Cannes Recap: Huge CCO, Jason Musante

Jason Musante
Global Executive Creative Director Huge
 

Huge
Publicidade/serviço completo/integração
Brooklyn, Estados Unidos
See Profile
 

Tell us about yourself and your current role.

I’m Jason Musante. CCO of Huge.

 

Did Cannes meet your expectations this year?

I’m glad to see that many of the changes made to the award show entries and program are positioning Cannes as a much more forward-looking, progressive experience. It was great to see CMOs, CEOs and CCOs discussing substantive issues such as diversity, sustainability and equality.


Was there anything you found disappointing?

It seemed to be the year of one offs, stunts and individual executions taking the top prizes. Some of the work ran once at an event or even for just a day. In an age when the industry is struggling to stay relevant and prove its worth in the face of consolidation and consultancy encroachment, I would have liked to see more robust brand-building platforms being lauded.


What was your greatest take-away from this year’s festival?

It was fantastic to see more brands waking up to the fact that they have a responsibility to use their reach, budgets and influence to make the world a better place - not just drive the bottom line.


What are your thoughts on clients (brands)being increasingly present at the festival and even entering winning campaigns on their own?

The more the merrier. The future of Cannes (and our entire industry) is brighter when every brand and business recognizes the power and influence a brilliant creative idea can have - wants to be recognized for it on stage.



We heard quotes like “The new heroes of the industry are not the creative anymore but the CMO’s”, what do you think of this?

CMOs have always been the heroes of the industry. They’ve just been unsung. Creatives don’t make work in a vacuum. The industry needs more bold, progressive CMOs taking center stage proving that creativity can be used to drive their business as much as spreadsheets and data.


There have been a lot of conversations around ‘Brands with purpose’ topic at this year’s festival. How do you think the agencies can take this beyond talk and make an actual difference in the world.

At Huge, we have a simple motto: make something you love. We believe only by making can you make a difference. Less talk. More making. That’s the way we can all make a difference in the world.


What was the most memorable moment of the festival for you?

For the past two years, Huge has partnered with Amazon to run a real-time hackathon during the week of the festival. It was pretty incredible to see work we made together during our first hackathon last year - for those struggling with Alzheimer’s - be awarded this year. 


What should be improved for next year’s festival?

We have to challenge ourselves to ensure work we are awarding truly has lasting impact after the show is over. I’d love to see Cannes challenge the industry by making more category requirements reliant upon proven, sustained results.