Cannes Lions Dispatch Week: Vice

Filed Monday, 6/26/2006, 10:12 AM by Kirin Sapporo
Location: Cannes, France
Photo: Kirin Sapporo

I was at a large agency’s party at an exclusive yacht club. The setup looked like an episode of that MTV show "My Super Sweet 16." [Ed. note: uh yeah, I had to look that up.] They had it all: velvet ropes, smartly dressed bouncers, imported English DJs, and smoke machines.

Fashionwise, I felt ashamed to be a man. [Ed. note: I know you're waiting for a joke here, but Sapporo is my only correspondent and I'm already pushing my luck.] Ad guys were dressed sloppily in jeans, sandals, and t-shirts while the women were dressed to the nines: designer dresses, Jimmy Choos, Prada bags, and salon hair.

White is in. And backless is, uhh, back.

There were a few people I recognized and a fair number of "agency" girls there - and not the advertising kind. I saw a pair of stunning blondes sporting open back blouses and tight white pants with seemingly nothing on underneath. I couldn’t picture either of them working as account planners.

Speaking of subtlety, a conversation with "Mike," an industry player I know, went something like this,

Sapporo: Hey, how’s it going? I just saw [mutual friend] Rick down at the bar.
Mike: Oh yeah? Rick's here? That guy is a fucking asshole.
Sapporo: Uh, how so?
Mike: Well, yesterday he sent his assistant out to score some coke. Rick basically promised the kid a promotion if he could hook 'em up.
Sapporo: He couldn’t manage to get it himself?
Mike: Nope.
Sapporo: [Pause]
Mike: Why, you got any?

[Earlier - Cannes Lions Dispatch Week: Giraffes, Turtles, and Japanese Pop]
[Earlier - Cannes Lions Dispatch Week: Sapporo Phones It In]
[Earlier - Cannes Lions Dispatch Week: Exchange Rates and the Velvet Rope]
[Earlier - Cannes Lions Dispatch Week: Our Correspondent Arrives (?)]