Tag: Cannes Lions
Regardless of where you stand on the relevance and value of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, there is still much to take away from this year’s event. Since its inception in 1954, the festival continues to evolve throughout the years adding a number of new categories from creative effectiveness to PR and Film Craft. OMD EMEA’s head of strategy, Mark Murray-Jones has expertly sifted through the huge amount of content on offer, from the brands and work to AI and data, to give you the lowdown on what mattered most.
https://youtu.be/tJPOHotTYUQ
Mark’s seven key Cannes Lions takeaways:
1. The anatomy of a successful client is changing – so must agencies.
2. The virtual reality hype is over – there are opportunities abound.
3. AI is infinitely more transformative than any other technology since the birth of the internet – it’s becoming the plumbing.
4. Think augmented rather than artificial intelligence.
5. The success of data is predicted on diverse skills and capabilities working collectively.
6. Collaborate or die – there’s never been a better time.
7. As for the work – technology is the great enabler, not just a filter.
It is easy to forget that the main reason for Cannes Lions is the work, with over 40,000 submissions and 400 judges selecting the winners. Having been a part of the media jury, OMD EMEA’s president Nikki Mendonça shared her insight on what it takes to win. Perhaps not surprising was that a key criterion for the media jury this year was seeing how the marketing drove tangible business results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4-5LzxxVfA
The OMD Oasis also returned for its fifth year. We hosted 22 sessions over five days, curating an experience for our clients, friends and partners to hear about new techniques, tools and ideas. With topics ranging from diversity and inclusion to innovation and growth, our theme throughout the week was to uncover how we make stories matter. Part of this was uncovering how people interact with emerging technologies and to this end, OMD EMEA’s strategy and product development director Jean-Paul Edwards discussed the results of our new research titled ‘Retail Revolution’ with Carlos Watson, which delves deeper into the impact of AI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnMslrLQzcs
These are just some of our highlights from Cannes, explore more at #OMDOasis and on our YouTube channel.
Have a question or want to know more? Email us at [email protected]
The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity has named OMD Worldwide Media Network of the Year after winning one Gold, five Silver and five Bronze lions and earning 14 shortlists in the Media Lions category. Innovation and creativity are at the centre of what we stand for. We are extremely proud of the creative and innovative work we are producing around the world in partnership with our clients.
Below our worldwide CEO, Mainardo de Nardis, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity CEO, Philip Thomas, talk about the reignited ‘Media Network of the Year’ accolade and what the currency of a Cannes Lion means to the industry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyPsF2VJDS4&feature=youtu.be
11 Media Lions were awarded for work across a broad spectrum of client categories – including, automotive, food & beverage, non-profit, retail and technology including:
- An Excellence in Media Planning GOLD LION awarded to MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD for “NO ONE SHOULD HAVE NO ONE” (AGE UK)
- A Use of Real-Time Data SILVER LION awarded to OMD SINGAPORE for “Restaurant Capacity Based Advertising for McDelivery” (MCDONALD’S)
- A Data Driven Targeting SILVER LION awarded to MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD for “No One Should Have No One” (Age UK)
- A Cars & Automotive Products & Services SILVER LION awarded to OMD Dubai for “Camelpower Automotive” (NISSAN)
- A Media & Publications SILVER LION awarded to OMD UK for “Channel 4 Paralympics” (PARALYMPICS CHANNEL 4)
- A Use of Integrated Media SILVER LION awarded to OMD UK for “Channel 4 Paralympics” (PARALYMPICS |CHANNEL 4)
- A Use of Brand or Product Integration into a Program or Platform BRONZE LION awarded to OMD USA for “Serena Match Point” (GATORADE /PEPSICO
- A Use of TV BRONZE LION awarded to OMD DOMINICANA |for “Equalitv International Women’s Day” (LA SIRENA)
- A Use of Brand or Product Integration into a Program or Platform BRONZE LION awarded to OMD USA for “Super Bowl Drones Half Time Show” (INTEL)
- A Use of Other Screens BRONZE LION awarded to MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD for “Spring Waitrose” (WAITROSE)
- A Use of Brand or Product Integration into a Program or Platform BRONZE LION awarded to MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD for “Buster the Boxer” (JOHN LEWIS)
Huge congratulations to our clients, partners and talent!
For more information, visit PR Newswire.
The 64th iteration of the annual Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity commences on Saturday and I’ve taken a sneak peak at the schedule of events to see what’s hot and what’s not.
