The curious Media Lions category, dominated by creative agencies, judges seduced by interruption not effectiveness, and mixed messages about authenticity and the metaverse – Cannes is a celebration of creativity but also replete with contradictions, writes Wavemaker’s Grant LeQuesne.
As a first timer at last week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, I was over-stimulated and over-lubricated. Contradictions abound, but I did find time to review the amazing work shortlisted and learn from some of the wisest people in the industry, which is what it’s all about.
I live and breathe media and spend my days deep in the weeds of strategy. It struck me though, that the Media Lions is a curious category. Much of the award-winning work was submitted by creative or PR agencies. And much of the work was submitted into multiple categories, with the greatest crossover being PR.
So what qualifies for a Media Lion? IPG Mediabrands’ Daryl Lee, who headed up the judging panel for the category, said judges were looking for the “media hack” that unlocked new ways of connecting with audiences.
However, the judges still seemed to be seduced by interruptionism, and work that some might deem publicity stunts collected trophies. I much preferred the examples of media being used cleverly to take ideas into the flow of consumer behaviour, such as Ogilvy and OMD’s AAMI Rest Towns, or the Rethink/Wavemaker work for Molson Multilingual Hockey Night in Canada.
As Wavemaker’s Global Head of Strategy Stuart Sullivan-Martin put it, the best media-led work is not just about brand ego, but about brand EQ.
Effectiveness overlooked
Looking at the winning work in the Media, PR, and Social & Influencer categories poses an obvious question for our industry: do business outcomes count at Cannes?
I saw a lot of entries claiming sensational numbers in terms of impressions, engagement, earned media value, even the retro metric of new followers. But too few cited business results.
It’s true that many of the winning entries were for social causes that don’t set a commercial KPI. And Cannes Lions is a festival of creativity. But I wonder what the CMOs in the room thought of the case studies in which the only evidence of effectiveness were vanity media metrics.
By contrast, in the Media Federation of Australia awards (get your entries in by 13 July, people), 50% of the score is allocated to demonstrating business results that are clearly attributable to the work.
So what about media’s contribution to creativity?
As an old-timer with fond memories of full-service agency days, it was heartening to see both creative and media teams share the stage and the accolades last week, clear proof that the two are not mutually exclusive.
WPP won the most creative company of the year, and Ogilvy won most creative network of the year. A significant contributor to this was the multi-award winner “Shah Rukh Khan My Ad” for Cadbury India. The creative idea belongs to Ogilvy, but the beauty in this campaign also lies in the media – the execution, delivery and technology partnerships that Wavemaker brought to the table.
Cutting through the echo chambers with subterfuge
As advertisers we seek to understand what motivates people to change their behaviours and influence decisions. It’s interesting looking at the different approaches to communicating gun control – catnip for the Cannes audience.
For example, there were those who take a path of least resistance, preaching to the converted, like The Lost Class by Change The Ref Inc. Everyone loves it when the villain gets his pants pulled down, so it’s little wonder this did well. The media that picked up the story were the likes of CNN, The Washington Post and The Guardian, all building their audiences’ existing confirmation bias.
Juxtapose that with the degree of difficulty in penetrating the right-wing echo chambers. The Gun Survivor Reviews, an example of content based around subterfuge, did exactly that. The viewers thought they were watching authentic gun reviews, but were quickly exposed to the horrendous realities of gun violence.
Can authenticity and the metaverse co-exist?
One of the buzzwords of the week was authenticity. I heard several times that Gen Z want honesty, sincerity, transparency. French social media app BeReal was lauded as the antidote to the filtered, curated personas that we create on social media.
With such a burning desire for authenticity, why then, is the same generation said to be embracing avatars, creating digital alter-egos through which they look and behave completely differently?
The metaverse evangelists gushed about how people are liberated to become somebody completely different through their avatars. I heard a stat that 50% of male gamers like to play as female characters. Perhaps this fits for escapist pursuits such as Fortnite, but as the metaverse becomes a place where we socialise, collaborate, transact, seek advice, and even love, how compatible is it with authenticity?
So while Cannes may be a hotbed of contradictions, that’s not a bad thing. It’s in this tension that our industry thrives. We fearlessly lean into the tension to find provocative solutions, ideas and breakthrough concepts that drive progress and growth.
Grant LeQuesne is Director, Strategy & Insight at Wavemaker Australia.
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