News Corp's Cannes Young Lions winner in the marketing category, Jemma Wong, is the senior marketing manager at The Australian Ballet. Wong is part of a team representing Australia at the 62nd Cannes International Festival of Creativity and shares her views below...
Cannes is brewing with ideas day and night. There’s no shortage of brilliant humans and challenging ways of thinking. It’s overwhelming. In the last 48 hours I’ve heard about design thinking, scientific data, big data, co-creation and one-pyramid marketing strategies. I’ve also been creatively stunned by the calibre of talent in the Awards Gallery. My mind is officially blown.
Yet there was one recurring theme that stuck in day two of Cannes. Ideas are just half-formed stories, until they’re executed well. Something we all know as marketers yet something that every brand struggles to nail when up against new market forces and complex customers.
Evan Spiegel, Co-founder and CEO of Snapchat, made his inaugural Cannes talk this morning on the Grand Auditorium stage in ‘The Millenial Mind’. When asked what the greatest challenge was for his $19 billion social media platform, Spiegel said it was always the execution. For all the prototypes being built in Snapchat’s Venice Beach office, only 1 – 2% see the light of day. That’s because it takes a lot of work to make a good idea happen, even among the most brilliant of minds. Effective storytelling needs to be managed well and executed with purpose and authenticity.
I sat in on the Branded Entertainment panel where Ted Mico, COO of Mirriad, talked about the fine line between branding entertainment and producing entertainment that’s branded. It seems every client and agency is enamoured with the branded content space, yet few are perfecting the final cut and taking real risks with creative teams. All panelists agreed that the focus must be on producing quality, entertaining and emotive content above all else. Story first, brand second. Integrity over product. (If you’re interested in some examples of brands doing it well check out OK Go’s music video clip featuring Chevy and the ‘first kiss’ film powered by Wren clothing).
How can we funnel this back to the office? Syl Saller, Global CMO for Diageo, talked through the value of collaboration in ‘Have an Idea: Will Travel’ hosted by BBDO. She spoke of how engaging with the right people internally will ensure a smoother and more efficient rollout of your big idea. This really resonated. Everywhere I look at Cannes, talent seems to be the connecting thread for why certain brands out-perform their competitors and no doubt, bag a handful of Lions.
For all the billion bold ideas circling around the Cannes promenade, it’s reassuring to know that the global players are placing equal emphasis, if not more, on the fine art of delivery.
Some key take-aways:
- Build story first
- Collaborate and engage internally
- Invest in non-linear distribution
- Plan for the unexpected response
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, from my Young Lions partner Nathan Kwok. You can read what Kwok wrote yesterday here.
Jemma Wong