Over the past decade, the trend at Cannes has been to focus on star appeal and judging by the snaking queues to get into these events it’s clearly a tactic that works. Hollywood A listers such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Will Smith and Channing Tatum took centre stage last year at the Palais. And the line-up this year is arguably more impressive with the likes of Alicia Silverstone, Armin Van Buuren, Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding, Halle Berry, Dame Helen Mirren, Laura Dern, Mena Suvari, Ron Howard, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Le Bon and Sir Ian McKellen treading the boards of Debussy and Lumiere.
But beyond the glamour and glitz of the celebrity guests, there is also much more to enjoy across the 8 days / 18 stages / 450+ talks on offer to the 15,000 or so delegates. Many of the presentations revolve around how the media landscape continues to morph as almost everything becomes digitized, plus a strong focus on how brands are increasingly turning to entertainment content to engage with their customers. Featured themes include curated talks on aspects of our industry including diversity, creativity for good, visions of the future and brave brands.
It’s difficult to pick out individual slots but one session that caught my eye was “Can Data Make You Funnier” featuring Ginger the Robot who is billed as a “professional robot actor and comedian”. It poses the question as to whether a robot, through the use of big data, can master one of the most difficult skills a human can achieve: to make others laugh. Not an easy task but I’d wager that Ginger can’t be any worse than Harry Hill.
Cannes Events beyond the Palais
But it’s not all about what happens at the Palais as the event has inevitably expanded onto the Croisette and its beautiful beaches. Both Facebook and Google have a slew of fireside chats and seminars down by the sea and OMD will be back at their usual Cabana location for the 5th OMD Oasis.
This year the four key themes will be:
- Smarter Stories for Growth
- Everything is media
- Anything is content
- Everywhere is data
There is also a pretty impressive list of speakers including Imran Khan (Snapchat), Mark Thompson (New York Times) and Jack Dorsey (Twitter) to name but a few. All that and Bacardi cocktails from 4.00pm. What’s not to like?
The Coveted Cannes Lions
And finally to the awards themselves, which is the real reason why this event exists. Allegedly. The past two years have been particularly strong with the likes of the Volvo ‘Live Test’ featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits between two trucks and the cute John Lewis Christmas campaign by Manning Gottlieb featuring Monty the Penguin.
This year a total of 390 judges from 50 countries (including OMD EMEA’s President, Nikki Mendonça) will pore over an estimated 45,000+ entries. And given that ‘diversity’ is a core theme of the event this year it’s interesting to note that 42% of this years judges are women which is the highest ever (and more than double the number from 2012).
It’s a tad too early to predict who the likely winners will be this year (many of the shortlists haven’t been released yet) but I fully expect a focus on ‘bravery’ given the highlight on the agenda. And with all new categories this year for 360° video, VR and AR it’s reasonable to assume that the ultimate winners will have an element of these new technologies as a focal part of their composition. For a full review of all winners and a ‘best of’ review of the 2017 Lions look out for my blog late next week. Until then ‘bonne chance’ and ‘a toute à l’heure’. Je pense.
For any additional information, thoughts or further details please don’t hesitate to contact us at OMD EMEA
Businesses will soon be able to message WhatsApp users, as the company plans to give its parent company, Facebook, personal information including users’ phone numbers. WhatsApp’s billion-plus users will be notified of changes to the privacy policy and will be able to opt out within 30 days. Even though WhatsApp has said it won’t use banner ads or allow spam on the platform the ad targeting will be on Facebook’s own platform. The feature has been under testing since WhatsApp dropped its yearly fee service at the start of the year. WhatsApp and Facebook accounts will continue to remain separate and the service will not be merging with one another. However, WhatsApp updated its privacy policy stating “messages you may receive containing marketing could include an offer for something that might interest you”. The company still insists that it does not sell ads when activating the service, linking to a blog post from 18 June 2012 titled “why we don’t sell ads”. Whilst Instagram enjoys revenue from advertising neither WhatsApp nor Facebook Messenger do. However, they have yet to fully leverage its billion-plus user base and the potential is there. As always, share anything you find interesting with #OMDFWD
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In 2015 John Lewis and Age UK tackled the subject no one wanted to talk about, especially at Christmas – loneliness. In a ground-breaking partnership, Manning Gottlieb OMD activated the nation and inspired people to do good, helping the millions of older people who can go a month without talking to anyone, to have a Christmas they deserve.
“Did you see the John Lewis Christmas advert?”
