Day #7

Today was the last day of this week long festival. Although everything was closed down and only a few seminars remained, they were some of the most interesting. They didn’t really have much to do with advertising, PR, or marketing but they were all very creative. Today was innovation day, and all of the seminars revolved around this common theme. The first seminar I attended was called Innovation Day: Make the Future. This was a really powerful seminar mainly because of the story that Mick Ebeling, CEO and founder of Not Impossible, told. It all began with a boy named Daniel. Daniel was from a refugee camp in the Sudan. Ebeling had read about his story in a magazine.  Daniel had tragically lost both of his arms in an explosion near his village. Through Not Impossible and with the help of Intel Corporation, Ebeling was able to get the funding to go to the Sudan and make a real difference. His main goal was to go to the Sudan and create prosthetic limbs for Daniel using a 3D printer. Not only did he create these limbs at night, because it was so hot during the day, but he also taught the villagers how to use the 3D printing machine and left it for them to make more limbs for others in need. Ebeling says that he lives by two simple principles: the first is, “you never change things by fighting against the existing reality”, and the second is “to change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. These project is so powerful because it shows technology can be used for the sake of humanity, it doesn’t always need to be used for capitalism.  In our day in age, technology is so affordable that nothing is truly impossible any more. You can watch about project Daniel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDYFMgrjeLg

The Second Seminar I attended was called Synesthesia- A Creativity Showcase. Phillip Sheppard is a composer and fantastic cellist. With a state of the art looping station, Sheppard was able to create a beautiful symphony with a single instrument, the cello. His inspiration comes from the world around him. Throughout the seminar, he asked members of the audience specific questions such as: “what is the date, what is your phone number, and even questions like what is your name? “He then took the numerical values given in the answers and applied it to the musical scale and preceded to change numbers into beautiful music. His creativity ability is unattainable for most, but by looking at the world in an unusual way he has created something beautiful. I believe that this was the main point the audience was supposed to take away from the seminar. The next speaker to come on stage was Neil Harrison. Neil was born with a rare disease called achromotospsia meaning he could only see in black and white. Fascinated by the thought of colors, Neil created a special antenna which was implanted into the back of his head allowing him to sense and feel the vibrations of certain wavelengths of the light spectrum. Neil can literally sense which colors are around him based off of vibrations. Through persistence and determination, Neil accomplished something surgeons told him would be physically impossible. He is now known as the Human Cyborg and invents new breakthrough technology for other people with disabilities as well as regular people.

The last main seminar of the entire festival was interesting to say the least. The seminar was called, “A conversation with Bono and Jonathan Ive”.  Bono, lead singer of U2 and creator of (Red), has paired with Apple as well as several other supporters such as Bank of America. (Red) is a charitable organization set up to fight AIDs in areas across the globe with less access to the drugs that help prevent the disease. Bono and Jonathan Ive, Apples Senior Vice President of Design, spoke of how the simplicity and availability of the drug give no reason as to why it cannot be spread to the hardest to reach parts of the world. My favorite part of the seminar was when Bono took off his (Red) Apple Ipad case to point out that the (Red) logo is super small on the inside of the case where no one can see it. He called out Jonathan Ive on the design and said it “was a crap” way to market the organization. Ive was caught off guard and his reaction was priceless. Bono asked everyone in the audience to contribute to the cause and many people had great ideas on how the campaign could grow and reach more people.  

I can honestly say that this festival has been one of the best experiences of my life. If I learned nothing else its that you can learn so much from professionals whom have both failed and succeeded throughout their careers. There is no other place in the world where students can get the opportunity to talk to David Nutter, director of Game of Thrones and Fred Cook, CEO of Golin Advertising in the same day as well as hundreds of other extremely other influential advertisers and creatives. This study abroad program is what you make of it. If you put yourself out there, try new things, meet new people and learn as much as you possibly can, you will come out three weeks later with a completely different outlook than when you entered. I would recommend this program to anyone that wants to have a blast in the south of France and listen to the most creative people around the world.