Cannes Lions exists to celebrate creativity and recognises world-class marketing, but would awards that name and shame bad marketing encourage better work across the board?
It was suggested – only partly in jest – at a fringe event at Cannes Lions hosted by The Economist.
“There is so much noise and so much bad marketing out there, it’s terrible,” said Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO of Airbnb.
Mildenhall pointed to the Razzies – the awards that occurs every year a week before The Oscars to call out the very worst in film.
“The Razzies are designed so that the top directors and actors and actresses think twice about taking on shitty jobs. So what would it be like if the week before Cannes, the world’s shittiest marketing was held up and awards were given," he said.
"And special awards given to the world’s shittiest marketing directors, because if there were awards for shitty marketing directors, I genuinely believe that the quality of marketing across the world would improve, and then you wouldn’t have young millennials trying to avoid all the marketing that we put out there, especially on their mobile phones. So my recommendation is for ‘Cannes Shittiest’ this time next year.”
It got a laugh from the crowd, but there’s a point there to be made about accountability for bad work, said Alexandra Suich, The Economist’s US technology editor, who hosted the panel.
Mildenhall was speaking on a panel alongside Alison Lewis, CMO of Johnson and Johnson, and John Rudaizky, global brand and external communications leader at EY (Ernst & Young). The panel touched on a range of topics consuming the creative industries such as ethnic diversity, agency payment terms and effective marketing.
You can read more on that session and others at Cannes throughout the week as well as full coverage in print in the next issue of AdNews.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop me a line at rosiebaker@yaffa.com.au
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