John Lewis is an institution that over 150 years, has become one of the UK’s most loved and trusted retailer brands. A large part of this is down to the emotionally driven Christmas advertising. Their campaigns have had such an impact that the media have coined their ad launch, “The Start of Christmas”. The pressure’s on to raise the bar every year and make each John Lewis campaign more famous than the last.
The campaigns embody the spirit of Christmas, making people feel the warmth of family and the endearing spirit of thoughtful gifting. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for everyone, as 500,000 older people will spend Christmas day alone, a challenge Age UK know all too well. This year Manning Gottlieb wanted to use the emotional power of advertising, not just to make people feel good, but to also do good, whilst growing commercial success.
The Brand Idea
The idea was simple; to create not one, but two interlinked Christmas ads, each showing polar opposite views of the Christmas experience.
The first would launch our ‘feel-good’ story: a little girl looking through her telescope spies on an old man, living on his own on the moon. Her thoughtful Christmas gift is a telescope, sent by balloon, so he can see he’s not really alone. The tagline “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas” paved the way for a national charity partner: Age UK.
For Age UK, John Lewis made a second TV ad, showing the old man on the ‘Man On The Moon’ film set. As filming wraps up, he’s left alone and forgotten, to remind us of the problem of loneliness amongst the aged. This would become Manning Gottlieb’s call-to-action to activate the nation in support of older people at Christmas.
The Partnership Strategy
The desire was not simply to brand John Lewis’ campaign with a charity logo but to create a deeper, more emotionally resonant partnership. This idea required a true partnership strategy: integrating the creative, media and two brands into one cohesive campaign. This meant John Lewis could extend their traditional ‘feeling good at Christmas’ campaign into a true ‘doing good at Christmas’ campaign.
In return, Age UK would get the support and validation of one of the UK’s most loved brands, giving the public a new lens to see the importance of the work they do.
The John Lewis Christmas advert would be a catalyst for a wider campaign aimed at directing sentiment and action towards Age UK and ensuring that their message stayed centre stage. The second advert was designed to get people aware of and talking about the issue.
Making it happen
To ensure anticipation of the first ad, Manning Gottlieb created unbranded “#OnTheMoon” social accounts delivering a 10” teaser which started trending on Twitter before launch and trended no. 1 on Twitter, globally, only 40 minutes after launch. A joint-PR effort promoted the partnership, raising awareness of loneliness. The second ad was launched online across social and video channels to coincide with the second burst of activity.
In the week leading up to Christmas, the Age UK spot was broadcasted on TV, culminating in the marquee spot in the finale of Downton Abbey on ITV – the most-watched programme on Christmas Day. An impactful out-of-home campaign highlighted the scale of the issue and how people could help. Last but not least, John Lewis promoted the partnership across their social channels and in-store – every store ran a comprehensive fund-raising programme and Man On The Moon merchandise was sold with all profits going to Age UK.
Amazing results
- The campaign delivered a huge 38m online views for both ads, with the main ad topping the Google chart for most viewed ad on YouTube UK of 2015. This equates to over 835k hours of brand engagement!
- Manning Gottlieb helped drive 688k shares and 1,400 press articles, the most ever for a John Lewis campaign.
- People started to engage with Age UK too. On launch day, they received a donation every minute. They received an overwhelming 15,000 volunteer phone calls, 6x the number they get in a whole year.
- The impact has been so great that the UK Prime Minister’s office at Downing Street called to congratulate Age UK on the campaign and hosted a tea party for older people at Number 10!
- Finally, the campaign delivered £951m in sales, a 7% YoY increase, helping John Lewis have their biggest ever Christmas.
By Patricia Condrova
Shingy is back from his French Riviera adventure and he came to OMD HQ to take us through some of his highlights.
Cannes is exhausting and huge! 15,000 people descend on La Croisette from 94 countries. There are 24 category awards, 43,000 entries considered, 400 judges, 26 Grand Prix winners (la crème de la crème) and 300+ speakers.
The brand of the year for him was Samsung. They were everywhere: events, experiences and these guys were constantly talking about VR.
For Shingy, when it comes to the Cannes Lions Awards, one of his favourite quotes comes to mind “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.” Here are the campaigns that caught his eye:
After the presentation, I asked Shingy how should a young professional be creative in media and this is what he said:
“They should play with all the platforms as consumers; experiment them all, understand how a brand could integrate with the platform before dragging the brand in to it.
