Anna Wintour: Poise and grandeur
Anna Wintour, Condé Nast artistic director and arguably the most powerful woman in fashion, has some advice for publishing and for advertising in general: now is the time for “grander ideas and big investments of time and heft”. Wintour, who wowed the audience with her poise and candour, didn’t shy away from the challenges of print media, noting that despite the heritage of the brands in the Condé Nast stable, it was something “we’ve been stressing about”.
“How does Condé Nast expect to set itself apart in the digital age when its strengths, a stable of high profile magazines, a big circulation base, and some of the most iconic print and photography journalists of the era, must now face off against
‘Ten surprising facts about Donald Trump’s hair,’ or '15 irresistible photos of morbidly obese cats?” Wintour challenged.
“Finding your way doesn’t mean surviving, just as pleasing an audience doesn’t mean twisting your editorial around search engine optimisation and Facebook algorithms. For one thing, everybody is doing that, it’s unimaginative, it’s old hat. Creativity means thinking about the lives of our audience and how to connect with them.”
While it’s a strategy that might be difficult for brands with less cachet than those under the Condé Nast umbrella, Wintour’s forthright answers to the challenges in the industry meant that her speech was called out by many creatives AdNews spoke to, as one of the best of the festival.
It also has particular relevance for advertising in a digital environment, given the rise of adblocking in response to uninspiring advertising content on the web. Wintour urged the industry to “aim high” instead of conceding to seemingly easy wins.
“I want to make the case for grander ideas and big investments of time and heft. The circle of weak effort is vicious, creative people in turn spend less time and less energy making their work less polished.” Amen.
Vice: How to reach the youth
Vice Media makes 7000 pieces of content every day around the world. It’s a long way past being a magazine and while it’s often heralded as a new breed of media - the brand is 24 years old. What it’s doing so well is connecting with a youth audience and getting their eyeballs around themes in a way the so called old school media thought was impossible.
This month Vice launched its TV network Viceland in Australia and is expanding its news network and growing it fast. Shane Smith, who co-founded Vice in 1994, was this year’s media person of the year at Cannes Lions. He talked about the process of creating a news network that the youth market values above the traditional channels.
“When we started news we were told that young people don’t like news and we saw that as a big white space of opportunity. When we launched, no one talked about the news [content] or what we did or that we embedded ourselves in ISIS; they just talked about the way we looked.
“They didn’t like the content, didn’t like young people, didn’t like the hipster angle. No one had seen a frame yet, but everyone weighed in,” he said. “You saw the rift of new media and old media before anyone had seen a frame [of Vice News]. That’s when we realised it was great. It was a de-stratification of the status quo. We're a challenger brand, we weren’t going to play by the usual rules because we didn’t want to be derivative.”
Not striving for perfection is one way Vice has tackled the evolution of its content – preferring to just try things out and see what happens.
“If you look at the way a lot of content is made - it can be death by a thousand cuts, there’s so many producers and execs involved … we make a lot of everything, but we just go out and do it. We pilot everything. If it’s shit we don't make it. We just try stuff, we're not afraid to fail,” Smith said.
“I think a lot of media companies want to be perceived as perfect, and nothing, no media is, and we're not afraid to say that. It doesn’t scare advertisers because they know they need to get to this audience - everyone always says [millennials are] the hardest market to reach, but they are the biggest media consumers in history. The problem is you have to reach them in the right way and there's a different language. If you're afraid of that language, you're not going to reach them.”
Most of the company is under 30, Smith said, which keeps content ‘Vice’ in tone, but its team of editors and creators work alongside director Spike Jonze, who Smith said is like “a mini finishing school” for its content producers.
Virtually there
It was tough to walk 100 metres at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity without encountering some kind of virtual reality, whether that was on the stage in the talks, in the awards shortlists and winners, or an experiential activation to try out a set of Oculus goggles.
There were some examples of phenomenal VR applications and executions, such as the Grand Prix–winning ‘The Displaced’ work for The New York Times, created by Vrse.works out of LA.
But, while it was seemingly this year’s hottest topic, VR is still a way off reaching critical mass from both a user and a content perspective. To become mainstream, it has to offer consumers some kind of value-add and be cheap and accessible for all.
Samsung, which was this year’s Marketer of the Year, had a huge presence and was on a mission to get as many people as possible to physically experience virtual reality. It hosted a VR lounge with pods where anyone could try out a range of content using its Gear VR devices and it went as far as setting up a roller–coaster simulator so that people could feel the motion while viewing the content for a full immersion. The keynote presentation by Samsung CMO, Marc Mathieu, aimed to demonstrate what Samsung called its “beyond the frame” storytelling on VR.
He presented a number of examples of VR content on its Gear VR Oculus platform and described virtual reality as the creation of a completely new media.
