This year at the venerable Cannes awards, as usual the best of advertising from around the world got a standing ovation. But what stood out was how many ads refused to look like one. Or rather what we are used to seeing them as. Messages boxed into 100 cc spaces or a 29 inch tube. Something we at Merry Men have been talking about for sometime now.

Take for instance the winning entry for the digital category. Which to start with is a giant mix of ambient, technology, event and a strong idea. A few years ago, we wouldn’t have known what category to slot it in, let alone award it.

The Chalkbot by Nike is an inspired piece of creativity. But the question is, is it an ad? Yes, absolutely. Just like any ad, this piece of creative had a brief, a target audience and other advertising parameters of judging success. Yet, we fail to see it as something that must come out of an agency. Someday, we hope a Chalkbot comes out of ours.