The Ad (Award) Blocker: The Ad (Award) Blocker

An elite cross-section of the global advertising industry will soon be packing their sunscreen, sunglasses and retro sneakers and heading to the South of France to network, sip champagne on la Croisette and enjoy the annual Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, whilst hoping to pick up a few awards in the process.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will be stuck at home, sipping tea while scrolling on LinkedIn, and dishing out the likes like they're rapidly going out of fashion. And there's nothing wrong with that, after all it's a time for industry talent to be inspired, motivated and congratulate peers who are creating genre - defining work.

However, for some it can all get a bit too much, with many people even avoiding LinkedIn altogether during awards season. Recent studies carried out by the University of Southampton and University of Edinburgh have shown that LinkedIn, like any other social media platform, can cause feelings of self-doubt, negative comparison and imposter syndrome.

Well now creatives can give themselves a break this award season with the first ever Ad (Award) Blocker.

Irish creative Cillian Kenny has harnessed the power of AI to counteract the LinkedIn Cannes Lions takeover by creating The Ad (Award) Blocker using Google chrome extension to filter out all Cannes-related content for LinkedIn users missing out on the ad industry festival.

Make your LinkedIn FOMO Free.

Irish Creative Cillian Kenny developed The Ad (Award) Blocker by using AI to scan over 10,000 LinkedIn award posts, identifying some of the more commonly used words and phrases including "delighted", "honoured", "chuffed", "I am humbled to receive this award" among others.

The Ad (Award) Blocker removes posts to make your LinkedIn feed FOMO free this award season, giving those that need it a delightful bit of peace of mind during award season.

The Ad (Award) Blocker is powered by Google's AI model "Gemini." The large language model scanned over 10,000 LinkedIn award posts from 2023 and pinpointed more than 100 of the most commonly used words and phrases, even down to the most popular by region. Some of the results say a lot about how people talk on LinkedIn, with the US and Canada using more sincere words like "humbled," "grateful," and "blessed," whereas Ireland and the UK use more everyday words and phrases like "chuffed," "thrilled to bits," and "over the moon." But there’s one word that always comes out on top, no matter the region, and that’s (drum roll)...“delighted.” There’s no surprise there.

Cillian Kenny explains: “With recent studies showing that feelings of imposter syndrome related to LinkedIn are on the rise, The Ad (Award) Blocker provides a bit of respite for creatives during award season without having to avoid the site altogether. With a little bit of help from AI and a lot of help from creative friends, it’s great to see the project come together just in time for the biggest award season of them all.”

The Ad (Award) Blocker offers a respite to the constant stream of posts celebrating achievements and awards on social platforms like LinkedIn and enables users to switch off the Cannes Lions bragging posts. Although there is a light-hearted humour behind the conception of the Ad (Award) Blocker, there is also a more serious underlying message, that we all need to escape the relentless, often toxic bombardment of perfectly curated lives and successes perpetuated via social media.

Roisin Keown, CEO of Ireland's Award-winning Creative Agency The Brill Building says: 'When Cillian told me about The Ad Award Blocker, I thought ‘what a genius idea as an antidote to Cannes Lions hysteria'. A clever use of AI to counteract the toxicity of social media platforms, and a great example of Irish Creativity!"