However, his former colleague Keith Weed, CMO of Unilever, believes although it is an “incredible opportunity” for brands, the industry is still “in the foothills of VR”. So, AdNews asked what it would take for VR to become mainstream.
“I always say about technology, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. You should start off with the consumer, but having said that I think it will be a huge part of what we do,” Weed said. “We've been in a rectangular box for hundreds of years; VR liberates that box and it's incredibly exciting for brands because people like immersive experiences.
Cannes: What the juries said
Advertising is expanding well and truly out of its box and if there was a predominant theme emerging out of this year’s jury rooms it was this. Surprising work in well established, traditional media categories was chosen, for not only challenging the convention of what these channels can do, but for propelling it forward by choosing innovation over the norm. Often the winners were selected because they showed where the industry is going, not necessarily where it's at.
This was probably best expressed in the Outdoor Lions, which saw Colenso BBDO Auckland awarded the Grand Prix for its ‘Brewtroleum’ campaign for DB Export, in which the agency created a fuel from the by-products of beer. In his remarks to the press room for the unusual choice, jury president, J. Walter Thompson Brazil CCO, Ricardo John, said it pointed to the future of the channel.
“It used to be just a display category where you would show your best craft … but it’s now a category that really interacts with you and has become a live organism. It has become a tablet, a device.”
It was similarly the case in the Print & Publishing category which saw Y&R Auckland’s McWhopper print ad win the Grand Prix despite jury president, Joji Jacob, DDB group executive creative director, acknowledging that aesthetically, there were “better print ads”.
“What was big was the idea behind it, which we think is the future of print,” Jacob said.
“It’s not just a nice piece that ends up as fish wrap tomorrow, but something that creates a conversation; that gets hijacked by the rest of the dominant media and starts spreading the work.”
For juries in new categories, the pressure is also in defining the category for future submissions, which is often a solemn consideration in awarding the top gong.
Digital Craft jury president and founder of MediaMonks, Wesley ter Haar, noted that while there was a briefing document for juries of new categories, they did have some “discretion” when it came to defining the category through the process of judging it.
“I think work bubbled up that deserved attention, but was difficult to celebrate within the Cannes context [without this category],” ter Haar said.
Risky business means more
Being bold enough to risk it all is easier to say than do, but Airbnb founder, Brian Chesky, has lived it. He talked about the company’s evolution from a near failure, risking it all and putting principles before business decisions.
Airbnb is one of the biggest disruptor brands in the world, but while it’s growing at breakneck speed and is idolised as an example of a successful startup, it wasn’t always so.
The site launched three times unsuccessfully before gaining any traction, he admitted. It’s also been through some testing times to reach where it is now. In 2011, one host’s home was completely trashed by guests staying via Airbnb and everything the brand did to try to remedy the situation seemed to make it worse. But, behind weathering the storm was his willingness to “risk it all” to stand by his principles. Airbnb wrote to every member and offered every host a guarantee of up to $50,000 for damages.
“There’s a difference between a business decision and a principle decision. [It comes down to] how do you want to be remembered? For all we knew it could have taken the entire company down, but the question was did we want people to have faith in us? What’s more important? You have to be willing to risk everything that you have. The alternative is that no one cares,” he explained.
Under Armour and David Droga also repped the underdog during their session, telling the room Droga5 resigned its larger account with Puma to work with Under Armour because of what the brand stood for.
“We resigned that other account to work on a smaller opportunity because we knew if we proved to Under Armour that we could do something distinctive then we would earn the right to do more,” Droga said.
“That’s the thing I’d say to everyone: choose the brand, choose the person, choose the mission, choose the mandate, because your agency will grow. Just believe in what you’re selling. It’s no coincidence or luck that the best companies are those that believe in what they’re doing.
Gender isn’t the only kind of diversity
Cannes is as much about the culture of the industry as the creativity. A leaked email from a third party event organiser that specified an invite list was “for models and attractive women” only served to explode the already hot topic of gender equality and diversity throughout the week.
Cindy Gallop led the charge with powerful and thought provoking talk that challenged the “male dominated” industry to normalise sex. She also called out the book The Case for Creativity that was given away to every delegate for not featuring a single female among the ranks of advertising contributors and highlighted a winning campaign that made light of rape.
Meanwhile Tamara Ingram, the newly appointed CEO of JWT worldwide, who replaced Gustavo Martinez, following his alleged sexist and racist conduct, was on a panel dubbed ‘World Wise Women’ which explored how to get more female leadership in creative departments.
Unilever used Cannes this year to kick off a global initiative to change the way it depicts women in ads, in recognition that the two–dimensional domestic stereotype of females in ads is not representative.
