Considering so many are hosted by ad agencies, it's a bit surprising that most Cannes Lions seminars aren't promoted with proper ads. But Grey is doing it up right with this promo for next Wednesday's Grey Music Seminar in the Palais, where Grey London chairman and chief creative officer Nils Leonard will interview rock legend Iggy Pop.
Following the deaths of Prince and David Bowie—and, three years ago, Lou Reed, just a few months after he chatted with Grey's Tim Mellors on the Cannes main stage—this promo is intended as "a salute to the most alive man I know," Leonard says.
It's fitting, then, that it features the 69-year-old godfather of punk reciting the Dylan Thomas poem "Do not go gentle into that good night." Check it out here:
Pretty bracing stuff. And timely, says Leonard.
"2016 will be the year we lost heroes. But I worry that people are starting to wait for the next cultural figurehead to mourn, and it's bullshit. Like the world's worst meme," Leonard says. "Incredible living artists and icons continue to challenge and define our culture, and Iggy is their viking king. Iggy has shrugged off what age is supposed to mean, convention, and expectation. He's grown old disgracefully and successfully. He is a real-life beautiful and vicious inspiration."
He adds: "Heroes walk among us still. We have a lot to learn from the man Josh Homme called 'the last of the one and onlys.' Social, commercial pressures and the visibility of what we make in the creative industries has made us safe. Iggy, and the challenge and danger he brings, reminds us of the true power of creativity to move things on. That when things start to get boring, the only way out is to innovate, to create and to never stop diving in."
See the poster for the seminar below.
"The Grey 10th Annual Music Seminar: Do Not Go Gentle" will held at 3 p.m. Cannes time in the Lumiere Theatre inside the Palais des Festivals. Previous Grey Music Seminar guests have included Tony Bennett, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and Yoko Ono. 