“Understand where the brand should be: not all brands should be on all platforms. Not all brands should have a real time market, it’s about having a relevant market – right time, right place, right messaging.”
Check out a recent article Shingy wrote for Adweek here.
For more fun stuff follow @shingy on Twitter
Au revoir chaps! (Champagne cork popping sound!)
Originally posted at http://www.omdukblog.com/cannes-lions/david-shing-fresh-from-cannes/
By Claire Dean
Airbnb has revolutionised the travel industry, so I was excited to have the chance to hear the CEO and Co-founder Brian Chesky speak recently at the Cannes Lions Festival.
Like many of these disruptive start-ups that appear to explode out of nowhere, there is an inspirational story behind it. And what a great story it was.
So the famous story goes: Brian and co-founder (and good mate) Joe had a dream of starting a business together. They also had a more pressing issue that they couldn’t pay the rent. Knowing a design conference was coming to San Francisco and the city’s hotels were fully booked, they had the bright idea of inviting conference attendees to sleep at their place. They didn’t have any spare beds, just a few air mattresses. They decided to serve breakfast too. And so the name Airbnb was born.
When you hear this story, you tend to hear about the idea and then the bit about the company being worth USD $25 billion. But there was nine years of hard work in the middle between great idea and success.
What I learned at his talk is the same lesson I find myself learning again and again doing what we do: coming up with a good idea is the beginning, not the end.
As I listened to the things that took those ambitious young Americans from idea to success, I realised that these wise words were applicable to our industry too:
- Victory comes to the tenacious: Is it a coincidence that the media agency known for ideas also has tenacity as one of its values? I think not. I believe tenacity is the most important skill in getting a good idea over the line. If you believe in an idea then fight for it!
Thomas Edison is famous for saying that a good idea is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Brian and Jo demonstrated relentless tenacity.
“We tried CNN and they didn’t answer, so we tried the local papers and they didn’t respond, so we called the local bloggers….”
My favourite quote from Brian was “If you launch and no one notices, then just launch again”. Airbnb launched FOUR times before they got traction.
- Disruption is possible through exploiting a weakness. If you want to change the game, find something broken to fix. Airbnb was so successful because it gave people something they wanted and weren’t getting from the travel industry. It worked because it came at a time when the other options in the travel category were lacking cultural relevancy. In the same way, some of the best ideas, like Dove Real Beauty and Always: Like A Girl, are the ones that disrupt conventions in a category that is no longer culturally relevant.
- Sell the intangible– Sell the tangible and you make one sale, sell the intangible and you get a customers for life. Airbnb isn’t just selling a bed and a roof over your head, they are selling belonging. Brands are getting better at telling consumers who they are, why they are here and what they believe in. This really resonates with consumers. It is a trend that is not going away. Get on board or get left behind.
- Identifying emerging cultural trends will give you an edge. In November, Airbnb will be announcing some new developments. Chesky didn’t give too much away but he did indicate that they will be looking more at the end-to-end experience, rather than just offering a bed. They are looking at cultural trends to guide the future of their business: Two key emerging cultural trends they are using to shape their future business model: In the future we will be more mobile and people are more interested in experiences rather than owning things.
OMD UK’s mission is to earn our clients’ brands a greater Share of Life by being Culturally Connected. Chesky put fresh perspective on why being Culturally Connected is important for ideas and business models alike: if you want to create something that will succeed in the future, you need to know what the future looks like.
Originally posted at http://www.omdukblog.com/cannes-lions/coming-up-with-a-good-idea-is-the-beginning-not-the-end/
In 2013, John Lewis fully supported John Lewis Insurance for the first time. As a part of the John Lewis brand it carried a weight of expectation – to deliver leading trust, quality and service in a category famously lacking all three. It has gone on to become a huge success and create an entirely new category of insurance, putting quality above price but still being accessible to the many. And it has even brought new dimensions to its parent brand, not just benefited from the association.
Background
In 2013, the strength of the John Lewis brand was at an all time high. On the back of this strength, there was increased appetite to explore where the brand could usefully serve its customers in new ways. For a department store with a stronghold in homewares and furniture, amplifying its home insurance offering seemed like a natural next step. The John Lewis Partnership had set-up Greenbee insurance in 2006, but it had only enjoyed limited success. Sitting outside of the John Lewis brand, it was mostly unknown to consumers and the John Lewis Partners had been left similarly confused about how to present it to customers. After a name change to John Lewis Insurance and accompanying soft launch in 2010, in 2013 a decision was made to finally fully launch this brand extension. This could not just be a cosmetic branding exercise. To carry the name it had to meet the high expectations that name creates: expectations of quality product design, outstanding service and fair prices. A new underwriter would be brought in; a completely new product range designed; new branding developed and an entirely new marketing campaign created.
