3 pro marketing tips that Cannes 2015 taught us

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when the word ‘Cannes’ is brought up? Well, most people would associate it with a film festival that showcases and presents awards to the finest arthouse movies from around the world. For some, it might even hark back memories of a vacation to the Southern French coastal town. However, there remain a glistening majority, those ‘in the know’, who are aware of Cannes’ reputation as the Mecca of advertisers and marketers worldwide. That’s right, besides screening and holding seminars on films, Cannes also hosts the showcases the best ads from around the world apart from conducting seminars that exhaustively cover every aspect of branding and marketing ad nauseam. After all, it’s the brands that Sonam Kapoor is associated with that drives her to Cannes every year, not the films that she is involved in. What we can be certain of is that the insights that marketers can pick from the Cannes festival is absolutely invaluable.

Stay relevant and fresh

This year at Cannes saw the introduction of the Glass Lions award which recognized work that addressed issues of gender inequality or prejudice. Big winners included Always’ “Like a girl” campaign as well as Sport England’s “This girl can” which both won Gold awards. This comes as no surprise in a year where the Gender Equality campaign has witnessed a global traction like never before. The focus at the festival this year was on diversity and the role of women, but a lot of the banter was around the importance of bringing equality to the teams behind the creative — both on the brand and agency side in order to better reflect reality and therefore come up with winning campaigns. Another big winner this year was the ALS ice bucket challenge, which walked away with 11 awards in its kitty. The organizers at Cannes had their finger on the pulse by approbating the most vital and relevant topics of the day with awards.

Shrewd strategy matters

The number of marketing platforms and amount of ad technology available to marketers is growing exponentially. So much so that most commentators feel it is becoming ‘overwhelming’. Let’s look at Snapchat for instance. This time last year there was no option to advertise on the app and its offering to brands was limited. Yet now at Cannes 2015 Snapchat had spread to every corner. Nevertheless brands should be wary of jumping onto everything that looks fresh and exciting. Vine, Snapchat and Periscope might look like they offer a wealth of possibilities to marketers but they will only be useful if they fit in with a brand’s strategy and wider message. Be shrewd and be decisive.

Everything is integrated and marketing is no longer an island unto itself

For obvious and relevant reasons, brands want their marketing to be more integrated. As marketing disciplines became more specialized and brands needed agencies to help with content, digital, mobile and social they built up layers of complexity. Now the trend is to go the opposite way altogether. Aston Martin announced a deal with WPP that will see the agency create a multi-disciplinary team for the car marque to work on integrated global campaigns. That is just the start, after all brands can no longer separate out different platforms. The key lies in spreading out and integrating.

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