Radio: Wave of the future

As the judge's dinner was drawing to a close (and after an England game which I unfortunately managed to see after getting the time wrong) Terry Savage, Cannes Head Honcho, tinkled his glass. After some niceties which went along the lines of: don't get too drunk tonight and don't be late tomorrow he proudly announced that despite all this talk of new media Press entries were up 20%, Outdoor entries were up 25% and... catching the expectant eyes of those of us on the radio jury...er...(struggling to find the right words)... Radio was up by...3. Hang on Terry is that a percentage or an absolute number?

Others I meet at the dinner shake their heads in sympathy when they hear what jury I'm on. Dave Droga (see gratuitous picture above) simply changes the subject altogether preferring to recall the last Australia game - which was celebrated by an entire subcontinent and half of Liverpool - old boss, Dave Alberts, old jury colleague Carlos Perez and several others (not old) look suitably bereaved. I'm thinking hey 1,000 entries - can't be that bad, can it?

Fortunately Guillaume Van der Stighelen our radio jury chairman is a big fan. He talks enthusiastically about using radio to win pitches (we're doing one right NOW and I briefly consider dictating a couple of new scripts over the phone) and he says how it gets people to use their imaginations and... then we start talking about football.