Marketing Pros’ Post

Cannes Lions 2024 is less than 3 months away! 🦁 It's time to strategize your press game for the biggest event in advertising and creative communications! 🚀 Standing out amidst the buzz of Cannes can be a challenge, especially if you're not hosting a mega-activation like Spotify Beach or Meta Beach. 🏖️ But fear not, here are some tips to help you grab reporters' attention during the June festival: 📝 Build your target list now: Research who's attending and engage with reporters early before the big week. Follow them, interact with their content, and start nurturing relationships. 🎯 Make your message relevant: Craft a compelling narrative that resonates with this year's themes - think AI, digital landscape shifts, and the power of creativity. 📍 Find out where the reporters are: Discover where reporters hang out and aim for genuine connections. The press room is always a hotspot! 🤝 Leverage panels featuring journalists: Attend their sessions, share insights on social media, and connect directly with reporters afterward. 📅 Designate one central meeting place: Simplify logistics by choosing a convenient location for meetings, like the steps of the Palais or the Carlton patio. 💼 Consider splurging on a media partnership: Partnering with a trade publication can boost your visibility through panels or networking events. 📲 Keep the relationship going post-event: Nurture new connections, stay engaged, and continue being a valuable resource beyond Cannes Lions. By following these steps, you can navigate Cannes Lions strategically and elevate your company's story above the noise. 🌟🚀 For more details, read my full piece in PRWeek! #CannesLions #PressStrategy #Advertising #CreativeCommunication #Networking #RelationshipBuilding

While everyone (looking at you Michael Thill) is off enjoying the sun and creativity at Cannes Lions, here I am, not jealous at all. Seriously, not one bit jealous. Not even a little. For those unfamiliar, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a premier event in the advertising and communications industry. It runs from June 17-21 this year and features over 150 hours of content with around 500 speakers from across the globe. Icons like Deepak Chopra, Jay Shetty, and representatives from top companies like Google and P&G are sharing insights and innovations that are shaping the industry. https://lnkd.in/gv7s3rQH Why do we flock to events like this? The draw is in both the recognition and the opportunity for professional growth. From a behavioral science perspective, humans have a deep-seated desire for validation and acknowledgment. Awards like the Cannes Lions provide a platform to be judged and, hopefully, celebrated for our creativity and hard work. But why do we want to be judged? The answer lies in the psychological satisfaction of recognition, which can enhance self-esteem and motivate continued excellence. Beyond personal satisfaction, there are significant business reasons for pursuing these accolades. Winning at Cannes can enhance a company’s reputation, attract new clients, and justify higher fees for services. In essence, these awards are a tangible marker of success and a powerful marketing tool. However, at Havas Edge we believe that the best award is the trust and loyalty of our clients. While it's great to be recognized on such a prestigious stage, our ultimate goal is to consistently deliver value and results for our clients, day in and day out. That, to us, is the most meaningful accolade of all. Still, would be nice to be there.

It’s started! Cannes Lions has kicked off its annual festival today, celebrating the very best of the industry’s creativity. W is extraordinarily proud to have won 16 Cannes Lions campaigns to date, and this year, we are very excited to ALREADY be up for 7 more – for longstanding clients Marmite and Pot Noodle, with further shortlists still to be announced in the coming days! Creativity is of course key to campaign excellence. But creativity counts for nothing if no-one sees it. Fame therefore continues to be one of THE most important metrics, and our role is pivotal in creating and measuring that fame. Harnessing the power of earned media to generate brand fame is at the heart of what makes campaigns so successful. In a world obsessed with social media, the impact of anchor news media and marquee broadcast coverage is greater than ever. Trusted media continue to provide the most powerful measure of national zeitgeist; an accurate barometer of cultural currency and social conversation. Our job is to ensure that earned media channels are talking about our clients' campaigns – and when they do, we know that the campaign has made it! We are so proud to work alongside the teams at Unilever and adam&eveDDB on these incredible campaigns for Marmite and Pot Noodle, and we can’t wait to see how the week unfolds! #Cannes #Earnedmedia #Media #PR #Campaigns

