Cannes Lions 2023 - Sammery

Bonjour Cannes - If Corona was good for one thing, it's the fact that festivals are hybrid now. So, also the Cannes Lions festival. Therefore I stocked my fridge with a nice selection of French Rosé - watching the keynotes and lectures from my sofa. Yes,  in a yacht on site it would be nicer - but at least this week will bring sun and 30 degrees in Munich as well. Voila, everything is perfect for a week full of inspiration from Croisette. 




This is what I learned at Day 1:


🌴 When a campaign is skipped 48 hours before execution

A start was made by Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing Officer of AB InBev, the beer company which is honored this year as Most Creative Marketer of the Year (a controversial decision).

Is the award well deserved? After all, Budweiser demonstrated the greatest flexibility – with their “World Cup Campaign for Qatar” as they turned a disaster into success. Budweiser's brand marketeers and their agencies developed the World Cup campaign 2022 for more than four years. But 48 hours before kick-off shocking news came: no beer in Qatar. Budweiser's first reaction, as Marcel Marcondes expressed it on stage: "WHAT???". Then they went back to work and turned everything – came up with a new campaign giving an answer to a burning question: Where to put all the beer that was supposed to be served to all the soccer fans in Qatar? How they did it? See their solution here.

And how far-sighted AB InBev was can be seen in the World Soccer TV spot for Quilmes that aired before the World Cup. Marcondes is Brazilian and it hurts him deeply that in 2022 Argentina took home the pot. But the Quilmes commercial is a triumph for him, because he could say ... AB InBev had known it … before. Wonderful storytelling – have a look!


🌴 Creativity is about growth

“High performing creative work is 16x more likely to bring major profitability growth” – 

That´s what the Cannes Lions say. And that´s also what Marce Marcondes from AB InBev said on stage. Creative Communication and Marketing helped AB InBev to growth and even to grow the category and industry. You need more proof than just quotes? Then have a look into James Hurman´s Book “The Case for Creativity” (published 2016 by the Cannes Lions … so ups it´s a PR piece for the awards, but the facts are true). Or have a look into the “Creative Effectiveness Ladder”, published 2019 by Cannes Lions together with WARC. Here you learn about Creativity and Efficiency plus you get a feeling what really counts at the Cannes Lions.




What I learned at Day 2:


🌴 Men

Men are wearing caps on stage. So we can´t see their eyes. A bit odd.

🌴 Business as usual

All is terrific, fantastic, creative, innovative … so far no change at the post-pandamic #CannesLions. All is about growth, efficiency, braveness, customer centricity … so far no change to the CannesLions before Russia went to war against us. All is super, powerful, amazing … so far no change to the CannesLions before Trump, Musk, Johnson, populism and the crisis of democracy. What the .... ????

🌴 AI AI AI

Sip a Glas of Rosé whenever AI is mentioned - and I am drunken already ... and its 12:00 in the morning  ... 😄for some fun have a look here.

By the way.... the question: “Will AI take away our jobs?” is not a very clever one. will.i.am demonstrates live on stage how AI will do that anyway (have a look into his live demonstration right on stage).

Nikon Peru found an  great answer to all the AI chat: “Natural Intelligence – Don´t give up on the real world”. Outstanding photos about a ubelievable real world – Watch the case film

🌴 US rules

US brands dominate the stages at Cannes. Budweiser, P&G, General Mills, American Express and so on. They all talk about “diversity”– and it´s a very U.S. version of “diversity”.

🌴 The area of brand is over

Products centric communication is back: have a look in to Marc Pritchard´s keynote. Procter & Gamble is going back to basics.

Scott Galloway - NYU’s Stern School of Business makes a bold statement: “The aera of brands is over.” Appel is running no more brand ads, they focus on products. People are nor more watching TV ads. The biggest brands are all cutting advertising budgets. Being a brand manager is no more aspirational:

“So we, in Brand Strategy Classes, train people to ride a horse.” 

Who needs to know how to rid a horse? Puh …

🌴 “Everyone will become an entertainer.

The world of tomorrow is a world of entertainers” Listen to will.i.am about “Unlocking Everybody’s Innate Creative Potential: The New Era of Collaboration” on stage at Cannes - and you know what will come... a world of entertainers.

🌴 What?

