Yes, its that time of year again and the 60th year of the Cannes Lions being awarded to the best of Global Creativity. 2013 was busier and more crowded than ever before with events, content and presentations covering the full spectrum of marketing! This year there was more evidence of client presence as attendees, sponsors and speakers. Google, Twitter, GM, Coke, Unilever and Heineken were very visible and this year the themes of social media connectivity, creativity and measurement were hot topics. So too was the discussion around ‘big data’ and the need for a balance of creative ‘emotion’ with commercial ‘rationale’. Contemporary marketing requires consumers to ‘engage’ and work harder than ever to contribute, share, comment and ‘buy’ into brands, products, content and services more than ever before, which means brands now have to work very hard! Not just to get their message across but to involve consumers and sustain their involvement. So, as ‘consumers call the shots’ for brand communications – who is ‘calling the shots’ on strategy?
There is no doubt that the era of crowdsourcing and web-enabled creativity has arrived, which begs the question; do clients need Agencies any more? After all, clients can now go direct to creators of content film, scripts, design and executional ideas through either a #competition initiative or a loosely brokered ‘open source’ call for entries. Combine this with the new powerbrokers of media and distribution (Google, Facebook, YouTube, twitter, etc) and you see a pattern emerging. Clients are calling the shots! And against a backdrop of Agency networks trying to stay as ‘relevant’ as possible. The fact emerges; Clients are the power today and not the Agency world of yesterday, which represented the early years from which Cannes Lions first was born. The buzzword titled exhibition “Game Changers” at the side entrance of the Palais was almost a historical homage and ‘Origin of Species’ display of how Mad Men have become Creative Commercialists! An interesting reflection of how Advertising changed the world (yes, really!).
While we are talking ‘buzz words’, the new North American terms en vogue now are ‘pivot’ and ‘transform’, which reflects the nature of creative commercial strategy in marketing.
Surprisingly there were very few international brands present with a definite bias towards North American brands. One would be forgiven for thinking it was a Northern European/North American brand roster with primarily Brazilian and Latin agencies attending, such is the power and fame of The Lions in the Americas! The Asian presence was more subdued this year except for the ‘China party’ on the beach that certainly won plaudits for the theme and popularity! And special mention must go to Scarfe’s illustration of the Lion which adorned the festival ‘branding’ and passed the ‘t-shirt’ test for most participants who could be seen sporting the design from the Gutter bar to Le Suquet!
My personal take on this year versus previous years content is that Storytelling, Emotive Engagement, Purpose and brand effectiveness are the topical points we will be seeing the 2014 Cannes agenda being built around! There was a more visible acknowledgement of the importance of social issues and conscious capitalism, and certainly a shift towards how non-traditional media has triumphed. Apart from the obvious celebrity quotient being represented in creativity (Jack Black, Vivienne Westwood, Sean ‘Diddy’ Coombs, and legend – Lou Reed) the best session I attended was that of Conan and Anderson Cooper who in a post-modern and surreal conversation admitted to “having No idea what Cannes was about nor why they were there!”
Cannes is about understanding the zeitgeist of global marketing and branding, and as clients become more involved and powerful in direct to and through consumer marketing, Brand Strategists must pay attention!
Interestingly, the work this year and many of the entries crossed categories and were submitted in multiple categories. As always, a particular complaint of mine is the submission in the design category of ‘work’ that is really just internal and ‘self serving’ pieces of print or ‘ideation’. But hey, that is Cannes…not based on commercial challenges nor results but rather creative inspiration and execution. Note to self – must submit more work like that next year!
Below are the links to the best work or content pieces of the week, and lets see what the future in 2014 brings to the Cannes stage!?
HEINEKEN – ‘Legendary Journey’ – Gold winner!
UNILEVER – Dove ‘real beauty sketches’ – Titanium winner
Oreo – SuperBowl ‘Blackout’ – and Wonderfilled (from our sister company, the Martin Agency!):
Blackout
Wonderfilled
Small world machines – for Coca-Cola (India/Pakistan)
Southern Comfort – Whatever’s Comfortable Beach
Meet the Superhumans - London 2012 Paralympics Ad for Channel 4
Water is life (“hashtag killer)
Metro Melbourne – ‘Dumb Ways to die’ ** Grand Prix award winner – and from McCann Melbourne, Australia (CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR COLLEAUGES!)