The opportunity
During the previous decade, aggregator websites had commoditised insurance, making price the key variable. Brands had to cut their quality and service offerings to compete. The result was that the consumer had been left without an insurance brand they could trust. In fact, insurance companies lagged behind even banks in the trust stakes. John Lewis, on the other hand, was the most trusted retailer in the UK, famous for its quality products and service. There was a clear opportunity to stand for something unique. And we knew this was something that John Lewis customers, in particular, would respond well to. A piece of bespoke research showed a clear difference in their mindset. In the regular insurance path to purchase, price concerns directly followed brand familiarity and then, finally, the level of cover was checked. The John Lewis customer’s journey again started with brand name familiarity, but then moved on to an analysis of the level of cover before, finally, ending with a price check. In other words, John Lewis customers were seeking quality before anything else.
The strategy
We would give the John Lewis homeland audience what they wanted from an insurance brand. To achieve this, we knew we would have to make John Lewis Insurance a uniquely trusted brand in its category by:
- Being a mass-market quality insurance brand. We would design our offering around the core John Lewis values that loyalists already loved – quality, outstanding service and fair prices – and tier these products to make them accessible to the entire John Lewis audience.
- Behaving like a true John Lewis brand. Instead of short-term price-fighting, this meant long-term brand building, leveraging a brand idea and executional approach befitting of the John Lewis brand.
The brand idea
We needed a differentiated brand idea that would allow us to go beyond cynical short-term sales spiking, to instead build long-term brand trust. To identify this, we used a combination of qualitative and key opinion former research. We found 2 powerful insights:
- The difference between “house” and “home”. John Lewis customers saw their homes, not as 4 walls and a roof, but as a collection of the things that meant the most to their family lives. This was what they wanted to protect.
- The threat of catastrophe wasn’t the primary driver. Most John Lewis customers were buying insurance simply to mitigate against the little mishaps that peppered everyday family life. This was what they wanted to protect their things from. Approaching this thinking from the point of view of a true John Lewis brand lead us to conclude that: John Lewis Insurance should be the brand that cares as much as you do about protecting your family’s most cherished items from the joyous but ultimately unpredictable nature of family life.
Finally, this was summed up with the line: “If it matters to you, it matters to us”
Behaving like a true John Lewis brand
Over the next 3 years, we implemented a completely integrated communications campaign that consistently helped us walk-the-walk of a mass-market quality insurance brand. The key to this was bringing to life our new John-Lewis-appropriate idea, within the classic John Lewis executional world. In this way, every single piece of our communications imbued John Lewis Insurance with an inherited sense of quality and trust.
Phase 1:
Introducing our credentials (2013-2015). These TTL communications lead on the Home insurance product and clearly set-out the new end-line and the 1st half of our brand idea, depicting how John Lewis Insurance cares as much as you do about protecting the special items that sit at the heart of your family life.
Phase 2:
Exploding our brand (2015). This set of work refreshed the campaign with a more explicit focus on the 2nd half of our brand idea:the joyous little slip-ups and blunders of family life that you want to protect your special items from.
Extraordinary results
- The products generated immediate sales increases
- The campaigns became a headline-making cultural phenomenon
- This resulted in fantastic R.O.I – in the first phase alone, every £1 spent generated an extra £1.89.
- This seems to have continued into the 2nd phase (2015), with sales up 61% and commission up 41%.
- And not only did we build a distinctive category position, but we did so in a way that also created an effect for the parent brand – generating a further £2.9m of extra sales for John Lewis overall.
This has been the story of how the John Lewis brand extended beyond retail, to deliver its famous brand of trust, quality and service in a market that badly needed it. It has also been the story of how John Lewis Insurance stole the nation’s hearts and built an insurance brand consumers could actually feel good about. But most of all, this has been the story of how John Lewis Insurance invented it’s very own category, became a huge commercial success and, finally, a powerful new income stream for the John Lewis Partnership.
By Claire Dean
One of the best things about The Cannes Lions Festival is stumbling upon gold. There are the big blockbuster talks that you have scheduled in your calendar ahead of time. Then there are those you just wander into, not quite knowing what to expect. The Innovation Lions Shortlist presentations were one of those. And one of the most memorable sessions of my week.
