2015 Cannes Lion Review

2015 Cannes L ion Review Every year the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity celebrates the best of creative communications work from around the world. It is a chance to submerge in the latest trends within the industry.

This year, there was more emphasis on advertising technology, which is fundamentally changing how advertising is created and how we connect with our consumers. As marketers, we must be alert as the pace of change in our industry continues to quicken.

The launch of the new Cannes Innovation festival (a festival within a festival) at the end of the week focussed on data and technology. Speakers referred to data as being the linchpin to creating more emotional content. They called for greater collaboration between the industry – from creative to technologists – as a way of moving people’s hearts. Professor Brian Cox said: “Every creative person needs data to keep them rooted in reality.”

Here’s my wrap up of the best work from Cannes 2015.

2015 Cannes L ion Review

Innovation: it’s not about how, it’s about why

Authenticity: what does Jamie Oliver have that every brand wants?

Harness the power of data to build emotion-led connections.

Be disruptive! By the year 2025 the average person will own 26 connected devices.

Now is the time to learn how to vie for the consumers attention.

Always go back to the basics: the power of creativity will remain a key factor of success.

5 key themes from Cannes 2015

Innovation: it’s not about how, it’s about

why

As Marketers, we need to ask ourselves how we can institutionalize innovation and experimentation not as a nice-to-do but must-make-happen?

The best and most innovative campaigns in Cannes suggest marketing innovation is mission-critical to sync customer experiences and expectations in constant motion. Demystifying new developments through continuous experimentation and learning should be an integral part of the marketing playbook.

Innovationwith a

purpose

INNOVATION WITH A PURPOSE

Talwar Bindi

The Life Saving Dot

1 x Gold Lion for Innovation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sclg_AfGzcE

Iodine deficiency, and a list of associated medical issues, is an unfortunate reality for millions of women in rural India. Since most women in India wear a bindi, Talwar decided to make one that doubles as an iodine patch, providing its wearer with a daily dose of iodine.

The creation was dubbed the “Life Saving Dot.” Iodine patches were handed out in medical camps across rural India, helping women who can’t afford iodine supplements receive the much-needed nutrient.

1 very simple change has saved thousands of lives and counting.

Owlet

The worlds most advanced baby monitor

1 x Gold Innovation, 1 x Silver and Bronze Mobile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA_NBd-_zwM

For new mothers, understanding your baby’s needs is paramount and so RGA developed the worlds first wearable device for babies, Owlet.

Owlet’s wearable device launched in late August 2014. It tracks a baby’s oxygen, heart rate, sleep, temperature and rollover alerts.

It is hypoallergenic, connects via Bluetooth Smart and doesn’t use adhesives. Giving parents around the world peace of mind whilst flagging up any potential concerns.

INNOVATION WITH A PURPOSE

Volvo

LifePaint

Grand Prix – Design and Promo & Activation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOX55nxc_A

Volvo’s LifePaint is a reflective safety spray to be used by cyclists to make them more visible to cars at night. The product driven campaign explores the complicated territory that emerges when ad agencies mix marketing with product design. LifePaint is a simple, and worthy, proposition. Sitting as part of a wider campaign for Volvo that aims to emphasise the brand's safety credentials, it presents Volvo as gracious enough to care about cyclists as well as car drivers, and appears to be a genuinely useful product. As such, LifePaint has received coverage in media all over the world, and the film to accompany the campaign has been viewed on YouTube over three million times.

INNOVATION WITH A PURPOSE

Optus Telecoms

Clever Buoy

1 x Gold Lions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8vuJsGUKLI

In a unique collaboration with Optus, Google and tech company Shark Mitigation Services, M&C Saatchi responded to an Optus brief to demonstrate the power of its network with an R&D project that creates world-first, breakthrough shark detection technology to help protect people and sharks throughout Australia and the world. 'Project Clever Buoy' harnesses new and existing technologies to develop world-first smart ocean buoys. This project is the perfect response for Optus because it's a demonstration of their brand DNA, to push the boundaries of innovation and have their consumers' backs.

INNOVATION WITH A PURPOSE

Authentic i ty: what does Jamie Ol iver have that every brand

wants?