🌟 Maximize Your Cannes Lions Investment! 🚀 Hurray, the dust has settled after the intense Cannes Lions submission process. You've invested heavily in creating standout case films and presentation boards. But what happens to these assets now? Their usefulness shouldn't stop there! 📝 I've just shared a new blog post detailing how you can repurpose your Cannes Lions campaign assets to continue gaining value from them throughout the year. From leveraging them for case studies to entering them into upcoming award shows like the The Gerety Awards, The Drum Awards, Festival of Media's M&M Global Awards and more, there are numerous ways to extend their lifespan and effectiveness. 🏆 Plus, a resource that can’t be missed: Our Ultimate, Always Up-to-Date Marketing, Media, and Advertising Awards Show Directory. This comprehensive guide is your gateway to over 40 relevant award shows and preparing your entries to maximize their potential. 🔗 Read the full blog here https://lnkd.in/dFxgk8pz and discover how to keep your campaign assets working hard for you! 💬 Interested in the Awards Show Directory? DM us "Access" for a special introductory offer! Let's ensure your creative work continues to receive the accolades it deserves. #CannesLions #Marketing #Advertising #AwardShows #CreativeIndustry

What were the biggest trends at Cannes Lions 2024? 🌟 I personally didn't attend this year’s festival but stumbled across a short article by Lou Paskalis that outline some interesting takeaways: 📈 RMNs are booming: Retail Media Networks are capturing attention with premium experiences and first-party data. Demand set to outpace supply! 🔄 Publishers pivot: From content to commerce, publishers are now focusing on direct sales. (lower funnel) 🌍 Sustainability strides: New frameworks aim to reduce the industry's carbon footprint. At least a starting point... 🏀 Sports culture reigns: Stagwell’s "Sport Beach" underscored the power of sports in connecting with audiences. 📰 News resilience: Despite challenges, quality journalism seeks sustainable ad support. And his last point that I 100% agree with: ✨ Serendipity wins: Cannes Lions' magic lies in unexpected, valuable encounters. If you were at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this year, let me know if anything else stood out to you in the comments below (where I also placed a link to the article)! 👇 #CannesLions #Advertising #DigitalMarketing #Sustainability #Innovation

A Carrot named Cannes ! First of all, Congratulations to every winner, every shortlist and every entrant at Cannes 2024. The festival of creativity is not what is celebrated at The Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. It starts the moment you get that one thought that sprouts as a potential idea which you want to share and wait for it to be accepted. And then when you take efforts to sell the idea to your client. Making sure the idea is executed, refined and crafted to perfection. When you spend days and nights perfecting the case presentation. Then eagerly wait for the competition to be thrown open for entry. Finally looking for the right category to be entered in and then looking forward to the shortlist announcement. From the day you get the idea to the day you get the results, every moment is a celebration of creativity. From ideation to appreciation to acceptance to approvals to execution to submission, every milestone is a celebration. And just after the festival, the race will start. To hunt the Lion next June. No matter how many Lions you bring to your shelf, the Lions never cease to attract you. Every Lion home is a reason for bringing the other Lion home. It’s not about why you didn’t get the Lion this year, It’s about how long can you feed the Lion in you and keep it alive. Because the blood you tasted will keep on feeding the Lion of your dreams. It will never dry. The Lion will chase the ideas in your veins and get it out without waiting for any brief. The Lion will roar and get the approvals. The Lion will not let you sleep. As long as the Lion is looking for it’s prey inside, you’ll continue to hunt. It takes a Lion to hunt a Lion. So keep the Lion on its paws and be ready to rule the jungle. #canneslions2024 #cannes #canneslions #cannes #advertising #AdvertisingAwards