Day two is ove and... No keynote, no talk, no pannel, no POV, not a single sentence about earth warming, climate change and consequences for business – or responsibilities for the advertising and communications industry. I hope for tomorrow.



What I learned at Day 3:


🌴 How to color your hair

What a wonderful brand ambassador. I learned how to color my hair – with a tutorial made by Eva Longoria LÓreal. In this video Eva is supermodel, is camera women, is director, is cutter, is hairdresser. She did all on her own, at home in her own private bathroom. Showing her grey hair – right in the camera. A wonderful authentic piece of adversting. A must see

🌴 Is “RESET” the motto of CannesLions 2023? 

Nearly every brand manager and agency representative on stage talks somehow about a form of “reset” – Reset after pandemic, Reset after content shock, Reset of SocialMedia, Reset with with influencers, TikTok and so on. 
Reset and focus - are key. Focus on products. Focus on business. Focus on efficiency. Have a look into the talk between Alex Lubar from DDB Worldwide and Sofia Colucci, CMO of Molson Coors on the principles of effective advertising for Miller Lite´s. As Colucci says: 

“Most of the creative we are looking for has to focus on the functional: taste, calories, packaging – it´s pretty basic. But effective.” 

Or another quote from her: “I know this is all not rocket science. But it´s fun and it works.” So that´s the “new normal” after the pandemic. (and oh… forgot to mention: it´s another U.S. brand – again dominating the stage at Cannes. Sofia Colucci seems to think that Europeans don´t know Miller Lite. So she is holding a can of Miller Light beer in her hand - over the full talk on stage  - without sipping. Plus is dressed in a Miller Light TShirt).



What I learned at Day 4:


🌴 Is it truly earned?

 Jo-ann Robertson, CEO Global Markets Ketchum announced the Cannes PR Lions. The jury reviewed 1.600 entries for 52 awards. Robertson described the 3 criteria for the awards: 
  1. Is the campaign truly earned? 
  2. Does the campaign led deep in culture? 
  3. Does it have real business, commercial or societal impact?
Interesting definition of PR, isn´t it. Robertson: “Earned is not a channel or a category – Earned is really a goal and a mission because when you can earn your audiences attention and time, that really is a privilege for any brand or organization.” (ok, if PR is not a category than that is a good excuse that again an Advertising agency took away the Grand Prix of the PR jury). See Robertsons here on stage with her award speech.

🌴 The Cannes Lions Grand Prix for PR 

went to DoorDash for celebrating self love on Valentine's Day (I am not commenting on this)

🌴 Do we need more humour?

Andrew Robertson, BBDO Worldwide, wants to see more humour in advertising. I agree, it's wonderful if you can make people laugh. But is this "creative concept" of humour state of the art? Suitable for theses days? The right thing for now? And hey, havn´t we had this already in the 90s? So isn't that – after all - just an endless longing for the "good old days". Nostalgia at its best? In any case, it's not new.

🌴 How to spell Heinneken .. or Heinekken?

Heineken celebrates its 150th anniversary. Cannes Lions celebrates its 70th anniversary. Together, they have come a long way. Reason enough for the beer brand to take to the stage at the Croisette. And to talk about creativity at Heineken. At the core of their creativity is: data. Data defines the ideation. Data defines the execution. Data defines the implementation (and AI will play a big role in this, ups). But some things data can not bring: coincidences and accidents. And here comes the 150th anniversary campaign. You should know: Heineken is the most misspelled brand in the world. Not only among beer brands. Among all brands worldwide. People simply don't know how to spell Heineken - and there are almost infinite ways to do it wrong (by the way the agency “Ketchum” does have a similar problem). #Heinneken #Haineken #Heinekken … so what … See yourself

🌴 Is Popculture dead?

 Marcus Collins of Wieden+Kennedy asked, "Is popular culture dead?" And he gives himself the correct answer: of course not. Since "popular culture" comes from "subculture," there are endless streams of "niches" that can become "popular." What is changing is the way we see "popular culture" in the 21st century. So is there a future for "mass brands"? Brands that have built their core on 20th century popular culture are better shifting to subcultures. The future is "niche." For more, better read Collin's book, "For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be."

