Where is the customer in Cannes?
Meet, preach, rave, repeat. The appeal of Cannes Lions is obvious but should it do more to bring adland closer to the people it serves?
There’s every chance your creative agency has been a little light on the ground this last week. It’s that time of year again when adland & co flock to the French Riviera for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. By all accounts it has reliably stayed on script, hosting seven days of its trademark brand of accelerated networking, conceptual creativity and carte blanche parties. If the debauchery alone isn’t enough to guarantee year-on-year presence it’s the FOMO that seals the deal for agencies and senior brand execs. Who wouldn’t look forward to a week of congratulation and cathartic release?
But hang on.
Wasn’t 2017 the year advertising promised to go back to basics and reconnect with customers?
Last year’s shocking political results represented far more than politics. So many taste makers and business execs showed they were largely blind to the people they’re paid to understand best. We were all guilty as charged. So, ignited by the realisation that we were out of touch, we made a collective promise to step outside our filter bubbles. A few token efforts appeared: Heineken tried to get us all talking and a number of brands found their voice to speak up when Trump’s travel ban initially kicked in. Yet little else has changed. The Pepsi fiasco and controversial McDonald’s ‘Dead Dad’ campaign showed how far removed marketing and advertising still are from the average consumer. Both promised to be a wake up call and spark more listening.
“In transformative and uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to break out of our routines.”
In terms of bubbles, Cannes is the biggest of them all. Imagine 13,000 people (including 1,000 from a single network) fighting for each other’s attention and adulation. The main currency is peer review and real-world impact plays a distant second best to technological possibility. Cannes still has an important roll to play, offering a feast of inspiring talks alongside unrivaled networking and deal-making opportunities. But it’s all against a backdrop of tougher times at home. You wouldn’t think it looking at the awards. With a staggering total of 40,000 entries generating $22.7m in entry fees across 21 categories, it’s big business.
If the sector was serious about reconnecting it would be redirecting some of this spend to soul searching initiatives. Like spending more time with customers. The agitators and insights that will truly move your work forward are more likely to be found in a Margate supermarket than in the luxury of the French Riviera. The real lions are still fighting austerity.
It can be done. Take Facebook and Zuckerberg’s recent tour of 50 states. Sure, he embarked on some clichéd activities but stepping out from behind his desk will have revealed more than a year presiding over Facebook data. Like many in our industry, Zuckerberg talked of the need for a “broader perspective”, but he actually walked the talk. What better way to learn more about the two billion people who use your platform than to meet them on their own turf. Facebook constantly questions its role in the lives of its users and its responsibility to them more than any brand I can think of.
Cannes is at least awake to the need to change. In 2015 it introduced the Glass Lions to honour campaigns that tackles issues of inequality and prejudice. Laudable winners tap into current conversations and movements, amplifying them to a larger audience and packaging up the burning issues in only a way advertising can. However, you don’t need to be there to understand the significance and humanity of the work.
I’m not the only one who feels this way. Two of the three biggest agency networks are now questioning the excesses of Cannes. ‘The jury is out’ says WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell. Meanwhile, Publicis Group is forgoing all trade shows and awards programmes from 1 July to instead concentrate on its new AI platform Marcel and get a grip of its cost structure.
When the sector and the people it touches are entering uncertain times, a back to basics approach can bring reassuring comfort amongst the chaos. Carrying on as normal isn’t really an option.
