Representation of the people: time to act
Cannes. It’s enough to trigger a serious dose of marketing FOMO. Endless stages, hundreds of speakers, countless topics. There’s no place quite like it for variety of thought, for unexpected discovery, for making you think.
It’s also impossible to navigate. So when the Vizeum team dispatched me (Paul Wilson, Global CSO) to find the good stuff and make some sense of it all, my first question was — where do I start? The answer? Start somewhere different, because when you do, you’ll often end up at a more interesting destination.
Which brings me to Kerry Washington: actress, activist and influencer. Best known as Olivia Pope, the media crisis consultant at the heart of ABC’s drama, Scandal, she may not always get the best lines, but she had a winner at Cannes today
This is an influencer who isn’t just selling reach. When she discovered that her client, Neutrogena’s, product line was of precisely zero interest or value to herself — or those that identify with her — Kerry’s terms were simple: I need more involvement and more control, not just of communications but of the product, the R&D and more. She was talking about the power of authentic representation.
Kerry’s line came to mind later, this time in the context of the incredible opportunity for brands that put authentic representation at the heart of what they do. The case in point was Channel 4’s stunning work for the London Paralympics, as Dentsu looked towards Tokyo. We’ve talked so much about that campaign, but it’s easy to overlook the beautiful simplicity of the idea: celebrate these amazing athletes for who they really are. Stitch that together with C4’s ground-breaking approach to broadcasting the Paralympics itself with every bit as much spectacle and energy and you have a powerful lesson in the potential of authentic representation. Those 30-second ads did more for the way we think about disability than decades of communication that came before them.
The day closed at the Dentsu Aegis Beach House, with Vizeum President — and my new boss — Thomas Le Thierry taking on the death of national identity and the rise and rise of cities. I was struck again by authentic representation — this time in the shape of City Mayors, empowered by their electorates — creating fresh challenges for brands. Whether Uber in London or Airbnb in Barcelona or Berlin, corporate behaviour is being held to account in the most public way, with the ultimate sanction of regulation never far behind.
From skincare to social policy. When you start in a different place, you never quite know where you’ll end up…
