An invisible problem

William Gibson (no relation to Percy Fender) was not just right about technology, but about advertising prowess in Serbia too: the future is already here, just not evenly distributed.

Over the next few pages, Directory brings you seven different perspectives from seven different people, each of whom came to the festival for different reasons.

Since I joined the Festival in 2005, I have been fortunate to work with many amazing people. It never fails to astound me how willing they are to give up their time to teach/mentor/inspire next generation talent. I think many leaders in the creative industry have benefitted from mentors themselves. They know the hugely positive impact it had on their lives and they're keen to give back.

There is a witty bit of banter going around agencies at the moment - "Don't worry, there's a Cannes Lion award for every creative working in advertising".

Cannes, back in June, seems a distant memory now we’re in September.

‘In 5’ is an occasional series in which Directory interviews top creatives and asks them to define their careers to date through five examples of their work.

Once again we have had to leave out some great campaigns simply because of the demands of a balanced spread of work and the limitations of space.

Who makes the work we see, and why that matters, has always been a central motivation for me.

Jesus wept. There has been talk about diversity in advertising for twenty years. And guess what? Absolutely fu*k all has changed.

These are the Directory Big Won rankings of the festival, tiered points scored for Gold, Silver, Bronze and Shortlist nominations.

Blimey! Was it really ten years ago Directory Issue One flew off the presses and out into agencies around the world?

I wish there was a word that described the sound of creatives having fun. Something onomatopoeic would be good. Any suggestions welcome. I'd happily pay a royalty to use it.