prix] - Fabrica Treviso & 72andSunny
• Nike+ Fuelband [Cyber Grand Prix] - R/GA
• Curators of @Sweden [Cyber Grand Prix] - Swedish Institute
• Axe Excite: Even Angels Will Fall [Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix] - BBH London

Socialize

In case you’ve been too enamored with the glitz, glamour and awards, here’s a roundup of marketing-related news this week:

• Facebook Ads API partners reported that mobile Sponsored Story ads have a 13 times higher click-through rate compared to desktop ads. It’s only been a few weeks since Facebook launched the Sponsored Story mobile ad option, and many analysts see these metrics great for stock owners yet meaningless for marketers.
• Organic traffic, which is responsible for 90 percent of search traffic, has increasingly been neglected by marketers using costly, paid marketing methods to drive site visits. Instead of emphasizing PPC and display ad campaigns, Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz talks about how to drive more inbound organic traffic through developing a solid content strategy, building influencer relationships, timing and creativity.
• Building an online community around a brand is on every marketer’s mind. An online community gives you invaluable access to brand advocates, feedback, audience data, etc. But are we too concerned with how it would benefit the brand? What if you built an unbranded online community? An unbranded community can help you build trust, build a larger following with less restrictions and still provide your core audience with the opportunity to interact and communicate around your industry. You may find that the community still benefits the brand, but in a completely new way.

A Toast

With a trophy (you might have to make do with a pencil sharpener or your cube-mate’s strange wobble head doll) in one hand and our special champagne-style beverage in the other, let’s toast to a week that celebrates our golden age of advertising.

Peach Champagne Cocktails

Fill blender with:

• Peach Sorbert - 1 pint
• 1 1/2 Shots of Triple Sec
• 1/2 Shot of Cognac
• Fill blender to top with chilled champagne

Salt the rims of the glasses and fill with the smooth mixture.

Garnish with mint and raspberries.

Please drink responsibly. Recipe courtesy of Full Fork Ahead.

Get through the dog days of summer and tell us what you’ve been reading this week.

Cheers!