Issue 22: Cannes Special

Special Edition:
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity

Welcome to our first ever special edition. The issue below contains all the fun of the fair (or rather, festival) and offers up the choicest highlights from Cannes. We look at the importance of origami, whether long stories are a good idea, and why the size of your yacht is less important than where it’s moored up. But first, a word from Sir John.

OPINION/ CREATIVITY 

Croisette commentary

💬 Sir John Hegarty

The physical set up of Cannes offers a few lessons about the industry. In decades past the dominant ad agencies would each occupy a spot on the beach outside the convention centre. Today, almost all their positions have been raided by big tech firms. There are two agency hold-outs – Havas and Omnicom, the latter conglomerate has shielded itself from the prevailing winds by squatting in a cove. Perhaps it’s safer there.

The big tech takeover tells us about how advertising – and the world generally – is changing. But so too does the presence of different cohorts at the festival. These felt more pronounced this year. There are the usuals – nominated agency folk, brimming at the prospect of a public laureling. Then there are the old hands who skirt around the surrounding areas, diving into meetings (and doing their best to avoid the festival itself). The most recent addition is the creator set – the number of Gen Z social media impresarios seems to double each year. This group is easy to spot: they’re the ones filming themselves.

The big tech takeover tells us about how advertising is changing

While AI was the hot button topic in 2023, the mention of it at this year’s festival is more likely to result in a groan from attendees. Everyone agrees that AI will impact creativity. Anyone who declares to know how precisely it will happen is either delusional or fibbing. The wider subject under discussion was the efficacy of advertising creativity itself. Event organisers are keen to attest to its impact, the interior of the palais features a mural of stats which substantiate that creativity works.

This last point is the most vital take-out from the festival. Winning awards is one thing, creating work that delivers an impact is another. Historically, the two aren’t always aligned. As this issue goes to print (or rather, WiFi-borne to your inbox) I will have just exited the stage at the Debussy Theatre with my friend Orlando Wood, chief innovation officer at System1. We’re going to discuss The Next Creative Revolution, and introduce his new course with The Garage Entertainment: Advertising Principles Explained (or a.p.e.). It’s designed with one thing in mind: making advertising that works. Personally, I’ve never felt like this should be a tall order.

Sir John with Advertising Principles Explained
Contributor: a.p.e.

OBSERVATIONS

⛱️ Views from the coast

1. Put your hands up for… The Debussy Theatre
Aspiring DJs might dream of a headline Glastonbury set or playing out at an Ibiza closing party. But a more reliable niche is mixing it up during the interval between speakers at trade fairs. Auditoriums at Cannes feature pumping house music as delegates file in. 

2. Fans are finished
While this year featured patchy weather, the sun arrives with sudden ferocity on the French Riviera. Fans are a kitsch throwback. The more contemporary minded nip to a pharmacy to pick up a water spritz. Evian’s Brumisateur is best (but please recycle).

3. Noisy neighbours
On the eastern bank of the marina, businesses with budget assemble on branded yachts. Having well-behaved neighbours is crucial. Some companies host raucous shin-digs at night, while others feature more sedate soirees. Sound travels over water.

4. Trading down
Companies usually spring for a decent hotel for executives on the move. Cannes is a small city so teams that don’t book early find themselves in less salubrious digs than they’re used to. Folk with Rimowa suitcases and tailored suits have been spotted entering two-star establishments.

5. Bad language
The best compares know how to make expert panellists look good – and bring the more verbose to time. Sometimes they spring forth with a vexing turn of phrase. Our biggest shudder came when one said: “Let’s just double click on that issue for a moment.”

CANNES ⭐️ TECHNOLOGY

Musking up

Elon Musk’s appearance at Cannes was expected to be something of an apology tour. The Tesla founder’s purchase of X (formerly Twitter) in 2022 resulted in a relaxing of moderation, and an influx of extreme views, causing advertisers to take flight. In an interview last year, he was bellicose about brands boycotting the social media site: “If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself…”. A tumbling valuation is causing the entrepreneur to make overtures to commercial partners again. But during an appearance in the Lumière Theatre he maintained his position, citing a belief in free speech: “if you’re forced to make a choice between censorship and money or free speech and losing money, we’re going to pick the second.” Beyond this, the entrepreneur gave his perspective on the relationship AI will have with human creativity: “AI will amplify creativity. You will have a magic genie situation,” he said, “if you can think about it, AI can do it.”

CREATIVE HACK ⭐️

Contributor: Clo’e Floirat

“Trust me, I won’t byte!”

CANNES ⭐️ MARKETING

Creativity – is it enough?

Mark Ritson delivered a caustic, expletive filled – and immensely enjoyable – talk entitled Creativity Is Not Enough. When it comes to marketing, the journalist and brand consultant adeptly backed up his claim. Citing research from System1, he calculated that the creative excellence of an ad accounts for a small slice of what makes an effectively marketed product. “Creativity is a vital factor for communication, this is absolutely true. It’s approximately 40% of the impact of any ad,” he said. “But it’s a lesser input into marketing. And sometimes it can be a distraction from other marketing issues that frankly we have to start addressing.” Ritson’s point is well observed, but his definition of creativity doesn’t reach beyond communications. Surely, building a brilliant product, store or brand demands creativity. We propose a new title for his talk: Thirty Second Ads Are Not Enough.

Blinding lights, big sets
Contributor: Sipa USA / Alamy Stock Photo

CANNES ⭐️ SET DESIGN

Air craft 

The greatest creatives are often hobbyists. This is true of Es Devlin, an artist and stage designer who has created sets for the Superbowl Half Time Show, U2 and Beyonce. Devlin’s creative spark ignited over an interest in origami and paper aeroplanes. Her concept for The Weeknd’s After Hours Till Dawn tour was based on such folded aircraft. “Sometimes you have to look at the second best idea,” she told a Cannes audience. “I had come up with a very complicated idea – a spaceship – for The Weeknd. And just about three months before the opening night it became apparent that all my ideas were entirely unfeasible. So, I picked up a piece of paper from a table, made a paper aeroplane and said – ‘why don’t we make one of these?’. It ended being about 100-feet long.” Finding the right course of creative action often requires looking back to the things that inspired you at the start.

CANNES ⭐️ STORYTELLING

Long story short 

Brevity is key in communication. But audiences also show a willingness to absorb longer form stories. British filmmaker Asif Kapadia is known for lengthy, in-depth accounts of extraordinary figures – racing driver Ayrton Senna, singer Amy Winehouse, and footballer Diego Maradona. This week he took to a stage at Cannes to discuss the intricacies of weaving a narrative that requires a two- or three-hour investment. Can a brand ever expect to captivate an audience for the same duration? “It’s not the same discipline,” says Kapadia. “Brands say ‘we’d love to do something like Senna, but can you do it in, like, five days?’. But something like that takes time. And – in my experience – commercial jobs have such a tight deadline. What’s more common is that we produce a feature film in a specific way, but then brands will copy that style.” The best way to make brilliant work is knowing which genres and styles to borrow from. And – usually – making it shorter helps to get the message across.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

/William Hazlitt