🌴 Massculture isn´t over

I learned from Ellie Bamford, Chief Strategy Officer at Wunderman Thompson, that mass culture is "monoculture". And we may think that when it comes to streaming with Netflix, Spotify & Co, the days of "monoculture" are over. In the “old days” we watched TV linear and had simultaneous entertainment experiences. Today everyone get´s his/her own journey, your individual bubble. And there are rare moments of simultaneity, which are very expensive for advertising such as Superbowl, Eurovision, World Cup. Is the time of “monoculture” aka “mass culture” over? Yes and no. 

Algorithms still feed us with “monoculture”. Bramford pointed out in 2023 more than 2.9 million people watched the finale of “Succession” (an HBO show) together. 2019 more than 19.3 million watched the end of “Game of Thrones”. 2005 “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” ended and 52.5 million are watching. “Seinfeld” hat its finale 1998 and 76.3 million are watching. And the absolute winner in this competition of “finals”: “M*A*S*H” – aired 1983. It´s the largest audience to ever watch a primetime tvshow with 106 million viewers. And that´s not the end as “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” and “M*A*S*H” remain showrunner at Netflix & Co until today. So hey, there is still “mass culture”. And there are – rare – moments we all share together. But the game is tough. According to Bramford on average there are only five days of excitement, before the next “big thing” / “must see” comes along.


🌴 All you do counts

And there is one more learning from Ellie Bamford, Chief Strategy Officer at Wunderman Thompson: “All you do counts!”. Sounds simple. But is dynamite. What she means by that? Well, every little action or reaction of your communication can turn into a bomb. Any quick post on Twitter can turn into a shitstorm. Any tiny comment in a speech or panel discussion, in any meeting or conversation, can turn against you. Brands - and their representatives - are more vulnerable than ever. Anything, really anything, can be used against you. Whew ... brave new world!

🌴 Storytelling versus Narration

Storytelling – or better “Narration” is rare at this Cannes Lions. But some stories are exceptional. Such as the documentary mady by #On, the Swiss running shoe specialist, founded 2010 presents a documentary film that tells the story of a refugee from South Sudan. Next year, they plan to submit the film to Cannes Lions. Have a look.


🌴Award winning work you must know



What I learned at Day 5,
the last day of the Cannes Lions 2023:


🌴 It´s a Posttruth World - with AI 

The „post truth world of AI“ we fear is already here. Pandora's box is open. Numerous communication campaigns at this years Cannes Lions Awards work with fake news and alternative truths. Consumers are becoming accustomed to misinformation. All this is beautifully packaged in humour, scurrility and creativity. Yes, and it´s effective… but also dangerous. Dangerous for any trustworthy news in the future.

You want to see examples? Have a look into:

“Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” by Ogilvy, Mumbai - Grand Prix winners in the Creative Effectiveness Lions. Every smallest shop in India is invited work with the most famous actor in the world, Shah Rukh Khan. With the help of AI they can adopt a standard ad into a individual advertising for small business – just with a clicks

Or “Clash from the Past” by Wieden+Kennedy, Portland | Grand Prix winners in the Entertainment Lions: The computer game "Clash of Clans" celebrates its 10th anniversary. But instead of celebrating the 10th anniversary, they celebrated the 40th anniversary. And simply invent 30 years of game history. Great idea. If it weren't for the fake news. 

And one more example: Bronze Lion at Cannes PR Lions for “Airtel 175 Replayed” by Leo Burnett India – they recreated a legendary cricket game with the help of AI. Awesome use of technology – but not real. 

But hey, that's just the beginning. German magazine “werben & verkaufen” comments on CannesLions 2023: „And what about AI? Artificial intelligence, this question keeps coming up at Cannes this year, but it seems to have played little role. `We expected much more,´ says Jo-ann Robertson, CEO of Ketchum, which chaired the PR jury in 2023. The big breakthrough probably won't come until 2024, she says. Michael Ohanian says, `AI isn't being used surprisingly enough yet.´” Ok … so watch out for 2024.


🌴Skills of a Creative

At this CannesLions Wieden+Kennedy´s Art Director Susan Hoffman was honored with the Lion of St. Mark. Hoffman is the agency´s employee No 8 and she made her name on Nike or P&G work and has been carrying on the co-founders´ legacy. She was asked what skilles are needed by creatives today. Some of her answers are:
Some other advise from Susan:
  • Go in the office. You can´t do real creativity at home alone.
  • Go out of limits. Push each other further. Creativity is teamwork.
  • Inject human emotion in every piece of work
  • And finally: Be really hungry. You have to work hard. It is not easy. Great work doesn´t come over night. Work super hard. And …. come to the office.

