It's that time of the year again. The Cannes Festival of Creativity.
Last year, I wrote an article that was about how a darker side of Cannes had challenged my values in advertising when a number of agencies were found guilty of entering awards that clients did not approve.
Here's what was different in 2017
This year, my values have been challenged again, but for a different reason that started with a couple of announcements from Publicis and WPP. The new Publicis Groupe CEO, Arthur Sadoun announced a ban on entering all award shows due to cost savings, including Cannes and WPP boss, Sir Martin Sorrell hinted at downgrading involvement at Cannes and focus growing client businesses. That got me thinking about the value of Cannes Lions to clients and what they represent for the work we produce.
Here's the thing. The fact that Cannes only has one award out of the 24 categories that connects exceptional creative work with outstanding results got me thinking that awards possibly value creative thinking more than growing client businesses. In the wise words of the famous Old El Paso girl, "Why can't we have both?"
I have questions about what the two weeks of sipping rosé in the South of France means to our clients and to our industry. Sure, it is probably still the most glamorous industry event, judging from the photos and updates that fill my social feeds, but what's it all really worth when it comes to producing brilliant work that grows a client's business?
What I believe
I still stand by what I wrote last year in my 2016 Cannes post: "My belief [is] that advertising should be designed and executed with the intent of commercially benefiting client businesses. To me, creative advertising that doesn't aim to deliver commercial benefits is an example of poor art. Poor art doesn't grow business."
I've been lucky to work with a number of brilliant clients who share the same belief as me, which is that if you're going to win an award, it'll be as a result of business growth. We did, and have been recipients of Effie, ADMA and AC+E effectiveness awards, which are simply an indication that we're all on the right track.
To justify success and eventual entry to these awards, we use a combination of econometric models, independent brand health trackers and creative diagnostics, internal sales metrics and customer metrics to demonstrate why we deserved to win effectiveness awards. We collectively made some tough strategic decisions about what these final campaigns looked like. This often meant sacrificing some creative work we all loved that we just didn't think would yield the returns we needed. Looking back now, it was the right decision.
I can't help but think that the same rigorous approach is not applied to standalone creative work that make up the majority of Cannes categories - in particular the contribution of creative work to business growth. If anyone has examples out there that can prove me wrong, I'd love to learn from them. Please send me a private message if you do.
My tension with Cannes
Where is the tangible and measurable relationship between creativity and business growth? I was lucky to have heard from the brilliant Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions, earlier this year at The Marketing Academy boot camp. He spoke eloquently and passionately about the value of creativity in our industry and how we need to build a stronger link between business growth and creatively and demonstrate advertising effectiveness.
If effectiveness is so important, why is there only one category for Creative Effectiveness of the 24 categories at Cannes this year?
At the top of the Creative Effectiveness page, there is a quote from Andrew Robertson, President and CEO, BBDO Worldwide saying: "The Creative Effectiveness Lions are the ultimate accolade in our business because they recognize the work that does best, validating the correlation between exceptional creativity and outstanding results."
In the criteria, only 50% of the award comprises of actual results of the campaign - should this not be more for an effectiveness award?
This got me thinking. As business partners, aren't we paid by our clients to do just this?
Are we entitled?
In an article by John Immesoete in AdAge, he discusses the anger that one CMO has with Cannes.
The CMO recalled: "One day, without being asked, I made my bed, put my clothes away and did all my chores. Afterwards, I told my Dad what I did, hoping for high praise. He looked at me, unimpressed. 'So you did what you were supposed to do? Why do you expect some kind of trophy?' Why do grown professionals expect trophies for doing what we're paid to do?"
Does this sound entitled or is it just a cultural part of our industry that we have come to accept as normal? Either way, it's pretty hard to disagree with, right?
It's a tough call, but is it the right choice to completely withdraw?
I understand the appeal of award for agencies and for clients, but they are without doubt a double edged sword. The 'Award Loop' is highly addictive. Awards can help agencies win new business, attract and retain talent, boost morale, grow and help ultimately produce more brilliant work that will lead to more new business. Lather, rise and repeat. For clients, the appeal of awards is that they want to be associated with agencies who produce brilliant work for them, make them famous with their bosses and help make their organizations famous. Lather, rise and repeat.
Here's what I propose
I see the benefits of what Cannes can offer to us, but it's getting harder for agencies to continue to stay involved at the same level they have. I also see the benefits that awards can bring, but they are potentially flawed by not focusing nearly enough on how they can grow client businesses. Celebrating brilliant creative work that yields business growth will always be my priority. Here are my final thoughts on Cannes, awards and creativity:
- Winning any award should only be as a result of business growth and should not be treated as an end goal, but rather as a sign that you're on the right track.
- Every award should have at least 50% of the criteria being about the success of the campaign, validated by an independent source (otherwise it's just like marking your own homework, like Facebook and Google do when it comes to measurement).
- Beautiful creative work for clients that doesn't generate business results should be entered in art, design and film competitions, not marketing, media and advertising ones.
- There needs to be a much stronger connection between creative work and business results in order for it to be celebrated at marketing, media and advertising award festivals.
What do you think? Comment below.
Andrew Da Silva is head of the travel team at MediaCom. This article first appeared on Da Silva's LinkedIn. AdNews is republishing it with his permission.