One of the most popular talks featured the always cheeky Jamie Oliver. Jamie has been on a 17 year crusade to help educate the world about food. He’s done all this without the aid of traditional media campaigns. Jamie has built a movement. He’s capitalized on a long term connection he’s built with fans and audiences around the world by never pretending to be something he’s not. Jamie Oliver is TRUSTED and AUTHENTIC

But it was Marilyn Manson, a man who chose his stage name, his look, wrote his autobiography and even booked his first venue before he had written a song, who spoke to authenticity more than anyone else. He reminded us there’s nothing more important than being real. “Consumers see through the fake faster than ever these days,” he explained.

In today’s industry having an authentic brand belief is critical if you want to connect with consumers.

Authent i c i ty :

Apple

Shot on iPhone 6

1 x Grand Prix Outdoor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izb_N_retd4

According to the jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz, the judges didn't so much choose “Shot on iPhone6," it chose them. Praising the Grand Prix winner, Ortiz said: "It’s not just a great idea, it’s a game changer. It’s really opening a new way of doing things and changing behaviour.“

Apple debuted the new ad campaign in early March, featuring photos and video taken by iPhone 6 users from around the world on billboards, print media, TV ads and more.

Apple is taking the authenticity of UGC to an entirely new level.

AUTHENTICITY

NetFlix

Better Call Saul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg3v_hz3up0

Netflix undertook a genius ad campaign to make Paris ready for the premiere of Better Call Saul. Their campaign focused on personalized ads scattered across Paris. Saul Goodman voiced his wisdom and targeted it towards viewers based on their location.

With over 50 tips presented with the same template. The ad design was simple but the prints still conveyed meaningful messages.

My favourite example includes letting husbands know that buying flowers is drastically cheaper than divorce.

AUTHENTICITY

Under Armour

I Will What I Want

1 x Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCcnAz9dSpo

Under Armour's integrated effort starring Gisele Bundchen, "I Will What I Want," won the Cyber Grand Prix at Cannes.

Created out of Droga5, the campaign featured a television spot showing the supermodel pounding away at a heavy bag, as real comments pulled from social media appeared on the walls surrounding her.

An online experience, "Will Beats Noise," took that same idea but allowed the audience to view the film with the social media posts as they were happening in real time, creating a new experience with each view.

AUTHENTICITY

DATA Dr iven Connect iv i ty

If there was one word used more than any other this year, it was data. This wasn’t just about debating the need for “analytics” or “insights”, or even repeatedly raising “big data” as a buzz phrase, but how we take the fact we know that’s happening and still combine and integrate it with a human truth, a real emotion, creatively.

Speakers referred to data as being the linchpin to creating more emotional content. They called for greater collaboration between the industry – from creatives to technologists – as a way of moving people’s hearts. Professor Brian Cox said: “Every creative person needs data to keep them rooted in reality.”

DATA Dr iven Connect i v i ty :

Post-It

Post-It Banners

1 x Gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z2o2siRqsk

Nobody likes those ‘stalking’ banner ads that follow you around on every website, showing products and deals that you might have searched for previously. Post-it® decided to use this behavioural retargeting technology for something that you purposely stick in front of your eyes – reminders.

Using cookies and scripts, they came up with these brilliant banners that can be used as sticky notes for your chores and to-do lists.

DATA DRIVEN CONNECTIVITY

Melanoma Patients

“Melanoma Likes Me”

1 x Silver, 1 x Bronze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGL3Pz_98xQ

More than 1,500 Australians die from melanoma each year, it is the most lethal cancer for 15-30 year olds. The Melanoma Likes Me campaign was created to raise awareness of the dangers associated with sunbathing amongst this younger and harder to reach audience. GPY&R Brisbane/Melbourn created an online persona for Melanoma who ‘liked’, ‘followed’, and commented on young Australians’ social media activities. A unique algorithm found and responded to popular hashtags and geo-located images. It sent millions of tailored messages, straight to our hard-to-reach audience; right when it could make the most difference. By clicking on the profile they could check for melanomas and learn about prevention.

DATA DRIVEN CONNECTIVITY

EA Sports

Madden Giferator

1 x Gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spPjhKwthHI

The makers of Madden, a NFL-based video game, had seen its popularity decline in recent years. The business was seeking to reverse this by tapping into the excitement and team rivalry of the NFL season to reach the 157m NFL fans in a real-time and relevant way with the creation of the Giferator. This dynamically generated GIFs in real-time, layering headlines and stats from NFL games as they happened with video game artwork featuring the relevant players.

