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James Bunn QF1 between Sydney and London is always a bit of a slog.

It was no easier in 1993, exactly 30 years ago when a young marketing executive, “a junior suit” found himself blinking into the grey dawn of Heathrow Airport.The shuttle bus delivering him to the Qantas-BA connection to Nice was seemingly packed with New Yorkers bemoaning their five-hour red-eye across the Atlantic.That’s not jetlag thought the Sydneysider as the slug of British Airways Champagne helped him to feel bullet-proof.

Later, on arrival in Cannes for MIP TV ‘93 he was presented with a large white hard back book lovingly chronicling the golden age of TV stretching over the past 30 years.He felt a little out of his depth but happy to join the story…

At MIP TV ’23, for me, as the older, maybe wiser, version of that executive, the subsequent 30 years have brought many opportunities in the face of challenges which have presented themselves.

The World, which was then navigating the 90s recession and the fall of The Soviet Union, went on to the dot.com boom, “9/11” and then bust, the global financial crisis and now the coronavirus coupled with the resurgence of Soviet aggression against The Ukraine.

Back then we were in the final stages of the Sydney Olympic Bid and not only did Australia “come of age” through that televised event, the great City of London similarly enjoyed a re-birth of their own in 2012.

But in ’93, “Interactive TV” was much discussed as the next big thing and my own experiments in this area, engineered and played their part in catapulting us towards streaming models and beyond to the FAST Channels that we know today.

Then as now, we needed cheering up, and compelling content is the kind of soft power that we love.The long-running Cheers was about to spawn Frazier and Friends was the big new obsession with younger viewers.The Simpsons skewed younger still and we fretted about whether kids TV might turn our children soft.We looked forward to the on-going collapse of the

Soviet Union confident in the freedom that that would bring.

And since Diana had left Charles, in front of the BBC cameras we looked on in compassion at the Queen’s own Annus Horribilis.

This year surprisingly little has changed, including QF1 and Heathrow T3.You can still get Champagne, for a fee on that BA Nice leg, en-route to Cannes, and now it comes with a Marks and Spencer sandwich.The Airline business model has changed as has commercial TV, but revenues are still largely underwritten by advertising support.Recently, Australia’s media companies have downgraded their revenue outlook after a post-pandemic bounce-back last year.But analysts tell us that the sector has grown in revenue more than 200% over that 30 years but today there are so many more choices in terms of the way we consume our content and they all take a share.

But MIP TV is all about content.And it’s always a pleasure to debate where things are going creatively.

How will TV attract and retain eyeballs so that the clever advertising people can work their magic with an audience, already captivated.

Soon I fall into conversation with Simon Raikes who has just wrapped the “Charles: In his own words” documentary for National Geographic – he talked of the logistics of royal succession which make for a highly accelerated production schedule.

Clearly, his team’s extensive research of 1,000’s of hours of raw footage from Charles’ lifetime to date have uncovered some gems, but I was fascinated to learn that their perception of Charles the man evolved considerably as he learned more.Here’s a man who we think we all know from his celebrity profile, but this documentary promises a definitive, positive story as we lean into the Coronation and republican debate.

Next, I find myself in debate about how a generation of children had their childhood hijacked by the coronavirus pandemic.Were they victims of a lost childhood or did they benefit from all that extra time with their parents in lockdown? Futurist, Producer and New York University professor Evan Shapiro was the star of the market when he spoke about why Generation Alpha lead our desperate need for more feel-good content.He’s certainly a man after my own heart, particularly when he warned of the dangers of our current doom spiral – “we need to greenlight inspiration, not desperation” he said.

The kind folks at Paramount + were kind enough to introduce me to Alex Cunningham fresh from producing the new Fatal Attraction series which promises to be our next binge obsession as we wrestle with the perennial dilemmas of human relationships.Just as 30 years ago, the landmark thriller introduced us to the horrors of a bunny-boiler, now we have a 2023 shaped set of gender debates.As producer of the clever comedy-drama Desperate Housewives, you just know that Alex has created must see TV which will keep calling us back for more.

That kind of viewing, dealing with adult issues packaged with wit, charm and empathy might be a good way to address some of the mental health issues of our times.Clearly, must-see TV will always be an advertisers dream.

Moving on to take a look at Paper Empire, I half expected to run into a resurrected Logan Roy on the beach.As it was, I got to enjoy a mini burger and a cold beer overlooking the Baie de Cannes in-person with an all-star cast including Frazier himself, the evergreen Kelsey Grammar and his beautiful co-star Denise Richards.Entertaining though it is to watch such master storytellers as they follow crypto currency into its dark universe, maybe Westpac or Commonwealth Bank may want to place ads in this Paper Empire series which just might make a case for trusting high street banks again.

I also caught up with friends at Channel 4, and we discussed their latest controversy around Naked Education.I can always see the value of education but with just a bit too much on show I wondered if as an advertising vehicle it may present a case for drawing attention back to clothing brands and the high street.

As one industry veteran remarked, as we come back after covid, the full credit goes to the faith of the organisers of MIP TV – “you need a market, to be able to market” and it will be great to return in October for the next MIPCOM and the 30th anniversary of the founding of Fox Sports Australia…it will owe more to Ted Lasso than Succession…

Meanwhile, it was on to London for the first televised Royal Coronation in 75 years…

James Bunn, London

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