The eurozone is in crisis and Britain is back in recession, but
you wouldn’t know it at the Cannes Lions festival where the bars, private
beaches and yachts were heaving.
The annual, week-long
pow-wow for the advertising industry — a mixture of speeches, parties and
awards — was full of paradoxes.
One ad agency flew in actor
John Hamm, aka Don Draper from TV drama Mad Men, a fictional ad man from a
bygone era. Then there was internet firm Yahoo, on its third chief executive in
just three years, which felt that having a big yacht sent out a positive
message. Meanwhile, The Guardian deservedly won a prestigious Gold Lion after
splashing out on its “Three Little Pigs” TV ad, even though the paper continues
to lose £40 million a year.
Cannes matters because
advertising generates £320 billion in annual revenues worldwide, up 4% on last
year, despite economic jitters, according to Zenith Optimedia. The UK market is
worth about £16 billion.
This is a rare opportunity for
face-to-face contact for ad folk from around the globe, who meet in search of
that magical, elusive quality: creativity. As WPP chief executive Sir Martin
Sorrell likes to say: “We know it exists. We usually know it when we see it. We
know that our future prosperity depends on it... But we can’t put a number to
it.”
One of the best ways to seek
inspiration is to look at the thousands of pieces of work on display. The talk
in recent years has been about the rise of Asia and Latin America. However,
this year, Western markets, including the UK, did well.
The top Grand Prix awards in
film and press went to agencies in the US, Italy and France. The US-based
Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle triumphed with a gentle animated film telling
the tale of a farmer trying unhealthy industrial methods before returning to
natural ways. French channel Canal+ also won for its hilarious TV ad about a
film director called The Bear. Both were proof that story-telling counts.
Press ads also performed
strongly. Clothing chain Benetton won for its striking “Unhate” campaign, which
imagined political rivals such as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy kissing.
If this was the year that the
West bounced back creatively, it was also a year when old-media firms —
particularly those from London — regained some swagger. In addition to The
Guardian’s success, The Sunday Times won Gold for its poster ads for the Rich
List and Channel 4 took a design Gold for its More4 branding.
Digital innovation was oddly
lacking. Even the smartest piece of work, Nike Fuel Band, which measures how
much energy you’ve expended, is more of a physical than a virtual creation.
On the basis of awards won,
emerging markets such as India, China and Russia lack creative clout. “There
isn’t yet the work which is of a quality to win,” believes Miles Young,
worldwide chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather.
He is well qualified to judge
as his agency was the most-awarded, bagging a record 83 Lions. Domestic
politics doesn’t explain fully the lack of strong work. “China is much more
creatively led than Russia, even though you might argue China is less
democratic,” says Young, whose Shanghai office won a Grand Prix for a Coca-Cola
poster.
It’s not just agencies that
come to Cannes seeking inspiration. Clients attended in record numbers — all
the better to keep an eye on their agencies.
A quarter of the 11,000 delegates,
or nearly 3000, came from brands, according to Britain’s Top Right Group,
formerly Emap, which runs the Lions.
Drinks company Diageo had
around 17 staff — double last year. Energy giant Shell, which barely sent
anyone previously, had 20. “The primary purpose of being here is following
through on a belief that brilliance in creativity drives a disproportionate
economic return,” explains Diageo chief marketing officer Andy Fennell.
“It’s a really cluttered media
world — with social and search on top of TV and magazines — so creativity is at
a premium,” believes Keith Weed, the top marketer at consumer goods giant
Unilever.
Some fun-loving ad folk grumble
that Cannes has become more sombre with so many clients. For Unilever's Weed,
“this is a business conference”.
Most Brits were surprisingly
upbeat, even allowing for the sunshine and rosé wine. WPP’s £350 million deal
to buy digital agency AKQA, announced at the festival, showed London is still a
fertile breeding-ground for world-class talent.
Sir John Hegarty, whose Bartle
Bogle Hegarty agency was behind The Guardian ad and Grand Prix-winning work for
Lynx deodorant, says: “I think London is producing better work than last year —
but you get ups and downs.”
Hegarty has the benefit of the
long view, founding BBH in 1982 and keeping it independent. “One of the
problems in the UK is that there aren’t enough people starting agencies with
passionate beliefs,” he warns. “I think there are lots of people who are
starting agencies who are desperate to make money. But money is a tool, not a
philosophy. Consequently, you don’t get that commitment to creativity.”
Cannes could do with more of
Hegarty’s passion.
