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Ask any creative to name some of the hottest shops in Australia and you can bet that among the agency names almost certainly there will be a number of independents. Small, nimble shops, without the baggage and shareholder demands that can sometimes come with being a networked agency, and with the agility to shift as the broader landscape evolves. There is
no doubting that AdNews loves indies too – we named a very good one our Agency of the Year.
It’s that backdrop that makes the winners of the 2016 Cannes International Festival of Creativity even more shocking by their omission – that is, the lack of winners from independent agencies. While a handful picked up trophies for truly astounding work, there was much more award-winning work from networked agencies when it came to the 71 Lions Australia took home this year.
Here in the AdNews office, we had our own hypothesis but, in the name of research, decided to throw it over to experts from both sides of the fence. Could it be the cost? Could it be resources? Or was it the work? And does it matter?
About Ryan:
Ryan has been associated with Lavender for more than a decade, preceded by two years with Leo Burnett Korea and eight years at DDB Melbourne.
Yes, the large networks do seem to be winning more and not just because they’ve got more firepower behind them. The under–representation of indies could well be a sign that they just don’t see Cannes being as important as it once was.
There’s no denying its allure. Cannes has always been the premier advertising award show. But the fact that it’s just as famous for Cristal–soaked parties on super yachts, ego stroking, and zipping around in an Uber chopper, as it is for showcasing great work, should tell us something. Times have changed.
Independents have led the charge in shifting traditional client/agency relationships. For many, there’s a greater sense of partnership and a focus on co-creation that puts the customer and business results at the heart of everything. The type of work they do has changed too.
Many independents are highly specialised, often in areas not covered or appreciated by mainstream creative award shows. It’s something the adding of new categories at Cannes attempts to address, but for many still misses the mark.
Every agency has a different strategy, but we tend to focus on awards that have a mutual benefit for both agency and client.
We focus more on creative and innovation effectiveness awards where a win is a recognition of an enhanced customer experience that can not only be quantified, but makes a positive difference to a clients’ bottom line.
For many independents that’s the true measure of success.
About Damian:
Damian has been in advertising for 23 years and has worked across markets in Asia, the US, Europe and Australia. He is the founding partner of independent agency The Works and holds the position of global creative director on Jim Beam.
“It has become a very big exercise, a very expensive exercise. At some levels I believe it has lost a bit of its focus.” That’s a recent quote from Sir Martin Sorrell on Cannes. I think this may sum up why the networks have done so well this year, they are dedicating far too much resource and money to win Lions.
Network agencies’ performance at Cannes is simple and its all about pooling, it’s a volume game. Networks have more clients, more money to fund work and entries and more ECDs desperate to hit their KPIs. If you get under the skin of what the networks are doing it starts from the top. Global ECDs are incentivised to win and win big so they create a systematic approach. This means using all the resourcing around the world you can get your hands on: creatives hungry for gold, agencies and production companies funding work, and then the hard cash required to enter in as many categories as possible; it’s a carpet bombing approach. I’ve heard of one agency in Australia spending north of €60,000 on one piece of work put into multiple categories.
Independent agencies need to be prudent about how we spend our money and measure our success; Cannes Lions is only a small measure of this. The money being spent on the winning of a Lion does not equal the return.
The network agencies always take a little longer to catch up to our thinking.
About Pete:
Pete is one of the youngest CEOs in Leo Burnett Sydney’s history. Under his leadership, the business ranked sixth in the world (The Gunn Report), and has evolved from an ad agency to a creative solutions company. Most recently Leo Burnett Sydney was awarded nine Cannes Lions.
Winning at Cannes isn’t about big agencies. It’s about big ideas. It’s about ideas that transcend culture.
Big ideas that get clients and agencies recognised and rewarded for world–class work and innovation and execution. It’s all about clever, original work and ideas – not the size or origin of the creator.
Cast your eye over the major award winners in recent years and you’ll see a trend towards one great idea cleaning up at the show. Think WWF Earth Hour; Best Job in the World; McWhopper; #likeagirl; Old Spice; Dumb Ways to Die.
As Australians, we know what it’s like to bat above our average. We see it in the sporting arena all the time. Individuals and teams from our relatively small population pool taking on the world and winning.
In the end, size of the agency doesn’t matter; the quality of the work – and the big idea – does.
It’s the only thing that should matter. No one has a monopoly on big ideas. You don’t need to be big to think big.
About Phil:
Phil has been with Y&R for almost a decade and a driving force behind its new business plan for the region, as well as pivotal in adding clients like McDonald’s and Microsoft to the books.
Being part of global network like Y&R has many benefits and the opportunity to do world– class creative work consistently is definitely one of them.
In many cases, the work that wins globally at shows like Cannes and D&AD has the benefit of being reviewed by regional and global creative directors and often by global creative boards from around the world.
The collective experience and the many and varied learnings on category and craft are shared on live client briefs and applied to the network’s best work to make it even better.
Good global networks are also particularly efficient at sharing insights, planning tools and campaign learnings, all informing insights and strategies that make it easier to create and present powerful creative ideas in any market.
They also share global client briefs across several offices at the one time. Whatever way you look at it, that provides some massive creative firepower. There’s nothing like seeing if your ideas stack up against the best in your network – before they are even approved, or made.
Our New Zealand office’s globally-recognised 'McWhopper’ work is a great example of taking a global view and utilising existing global relationships to bring a big, global idea to life on the biggest possible scale. And for us as a regional network in ANZ, this campaign and a couple of others have raised the bar among all of the agencies here to deliver even more world– class work for all of our clients.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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