These GIFs were then distributed across sites where fans were known to be looking for game updates and were targeted according to team loyalties.

DATA DRIVEN CONNECTIVITY

BE DISRUPTIVE!

DISRUPTIVE campaigns are not only winning at Cannes, but also igniting conversations around the world.

Facebook pounced on the disruptive trend during Cannes and added an optional rainbow filter application to its profile-picture platform. To date, an impressive 26 million users have placed a rainbow flag over their profiles in support of the pride movement.

With the growth of AirBNB and Uber, there has never been a greater need to look at solutions to problems differently, to challenge the status quo and disrupt the norm to bring about positive change and have greater impact.

If you do one thing between now and Cannes 2016, Be Disruptive.

BE D ISRUPT IVE :

*This was the most retweeted image in Cannes

What 3 Words

3 Words to Address the World

1 x Gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8suYHHnW0

Watching people navigate big cities with their faces glued to a smartphone screen, it's hard to comprehend that four billion people around the world don't have a fixed address.

But in many parts of the globe beyond street grids and mapping software, directing someone to your home is a challenge often beyond the skills of Siri. What3words, has a simple solution.

The what3words system seeks to map the globe with a series of three-word addresses that correspond to a worldwide grid of 57 trillion squares. The company has divided the entire globe, both land and sea, into 57 trillion three-by-three meter squares, and assigned each one a three-word address, to ensure everyone has a three word home.

BE DISRUPTIVE

Dominos

Emoji Ordering

Titanium Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtdLsJsObrU

Dominos wanted a way to appeal to the younger generation of consumers who are used to instant, wordless communication in a world of Snapchat, Instagram and the one word Yo! messaging app. But how could that translate to take way pizzas?

The ‘tweet-to-order’ was the first major player in the restaurant industry to use Twitter on a regular basis to place and complete orders. The company will then sends users a direct message, where they’ll confirm their order. In just one day, more than 500 people across the US used the emoji ordering system, although it’s impossible to say if they would have just ordered the regular way or the novelty of the idea prompted them to use Dominos. But more importantly, the marketing stunt earned the brand significant media coverage.

BE DISRUPTIVE

Geiko

Unskippable

Titanium Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVLpyA50DY

Getting viewership rates for YouTube preroll ads is a challenging skill. Part of the problem is, very few marketers specifically tailor ads to preroll—they prefer simply to run their TV spots unchanged. But that ignores the fact that those first five seconds are crucial. If you don't hook people then, you'll lose them.

Geico understands this and rolled out some fun new digital ads that really put the emphasis on those first five seconds. Absurdly and comically so.

The ads will run as :15s, :30s and even longer spots, but what happens after the first five seconds is part of the humour.

An incredibly disruptive new approach that has definitely paid off for both the viewer and the business.

BE DISRUPTIVE

ALS

The ALS Challenge

11 x Cannes Awards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFswLY4-ZjY

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge won a total of 11 awards including the coveted “Grand Prix for Good” award.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge co-founder Pat Quinn and his family attended in person (I was in floods of tears by this point) and received a standing ovation after the campaign was awarded the Grand Prix for Good. This award recognizes exceptional campaigns for charities or public service messages.

We all know the ALS challenge, most of us even participated, but the case study really brings to home the enormity and scale this campaign achieved from such a simple but disruptive idea.

BE DISRUPTIVE

The power of creat iv ity wi l l remain a key factor of success

I'm always intrigued by ideas that have the perfect blend between math and magic, as Robert Pittman - the founder of MTV - perfectly stated.

An idea that leverages a cultural paradox, addresses a social tension and delivers the bottom line of the business will always win.

In this complex ecosystem of data, tech and innovation the power of creativity to solve business and social issues have never been so critical to success, and with the introduction of the Glass Lion, to celebrate gender equality, this was really championed at Cannes.

The power o f c reat i v i ty

Conservation.org

Nature is Speaking

1 x Gold Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6txLtoaoc

All the talk of "saving the planet" overlooks one thing—the planet, as abused as it's been, will be fine in the long run. It's humans who need saving. That's the gist of Conservation.org campaign "Nature is Speaking."

Created by TBWA and ad legend Lee Clow, the campaign delivers a strong message from nature—but this time, nature doesn't take on the woe-is-me demeanour of a victim, but rather that of a tough old-timer finally fed up with the folly of an entitled brat. The message is loud and clear: Nature doesn't need people, people need nature.

