David Droga’s choice to open the Cannes Lions advertising festival this week was telling. Mr Droga, whose Droga5 agency is feted for its work for clients such as MailChimp and the New York Times, showed off a four-minute advertisement that it made for a Christie’s auction last year of a Leonardo da Vinci painting, “Salvator Mundi”. “If it’s too long for you, I’m sorry,” he said defiantly.
The ad, filmed on a hidden camera behind the painting, displayed the auction house’s visitors looking on in wonder, with some weeping. So then, people watching a rectangle on a wall for a long time and being moved by the artistry on show. It felt like the ad industry’s ultimate fantasy.
Making emotional, unhurried visual ads is Mr Droga’s speciality, and the kind of thing that wins trophies in Cannes. But most debates this week were about technology rather than art — six second Snapchat video ad formats, behavioural targeting, artificial intelligence, “dynamic creative optimisation” and suchlike. This rapid-fire world of online ads is a long way from his ideal.