Made my Cannes début 👀 Attending Cannes Lions felt a bit like stepping into a parallel universe. One where climate change doesn’t exist, where ‘Amazon’ refers to the brand instead of the forest, and where watermelon isn’t the symbol of Palestinian liberation but the flavour of a mass-produced lipgloss. Cannes is the biggest advertising festival in the world; a shrine to an industry worth $733 billion. It’s a strange and discombobulating place to be an activist… but I believe that these are the spaces where we need to be showing up in numbers. If I only speak to rooms of people who nod along, I’m probably in an echo chamber. And we won’t solve this crisis from inside one. Advertising shapes what we think about; it decides what’s aspirational, and manufactures our desires. It compels our behaviour. I can’t help but imagine what it could look like as a force for good. If instead of propping up destructive industries like fossil fuels, aviation, fast fashion, or mass-produced meat and dairy, it promoted a regenerative economy, which put wellbeing and nature ahead of profit? If instead of allying itself with influencers promoting consumption, it allied itself with activists fighting for justice? I met so many incredible people this week who want to be part of solutions — and who have a critical role to play. The climate crisis is not a logistical challenge so much as a cultural one; it’s a story we’ve failed to tell. As I shared on the main stage, we urgently need communicators and creatives. We need folks with these skills to not only sound the alarm, but show that another world is possible. Recording coming soon 🎥 Huge thanks to Piotr Lewicz from Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for making it happen! And to Danielle Cottrell for getting me stage ready 🙏 . . . . . . . . . #climatecrisis #climateaction #cannes #activism #action #speaker #business #sustainablebusiness #climateanxiety #leadership #publicspeaking #inspiration #marketing #media #advertising

When a client asks me: "What is the most audacious, most valuable goal we should set for our brand?" I always say the same thing: "To become a Branded Utility..." When they ask what THAT is, I explain it as so: "You know how you get your electricity from the Electric Company, your gas from the Gas Company, and your water from the Water Company? Well, those are all Utilities - they are the go-to providers for the core goods and services you NEED to survive. Now, you know how you get your search results from Google, you get your streaming content from Netflix, you get your tech from Apple, you get your running shoes from Nike, you get your coffee from Starbucks, and you pay for everything with American Express? Well, those brands are all Branded Utilities; they are the premier go-to providers for the OTHER essential goods and services you need to survive." Simply put, your brand has achieved... quintessence. Well, to the immense credit of Philip Thomas and the incredible team at Ascential, they have successfully elevated the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity into a "Branded Utility..." Simply put, the Cannes Lions brand has achieved... quintessence. #incroyable

Follow the link to watch the full masterclass by Max Ngari as he delves into the art of crafting a winning campaign case study. https://lnkd.in/dZ__k6Py

Divided on Cannes My Linkedin feed has been stuffed full of updates from last week’s Cannes advertising festival - so this will be my last on that. What really struck me though, was how divided people’s views seem. One post gushing and full of praise for the fact that it felt different from previous years - more joyful, inclusive and celebratory. The next post incredulous that the world’s largest plastic polluter could pick up a Grand Prix award for telling people to recycle more. Then a post with a delighted group winning on stage. A big career moment. Followed by a post about how tone deaf the spending of the big brands and networks felt in a year when a huge number of people working in advertising and marketing have been laid off and are struggling to find employment. I guess what you make of Cannes comes down to where you’re standing.  What’s clear is that the place is not ‘together’. Cannes has always been a juxtaposition of advertising industry extremes.   On the one hand, creative, inspiring and exciting - and on the other hand, self-congratulatory, out of touch and with a serious lack of self-awareness. It is an industry where there remains an incredible amount of creative talent. Imagine if we could wean ourselves off the Pavlovian conditioning for awards and work beyond the old frameworks and institutions of advertising, to help create some real, positive change. I think that could be incredibly powerful. And is definitely doable too. What do you think?  #Advertising #Marketing #Cannes #Awards #Sustainability #ClimateChange #Purpose