THE POWER OF CREATIVITY

P&G

Touch The Pickle

Grand Prix Glass Lion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHMDBPjW9VM

2015 saw the arrival of a new Cannes Award. The Glass Lion recognises work that implicitly or explicitly addresses issues of gender inequality or prejudice, through the conscious representation of gender in advertising.

P&G’s campaign ‘Tough the Pickle’ won the Grand Prix with their campaign which challenged cultural norms. In India, menstruation is treated like a shameful curse. Women are discouraged from pursuing normal daily activities during their periods, including touching the jar of pickles found in the kitchen of most Indian homes, because the pickles will supposedly rot. A ground breaking film encourages women to defy tradition and taboos by touching the pickle jar.

THE POWER OF CREATIVITY

States United to Prevent Gun Violence

Guns with History

Grand Prix Glass Lion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nAfWfF4TjM

Aiming to debunk the myth that owning a gun in some way makes you safer, the film sees a real-looking gun store opened on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with first-time gun buyers shocked by stories of unintentional shootings, mass killings and suicides.

In addition to the brilliant hidden camera film an accompanying website, Guns with History, shares more horrific stories behind various models.

Every gun has a history, let’s not repeat it.

THE POWER OF CREATIVITY

Sport England

This Girl Can

1 x Gold Glass Lion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toH4GcPQXpc

This has been my favourite campaign to come from the UK year-to-date. Since its launch in January, Sport England's groundbreaking This Girl Can campaign has inspired women around the country to up their fitness. Don't believe us? Just check out the #ThisGirlCan hashtag.

The campaign captured the nation's hearts by showing that real women jiggle and sweat when they exercise, giving us all a much-needed boost of self-confidence.

Now, it's been awarded a Gold Lion for tackling gender inequality in a new award category at Cannes.

I can't think of a more worthy winner.

THE POWER OF CREATIVITY

SCALABILITY FUNDSA CLEAR BRIEFAN AUTHENTICBRAND BELIEF

PURPOSE DRIVEN INNOVATION

Cannes 2015 is there a winning formula?

*Source: PHD Global Media

ORCHASTRATE AN INTEGRATED

APPROACH

2015 Cannes L ion Review Ones to Watch: Main Stage Talks (the ones still

available to the general public online)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2pChbsBos

Unilever: Marketing for People

Keith Weed, CMO of Unilever explores how our industry can transform to market for people in everything we do – being at our brilliant best all the time. People are changing. Growth in responsible consumption, the influence of millennials and the power of being constantly connected are transforming how people connect with brands. Consumer demand led growth in this world requires marketers to think about creativity in a different way; curating brilliant ideas, content and people for brilliant conversations.

TOOLKIT FOR TRANSFORMATION: Razorfish Global & Contagious

The last ten years has challenged everything our industry thought it knew about marketing. But how prepared are we for what comes next? While we talk of the ever increasing pace of change, it’s clear that what matters is not so much what we know about the future, but how we adapt to it. This seminar combined Razorfish expertise in creative with Contagious’ unique perspective on the intersection of marketing, consumer culture and technology to share everything you can’t afford not to know about the future of our industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejewlQScNc

2015 Cannes L ion Review Ones to Watch: Main Stage Talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj2HeWD1Er8

THE CANNES DEBATE: SIR MARTIN SORRELL IN CONVERSATION WITH AL GORE

No synopsis needed. The title says it all.

SIR TIM BERNERS LEE (the guy who created the internet!!!): Sentience: the coming AI revolution

The next technological epoch is increasingly considered to be the AI (Artificial Intelligence) revolution - where the world’s information is hierarchically ordered to create what is, ostensibly, consciousness but with intelligence greater than every living human being on the planet. In effect, the internet is set to wake up. This is the endeavour of a number of organisations, with Google leading the charge. Ray Kurzweil, head of engineering at Google, thinks they will get there by 2029.

There will be many applications that will be created that will start to make us see the incredible power in, what will likely be considered to be, a new utility - alongside gas, electricity and water. If only half of what these engineers are saying comes to fruition, then the way that we navigate our waking world is about to undergo the biggest transformation that any single generation has ever experienced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r9x-sNlX5I

2015 Cannes L ion Review

Grace Sobey

Cannes Lion Young Marketer of the Year 2015

Global Media Manager, Unilever

@Gracesobey