Innovation day 3: The future’s on its way

Here’s our recap of some of the higlights from the Innovation Festival at Cannes Lions 2016.

Experiences will become currency

The ever-insightful Kevin Kelly (Co-founder and Senior Maverick of Wired) took to the stage to share his views on the future. Continuing the theme from earlier days in the week he focused on the importance of VR as a new type of content platform (feel’s like there’s a theme emerging here!). But not only did he highlight what we might be able to do with VR — use it for gaming, technological developments, scientific research and so on — like other presenters before him this week, he went further. Using the internet as a reference point, Kelly spoke of how we are at the changing of an era. He spoke of how the internet has historically been the “internet of information”, and that with VR we are now moving towards “an internet of experiences, where there are things that are felt, [things that will be] emotional and, shared”. People will not only be able to capture their experiences in a real way, but will be able to share them, individuals will be able to buy experiences, download them and ‘send’ them to others. Brands will be able to sell these experiences. Instead of VR being an insular and personal tool, Kelly said it will infect become the “most social of medias” due to the fact people will want to and will be able to share their, very real experiences. “Experiences will be the new currency” he proclaimed.

Share your cake and eat it too

Gwyneth Paltrow touched on internet privacy — amongst many things — and opined how users should be able to ‘have their cake and eat it too’. That is to say she believes that internet users should be able to choose which content they share and which they keep private, per channel and that being online isn’t a prerequisite for privacy invasion. This may sound obvious, but the fact remains that people increasingly feel a burden to share their entire lives online. “These times are so new, all the platforms and the ways people are using and sharing information…There is an aspect [of it] that you are supposed to open your life up and theres an aspect that you want to keep private. You can have both, its not asking to have your cake and eat it too”, she said.

Ultimately Paltrow was advocating the ability to be able to choose, free from pressure.

The future is sustainable

Unilever are well into executing their Sustainable Living Plan (SLP), a strategy that received much media attention and plaudits when it was announced around three years ago. The premise was simple (on paper), double the growth of the business whilst halving it’s impact on the world, executing it is an entirely different challenge. As Unilever moved from talking (about SLP) to doing, they gained less media attention and are now having to evidence that it is in fact working, something that Unilever CMO Keith Weed set out to do on stage at Cannes.

The short answer, is yes, its working. According to Weed, the number of consumers buying sustainable products is growing and we are approaching a tipping point as 54% of consumers surveyed said they would buy a product if it was socially and environmentally sustainable. Of course, they wouldn’t buy that same product if it was more expensive and inferior in performance, its a price and performance parity game, Weed said.

For Unilever, their SLP brands grew faster in 2015 than in 2014, they delivered nearly half of Unilever’s growth last year and grew 30% faster than the rest of the portfolio. The top 5 brands in the Unilever portfolio are sustainable living brands.

It looks like its working, and as more consumers become increasingly savvy and knowledgeable on why these types of products are important and as brands like Unilever continue to offer products that are better (or just as good) and cheaper (or at least no more expensive) than the ‘traditional’ brands in the same categories, the sector is only going to grow — as will Unilever’s business along with it. They are now beginning to deliver on the ambitious SLP they set out three years ago. Businesses proving there is ‘a better way’ can only be a good thing and will help create a more positive future. We hope more brands follow suit.

The long view

As more information emerges about the intended use of VR and its desired abilities, it is becoming clear that there will be new monetisation and revenue opportunities for brands. If business owners are looking for the next market to trade in, in a ‘post-app’ world, VR is most likely it. As always, creating content that is compelling, engaging and immersive will be key, but this time the level of authenticity (or rather ‘realness’) will be an important differentiator as users look to invite people into their worlds and ‘trade’ experiences.

As data privacy and the hacking debates rage on, users may look to show channel-bias when deciding to showcase their content. They may become increasingly selective about what they share and where. We are already seeing trends in the more savvy social users choosing different channels for different sharing purposes, for example twitter may be used to share professional and personal-related opinion which the user is happy for the entire world to see, whereas they may reserve Instagram for a more personal audience of close friends and family; utilising the benefits of a private account where they show hyper-personal content. They may be less concerned with profile, followers and engagement for the latter use case and so are happy to keep it private. This kind of choice may dictate which channels ultimately win the battle for user base in the long term.

With businesses like Unilever paving the way for sustainable brands and businesses in the mainstream, and with brands like Method helping to pioneer the “sustainable movement” whilst moving from niche to mass market, we will continue to see an increase in the number of ‘socially educated’ consumers with a desire to purchase products that are both good for the wallet and the planet. Its no secret that this industry has been growing over the last 5 years and that the trend for healthy, sustainable, positive products has continued to grow, but with brands like Unilever and Tesla evidencing that this can work from a financial perspective too it moves the activity from being perceived as ‘just’ a marketing exercise to a credible, financial one. Pleasing both the CFO and the CMO is no mean feat but these types of products are now doing just that, while helping the planet in the process. More please.