Are media agencies failing? Or is Cannes Media just f**ked up?

Some interesting things I noticed about this years 2011 Cannes Media competition.

1) Of the 13 Gold Media Lions awarded, the split between Media vs Integrated agencies winning was 7:6; stand-alone media shops won 53% of the top awards. (The brilliant Grand Prix went to a Korean creative agency).

2) For the Silver gongs, the split was even more extreme, Media 10 : 21 Integrated

3) Of the 24 member jury, just 3 work at integrated shops. The vast majority were from media only shops.

What does this all imply?

A) That integrated shops are producing more, stronger work, overal than media only shops?

B) Integrated shops are perhaps just better at producing award entries?

C) The lure of any Cannes Lions has motivated Integrated (Creative) agencies to take Cannes Media seriously?

D) That Media execs hate their own? Or just that they are impartial enough to award the best work from wherever?

E) That the Cannes organizers need to bring in a broader range of judges, beyond media only shops, to reflect the changing momentum of where good work is coming from?

There is no single answer to all of these hypotheses. I do truly believe the integration of media and creative (and design, UX, coding etc) can happen faster and smarter within integrated shops. It is no surprise for me that integrated shops are winning so much.

Where does this leave media agencies? This is an important question. I think my prior post on the promise of data is central to the relevance of media shops.

I wonder how far and hard the pendulum might swing towards integrated solutions first though?