Through #Unstereotype, it has pledged to modernise its ads with more progressive portrayals of women.
But, while clearly an issue that needs more action from the top down and bottom up, gender is the low hanging fruit and isn’t the only kind of diversity the industry needs more of.
Jonathan Mildenhall, Airbnb CMO, made the observation during a panel hosted by
The Economist, that broadly speaking, he and Hollywood actor Will Smith were in a minority of those speaking at the event.
Mildenhall, whose company Airbnb is currently dealing with an issue of unconscious bias and racism on its platform, said: ”Other than Will Smith… I'm the only black face in Cannes.
“I'm dealing with a real challenge for Airbnb and looking for ways to address that and I look at the industry and I don't see as much ethnic diversity as I'd like to see.
“I'm really troubled and challenged by who I might work with to help me address one of the biggest problems affecting the Airbnb brand. The industry can help by putting diversity in their marketing campaigns, but really it's all about root level access [and recruiting].”
As the CEOs of five of the six biggest global advertising networks shared the stage to launch the United Nation’s Common Good initiative to tackle international issues such as poverty and hunger, it was notable there was not one woman among them.
This prompted BBC journalist Zeinab Bedawi, who hosted the panel, to call for more diversity among the senior ranks.
The percentage of women in the festival’s juries this year reached 40%, which is impressive considering the industry, but the broad picture is that diversity is severely lacking.
“You get whiplash looking for the next new thing”
While Cannes might seem to be all about the glamour, beneath the rosé–coloured glasses it’s a festival about 'the work' but behind the work has to be effectiveness and return for clients.
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute director Dr Byron Sharp took to the stage to dispel myths around what marketers and agencies think are effective tools and to unveil what actually works.
“Too often it seems like brands get excited about the new thing at the expense of the last,” Sharp said.
“There is not enough intelligent data informing what works and what doesn’t … you get whiplash always looking for the next new thing.”
While brands might be chasing the rhetoric about “engaging the consumer”, Sharp argues the only way for brands to grow is through reach and that means creating awareness of the brand to low–use customers rather than engaging the ‘super fans’ who already use the product.
“If heavy Coke drinkers see an ad for Coke, what does it make them do? Nothing,” Sharp said.
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) launched Selling Creativity Short – Creativity and Effectiveness Under Threat, a report that discusses the impact of short–term campaigns on brands.
It’s an issue brought about as a result of a focus on digital, which allows ROI to be measured by brand marketers in a much shorter time frame. It’s also something not just impacting the UK market, where the IPA is headquartered, but has been happening in the Australian industry as well.
Author of the report, Peter Field, called this trend “the seduction of short–termism”, saying that it has killed off the potential benefits of the digital revolution by undermining brand work.
“We’ve had more than a decade of being taught the great thing about digital comms is that we can measure results instantly, but there is a price to pay,” Field said, instead urging advertisers and marketers to focus on the long–term brand work for the best results.
Michelle Teague, marketing director of Kmart Australia, was on the creative effectiveness jury, and raised concerns that the industry doesn’t know what effectiveness means. She told AdNews that a “dismal” number of entires actually demonstrated it, opting instead to highlight social media metrics.
On the brink of the AI future
The buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) this year was almost palpable, but while the industry might be pushing towards it, it’s clear the journey to machine intelligence is just getting started.
The Innovation Lions jury clearly envisioned an AI future by awarding Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo, the system which beat a grandmaster at Go, the Grand Prix for the category.
But jury president and Finch Australia director of applied technology, Emad Tahtouh, said that it's the leap and the progress that the work symbolises, that caused it to be given top marks rather than it being the pinnacle of what AI can do.
"AlphaGo by any measure - complexity, simplicity, potential use, success - is incredible," he said. "I'm sure we'll see more machine learning projects over the next few years. Awarding this is the future.”
AI isn’t just the future when it comes to picking up Lions either. One of the most talked about sessions, hosted by PHD and featuring editor of Wired, Kevin Kelly, suggested that humankind is on the brink of incredible change as a result of AI. Kelly said that AI exists now (think Siri and Google Now), but it’s just that people tend to attribute the term to upcoming technologies, whereas existing AI gets called “machine learning” or “algorithms”.
But he does believe that humankind is on the precipice of an explosion of AI that will bring about a “second industrial revolution”.
While the first industrial revolution saw “artificial power” increase productivity, Kelly said the next step will be turning ordinary processes into “smart processes”.
“We can access this commodity [AI] like we have electricity,” he said.
“What I would suggest is that the formula for the next 10,000 startups is very simple: take X and add AI. Take something that isn’t smart today and add as many minds to it as you want.”
With advancements in the sector already happening, and with the industry’s focus squarely on it, there is likely to be a lot more AI work pulling in trophies in next year’s Lions.
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