The Innovation Lions are like no other category. They are the only category where those who are shortlisted are asked to present their work to a jury in person. Luckily for me, delegates at Cannes can go along and watch these presentations.
Here is the official word on what the category is about:
The Innovation Lions celebrate pioneering technological creativity. Entries need to demonstrate the relationship between a big idea and radical tech; that is, bespoke solutions that fulfil an unaddressed consumer need or deliver a product, service or brand message in a newly-invented way.
Ok so these all involve creating a physical innovative product which might be outside of the standard ‘media’ agency brief. But given that ‘creating something physical’ was an emerging trend this year across all categories, it is very relevant to what we do. At the very worst, they will blow your mind and inspire you.
Here are my top picks:
- The Next Rembrandt. J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam brought the artist back to life by creating a deep learning algorithm capable of producing 3D printed paintings in the style of Rembrandt. The AI creative genius analysed his 346 paintings to ‘learn’ his style before creating ‘The Next Rembrandt’, brought to life through an advanced printer which printed 13 layers of paint based UV ink. Who said AI can’t be creative?!
2. The Field Trip To Mars: Kids in New York were treated to the first school field trip to Mars. Piling onto a school bus, the kids thought they were taking a regular school trip. In reality, the clever people at McCann New York, turned the windows of the bus into screens, creating the world’s first group VR experience. Oh what magic. You can’t watch the video without getting goosebumps.
3. Edible Six Pack Rings. Plastic six-pack rings found on six packs of beer end up in the ocean and are harmful to wildlife who try to eat them or worse, get caught in them. Saltwater brewery and their agency We Believers created an alternative:
“We ideated, designed, prototyped and manufactured Edible Six Pack Rings. A six-pack packaging design made with materials that instead of killing animals are edible. By using by-products of the beer brewing process such as barley and wheat, this packaging goes beyond recycling and strives to achieve zero waste. The Edible Six Pack Rings are the first ever 100% biodegradable, compostable and edible packaging implemented in the beer industry.”
This was part of a growing trend for brands to do something good for the environment or society and set the benchmark for the rest of the industry.
4. Sun Hats: DDB Colombia created Solar Powered Sun Hats to give to Colombian workers in order to teach them about solar power. An innovative and effective way to reach audiences who are in places where no media reaches them and are often illiterate. What a clever way to add value to people’s lives whilst overcoming insurmountable barriers to communicate with this audience.
Originally posted at http://www.omdukblog.com/cannes-lions/highlights-from-cannes-innovation-lions/
By Claire Dean
What a week in Cannes! Yes, there was Rosé. Yes, there was inspiring work. We even brought home a few Lions of our own. But most of all I enjoyed hearing wise words from the industry’s smartest people.
One of my favourite sessions was the daily morning session hosted by The Economist called “Wake up with the Economist”. The panel featured three different CMOs each day and was Chaired by Daniel Franklin, the Economist’s Executive Editor.
The CMOs featured in the Monday session were:
- Atilla Cansun, CMO Merck Consumer Health
- Jorn Socquet, Vice President of Marketing Anheuser Busch
- Neil George, Vice President, Emerging Markets, Beiersdorf.
Here are five key learnings I took away from the discussion:
- Creative ideas can come from anywhere. Listen to the people who spend time with your business: your staff, especially the young ones who bring in fresh eyes, consumers themselves, your suppliers and your retailers.
- Consumers of the future want to buy from brands with values. Consumers of today are interested in brand purpose and respond to more emotive, human, right brain messaging. We need to move away from purely rational left brain ‘efficacy’ messaging and evoke an emotional response.
- Taking no risk is the risk itself. As an industry we need to be braver: CMOs don’t take enough risks – and their agencies need to push them to do so. We don’t want to have difficult conversations with our boss. Our job is to do what is right, not what is easy.
- Unlock the untapped value of social media: Budweiser uses social media to apologise when something goes wrong. Nivea uses it to test ideas early on with their core fans. Realise social media is not just another channel, it’s a rare chance to interact with your brand advocates.
- Microsegments will be the audience targeting challenge of the future. 2017 and beyond will show a long tail of extreme micro-segments. How do you deliver personalised messaging to extreme micro targets? This will be our challenge in the near future.
Originally posted at http://www.omdukblog.com/cannes-lions/wake-up-with-the-economist-a-review-from-cannes/