🌴Creativity is a Platform

Great creativity is based on insights that provide a platform that can be developed over and over again. One of the best examples of insight-driven campaigns is P&G's "Thank you, Mom" campaign, which debuted in 2010 for the London Olympics. To this day, the insight "Great athletes have great moms" has been re-staged over and over again - with wonderful results. See for yourself:

🌴Best Talk of all: Patagonia

And than – at the very last day, one of the nearly final presentations at Cannes Lions 2023 came Patagonia. Tyler LaMotte, Marketing Director EMEA Patagonia, showed in a remarkable way, unexcited and self-confident, how far Patagonia is in its mission - miles different in its communication, outpacing conventional brands. LaMotte's speech was a lesson for all of us. Patagonia is committed to a clear mission as no other brand. Patagonia is credible in its actions and communication like no other brand. Everything - from business model to each single video - from purpose and activism – nearly everything fits together and fulfils their mission “We´re in business to save our home planet.” And they are deadly serious about it.



LaMotte started his talk with fantastic storytelling: Patagonia is celebrating its 50th anniversary. And the company started not as a clothing company. It started as a climbing company. And the attitude you need to have as a climbing company stays with them until today: Unlike a fashion brand, customers' lives, literally lives, depend on the products of a climbing company.




With this responsibility, product quality plays a massive role for Patagonia products as athletes like climbers, surfers … rely on them. But today, Patagonia is redefining quality. Following criteria are important today:
  • Is it functional
  • Is it multifunctional
  • Is it durable
  • Is it easy to handle
  • Is it repairable
This attitude explains the wonderful campaign "Worn Wear" (https://wornwear.patagonia.com/) - and even go one step further. Patagonia wants to guide customers to more a responsible approach to clothing. Before buying something new, you should ask yourself if you really need something new. Or whether the old can't be repaired. And whether the repaired garment might even be more valuable than a new one. As there are so many memories and stories in the old one.

Patagonia wants a transition: from customers to owners. Owners who care. Owners who protect what they own - and thus consume much more sustainably than before.




This attitude explains the wonderful campaign "Worn Wear" (https://wornwear.patagonia.com/) - and even go one step further. Patagonia wants to guide customers to more a responsible approach to clothing. Before buying something new, you should ask yourself if you really need something new. Or whether the old can't be repaired. And whether the repaired garment might even be more valuable than a new one. As there are so many memories and stories in the old one.

Patagonia wants a transition: from customers to owners. Owners who care. Owners who protect what they own - and thus consume much more sustainably than before.



As Tyler LaMotte says: “Repair is a radical act – and is a contra program the fast fashion industry. And we even repair competitor products.”






The anniversary campaign "Patagonia50" was therefore also awaited with great excitement. Launched in June this year Patagonia asks “What´s Next” and is very clear how to achieve results in the next 50 years featuring “simplicity”, “human power”, “resilience” and “finding joy”. Key to solutions to save earth Patagonia believes in “doing things different” and in “collaboration.”




From now on they define themselves as an activist company: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together”. So have a look into their Campaign “Whats Next”.

And watch their teaser film featuring a series of brilliant movies focussing on the Ocean 8https://eu.patagonia.com/de/de/stories/voices-for-the-ocean/video-79274.html)




And to prove that Patagonia is a true activist, LeMotte shows the audience at the CannesLions a QR-code to a petition calling to ban bottom trawls in the ocean. So: be sure to go to the petition page and get active: 




This talk by Patagonia was almost the only session that gave hope for the advertising industry - hopt, that they realize what really matters. The rest of the festival unfortunately ignored where the real problems of this generation are.




But at the very end it did get a little uncomfortable - especially for Edelman, the PR agency that recently published its trust study. A young women – representing GenZ –stood up in a panel discussion with Edelman consultants on stage. And she asks about the responsibility of these PR consultants who work for the oil and carbon industry. Here is the answer she got.

And then things got a little more uncomfortable for the PR people at Cannes Lions - with this action by environmental activists. Have a look here. Or watch the protest live on Instagram here.




 







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