Embrace mobile and don't be afraid of new technology - the five key takeaways from Cannes Lions 2014
This year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity we saw a fascinating juxtaposition of technology, brand strategy, and storytelling fused together to create the world’s best advertising campaigns.
Nivea’s 'Sun Kids' campaign shows how print and mobile can be used in tandem
The pervasiveness of real-life tech was personified by one of our favourite sessions of the week, which had nothing to do with advertising or media.
FutureBrand's Global Chairman Christopher Nurko held a presentation called 'How creativity can create a better future' and featured Solar Impulse, a company founded by Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard.
Together they pioneered the world’s first ever solar-powered plane and successfully executed a 26-hour flight around the world. What's going on at Cannes isn't just learning how to talk to consumers, it’s about driving real, true innovation.
And with that - here are our top five key takeaways from Cannes Lions 2014:
There's been a lot of discussion from the programmatic camp on the effectiveness of mobile and at our 'Programmatic view from the rooftop' panel, Bonin Bough noted that 24 per cent of engagement comes from mobile devices, and yet it only receives one per cent of media spend. This has to change, and data will be the driver.
The idea that you can genuinely link up multiple touch points to create a compelling story has become a reality. Creating habit through storytelling and multi-channel engagement interests brands. More importantly, there’s supporting research Adaptly found that full exposure to three sequenced ads – regardless of device – was more effective in driving sales than a single ad with a strong call to action.
Nivea’s 'Sun Kids' campaign was an amazing example of how print and mobile are used in tandem to leverage real-time information. Ever worry about your kid running off at the beach? Nivea printed out special editions of a magazine where parents could remove a portion of a page and fashion it around their child’s wrist and then track their location through an app. Brilliant execution for a noble cause.
As traditional media is de-silo’d and technology companies play an increasingly larger role, people have asked if this means that agencies will be shut out of the brand’s plans. Across the board, we’re seeing both brands and tech companies consistently emphasise that the increasing emergence and integration of technology in media will actually drive the brands closer to the media and creative agencies.
All creative executions will eventually be informed by real-time data. StinkDigital used military-grade facial recognition technology to analyse people’s selfies. They could use the data points to then infer personal traits. Whether or not the data made those people’s lives better is subjective, but the value of that personal data to brands is very real.
Nick Reid is managing director of TubeMogul UK
