industry thoughts from Clarteza

This year’s Cannes Creativity Conference was the busiest ever: 11,000 delegates from around the world overflowing the halls of the auditorium, theaters and award shows, with everyone eager to learn and network.

For those not as familiar with this event, the Cannes Creativity Conference is the crème de la crème of advertising conferences. The most aspiring, entrepreneurial, deserving, over-achieving, bright and talented people attend. Everyone learns from each other, relationships are built, and great speakers and coaches share their knowledge and wisdom. And of course, there are celebrities and former heads of state –the most notable presentation this year was given by Bill Clinton. All in all, it is an unforgettable event.

After reflecting on a long week packed full of seminars and workshops, taking the time to distance myself a bit from the “clutter” of it all,  I’ve identified some overall themes that I’ll demonstrate with some inspiring examples.

Marketing & Advertising Themes to Live By:

• Importance of consumer engagement
• Brand transparency, as the key to loyalty
• To be a successful brand you need to create relevance not just awareness
• Connecting people and brand on shared values
• Making a difference in people’s lives
• Always look for human truths not advertising truths
•  New creativity is about being real

And this was my favorite…

• The brand is the sum of all experiences and touch-points – and this is truly the world we live in these days.

All of these themes relate to one fundamental question: What it takes to build a lasting relationship between consumer and brand. In essence, how people bond with their brands, their level of engagement, the degree of transparency, and the impact of cross platform internal and external collaboration are all key influencers on the path to great work and creative breakthroughs. This is underlined by the emotional connection that all agencies strive to create for their beloved clients through their work. And yes, some of the work I’ve seen was amazing and almost breathtaking. And yes, we’ve all seen the ones that wasted our time or worse, were so annoying that they made us turn against a brand.

Feeling Is Believing

To reinforce this point about establishing an emotional connection and building a relationship between consumer and brand, P&G’s “Thank you mom. The hardest job in the world. ” commercials that made their debut at the Olympics were showcased.  They made me tear up (as the apparently did millions of consumers around the world).  Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk

This was a clear example of getting it right all around. P&G captured the essence of the brand, tapped into the human universal truth and really created a relevant, deeply connecting and resonating message. The consumer became “human”; she could see herself in the advertising.  This is critical, because regardless of where mothers come from or what language they speak, they share the same fundamental spectrum of feelings towards their kids. They love and care for them more deeply than anything else.

It Starts From Within

There was something else that was clear after seeing P&G’s presentation. It seems that there was a great client/agency relationship that you could feel. So yes, there is another very important element to the equation. Relationships that matter and make the brand strong include those that are external and internal.

Some notable themes that reinforce this point about the power of organizational dynamics include:

• Importance of collaboration (internal and with clients)
• Small business mentality in big business offices offer agility & foster creativity
• Small agencies are making progress in the big agency world, and are getting recognized
• Making a difference matters

To demonstrate the organizational trends, I was particularly impressed by the presentation of a company from Spain – El Laboratorio (http://www.el-laboratorio.es/new/). It was showcased at the Independent Agency Network seminar. One of the founders, Carlos Holemans, talked about the company’s history, the challenges, the energy, and above all the internal commitment to the meaning of their work, to the people who work there, and to the clients they service. Their mantra is: “We search for solutions that allow brands to connect with people. Solutions, that above all, we can feel proud of.”

It was an inspiring story, well presented, with great meaning.  But most importantly….it was very relevant to me. Take a look at their website for some great examples of their work. My favorite: One they created when they saw the opportunity in a very unusual situation at a soccer match. It’s called: Save the children (Donate a Star). Here’s the back-story: One of the Spain National Soccer Players did not wear the ‘championship star’ during a match, so El Laboratorio saw an opportunity to present that player as he ‘donated’ that star to save the children from diseases.

For a few more great examples of how powerful connections can be made, check out the following:

Pennies For Life – Microloan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vWNkBQ_nyE

Google:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV5YnRFiCeI

Carlsberg Beer: http://youtu.be/RS3iB47nQ6E

Coordown Onlus World Down Syndrome Day 2012: http://youtu.be/1OPFzQGB8mc

TNT: http://youtu.be/vzoFXZ5pT1w

Mumbai Mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XkZqZI5TQg

Walk the Talk

Now, let’s go back to the rest of the conference for a minute. What was surprising to me was the contrast between emerging themes and the actual behavior I observed at the conference.  Delegates were quite segregated – I suppose by choice. Big agencies mingled with their clients or amongst themselves. Young Lions hung out together. Small agencies were the most ‘hungry’ for gaining knowledge and networking. There was simply not much cross-pollination, at least not that I could observe.

So much for networking and collaboration with the ‘outside world’. Not exactly consistent with what was being articulated by the workshops and presentations from the big agencies. How can those companies learn the ‘small business mentality’ for example, if they rarely wish to be exposed to it?

It seems that in the area of execution, there is a long way ahead for a lot of companies. Mentalities, thinking processes and value systems have to change to align with the burning trends of tomorrow.  Only then will the intersection between who we are as companies, and how we connect with our consumers, be seamless.