Cannes Lions: Here's what people are talking about
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Cannes Lions: Here's what people are talking about

Advertisers are flocking to the French Riviera this week for the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. We're gathering the top conversations from the conference (share your thoughts using #LinkedInCannes), and we're also live all week, talking with experts and industry leaders. I'll be updating this article as it happens.

To get notifications for all of our live interviews, follow LinkedIn Editors.

FRIDAY

"Companies survive and grow and prosper not because of brilliant CEOs, not because they're cutting costs ... but because they focus on growth."

Sir Martin Sorrell on S4 Capital, leaving WPP and more.

See all the conversations from Friday here.

THURSDAY

"When you want really good ideas, you have to lift your head up and look far to the horizon. You have to disconnect, you have to allow your mind to wander. You have to make connections with people you've met in real life and things you've seen online."

Joanna Coles, executive producer, The Bold Type

Purpose: One of the biggest buzzwords this year at Cannes. And companies that get it right — that "have a purpose, in an authentic way” — are the festival’s big winners, bringing home Lions and boosting the bottom line. But advertising's emphasis on brand purpose has a dark side: "Woke-washing," a phenomenon decried by Unilever CEO Alan Jope. The co-opting of social issues (without action to back it up) threatens to "further destroy trust in our industry," he warned. "Purpose creates relevance for a brand, it drives talkability, builds penetration and reduces price elasticity," Jope posted on LinkedIn. • See what people are saying.

See all the conversations from Thursday here.

WEDNESDAY

"For time-poor consumers, it's those big, creative ideas, and those ideas that drive emotion, that are going to cut through all that clutter. Winning a Cannes Lion is a celebration of that creativity."

Rachel Forde, CEO, UM UK

"We know that the millennial generation coming on board, they want to work for companies that have a purpose. And so there are absolutely hard financial results that you can tie to any of these brand-level initiatives that improve the bottom line." We spoke with SAP SuccessFactors CMO Kirsten Allegri Williams on brands, sustainability and all things #CannesLions.

One topic taking off: Should you kill your marketing department? A panel from Oatly prompted marketers across the festival to weigh in on the value — and design — of marketing departments. "Marketing to me is integral to the business because it's at the core of changing perceptions or behaviors," says BlackRock's Frank Cooper.

See all the conversations from Wednesday here.

TUESDAY

Waging war on ad-industry sexism

Christelle Delarue created her own ad agency to fight sexism. Now she's taking the fight to Cannes, launching an "off" festival highlighting campaigns by agencies that "treat women fairly." Why is Cannes the ideal backdrop for such an initiative? "It's important to understand what's going on here at Cannes, because we are a global group thinking about creativity," Delarue tells LinkedIn. "It's important that clients, people in the industry, look really close to the situation of women and girls all around the world."

Other highlights:

  • Agencies are key. "It's important to think, to check, to analyze what's going on in the industry and in the agencies. We can't find a way to promote gender equality without thinking about parity in the agencies."
  • Women are powerful united. "Sorority is not a concept, it's an everyday, active plan."

See what people are saying.

How to win at Cannes

What's the "secret sauce" for winning at Cannes? LinkedIn asked Karen Blackett, Media Lions jury president and U.K. country manager at WPP, how she evaluates campaigns:

"Our industry is brilliant in that we now have more and more access to data, but just because you can doesn't mean you should."

More can't-miss video interviews:

  • Shell's Dean Aragon on the values of Cannes: "We have a saying in Asia, 'Unless you empty your cup, fresh tea cannot be poured into it.' So every year we empty our cup and see what's better tea."
  • BlackRock's Frank Cooper: "Marketing to me is integral to the business because it's at the core of changing perceptions or behaviors. You want people to buy more of your product or service, you want them to have some loyalty, you want them to advocate on your behalf, that's what marketing should do, and that's really the core of all business."
  • Adweek's Diana Pearl: "You don't want data to make you risk averse. You feel like you have all these numbers telling you exactly what's going to be successful, but you don't want to lose the creative secret sauce that will make a campaign stand out."

See all the conversations from Tuesday here.

MONDAY

The biggest challenge for advertisers in 2019?

Data, Cadreon's Erica Schmidt tells LinkedIn. "We obviously know that there's been a lot of regulation, and we anticipate that that will continue," she notes. And it's up to marketing and advertising firms to use data responsibly — to "make sure that the data is valid and that it has veracity in terms of the ethics and privacy around it."

Some other insights:

  • "The infusion of data into creativity is something that's quite inspiring.... Most creative work as we move into the future will be really inspired by that data and levering that in a meaningful way."
  • Brands are teaming up to share data: "Being able to partner two advertisers together, where there are non-competitive situations, that's where we're seeing a lot of opportunity."

See what people are saying.

More can't-miss video interviews:

"Creativity is only possible when you actually reach people, and it's getting harder and harder to do that."

See all the conversations from Monday here.

Antonia Taylor

Business communications strategist | PR | Thought leadership | Storytelling | Content strategy | Writing

5y

Love the piece on media not being about what you can buy but what you can create

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