Ever since David Droga resigned his post as worldwide creative director at Publicis last fall and announced he was starting his own company, people have been abuzz about his next move. When he emerged from an enigmatic cloak of secrecy in the new year with his new venture Droga5, and was then named Jury president, it just added fuel to the fire. Here we talk to one of the most talked-about men in advertising about his role as the head of the Cannes jury and why being oblivious has its advantages.

I can see it now, you probably thought 'The year that I start my own company would be a great year to be the Cannes jury president'...
Literally, it's crazy. I remember last year at Cannes, I had a great time but I was standing on a terrace with a friend saying, 'I might skip Cannes next year.' Then suddenly not only am I there, but I'm there for the longest time ever. I got my schedule and it's overwhelming.

Was there any moment where you were like, 'What have I done?'
Yeah, but it's one of those things that's impossible to say no to.

In your mind and experience, what's the role of the jury president?
To decide all the winners basically, and screw everyone else! (Laughs.) No, I think it's very much to set a tone where all the jury members feel like they have a voice, regardless of whether they speak English or not. And to try to make sure there are no politics involved, or as little as possible and just to make sure that every piece of work gets a fair showing.

How do you do that, practically?
You have to go in there with the assumption that if people are good enough to be judges, then they're responsible enough to have strong opinions and taste. In past award shows where I've been chairman, I've always been very much in favor of getting people to speak > < at the appropriate times and make sure that it's not hijacked by the person with the loudest English voice. With a lot of juries, the majority of it is conducted in English and there are lots of people who have opinions about things but are intimidated because their English might not be that strong.

What's your impression of the creative work this past year?
That's a really interesting question because I stepped out of my role [as worldwide CD at Publicis] in November, did some travel and worked on setting up my company. So, I've had my head down for a while and haven't been in the thick of it like in previous years. Which is kind of a luxury, going in there and not having definitive opinions about what will win. One of the advantages is that I don't think I've got anything entered for the first time in 10 years.

It's also ironic that the year you leave traditional advertising you get this opportunity...
It's very ironic. But I've always made it clear, I'm not turning my back on advertising, I just really wanted to make the point that I don't want to be just defined by that. It's not that I'll never do any TV commercials again, but I don't want that to be the starting place when I work with clients. I don't want to be adhering to a format. If the best format for our client's needs and our company's needs is to do some traditional advertising, then I'll certainly do that. I've built my career on that and I love it; I just want to have a broader horizon.

When you're judging or even consuming advertising, is there a style of work you're drawn to?
What I look for is something that has some sort of emotional relevance to the brand. So it's much more than something that's just funny. It's got to be something where you can feel the essence of the brand in the advertising; it doesn't just feel like a disposable piece. And judging is a very hard thing. You're in an artificial environment looking at 10,000 TV commercials, you're bombarded with it, which is not reality. What you have to be wary of is when you see 20 horrific things in a row that you don't get so excited about the first thing that's half decent and mark it too high. One thing I always say with judges is that whatever your mindset is when you go in on day one, just stay consistent throughout.

I'd also like people to consider degree of difficulty, without turning it into a science. There are certain categories where there's a dramatic leap forward for the category. That's something I'd like the judges to take into consideration. I obviously can't enforce that, but [I want] to remind them: whatever wins has to be moving our industry forward.

What about the Grand Prix this year? Last year the winner seemed so unanimous...
Every year people debate between one or two. Last year was one of the first years where almost everyone you spoke to definitely thought the same thing would win. From the few conversations I've had this year I don't think anyone's got a definitive opinion.

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