BCMA @ Cannes Lions 2024
Cannes 2024
Wrap Up
Comedy is showing up more and more on advertising and social ads. “Humour is effective and global,” said Noel Bunting, Chief Creative Officer at Publicis London, who shared some surprising figures (above).
The 798 entries into the new Use of Humour category across the Lions showed that brands understand that, when executed appropriately, humour pays off.
Titanium Lions Grand Prix ‘DoorDash All-The-Ads’ challenged Super Bowl viewers to input a comically long promo code to enter a sweepstakes to win a product from all 76 ads in the game. “It hijacked a cultural moment, making people look at the company in a fresh way,” said Jury President Debbi Vandeven, VML’s Global Chief Creative Officer.
‘Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch’ revived Kranch – Heinz’s struggling sauce mashup – by capitalising on a viral picture of Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, Dutch telco KPN helped pass the Dutch Sexual Crimes Act by partnering with singer MEAU to create a song informed by real stories from her fanbase. ‘A Piece of Me’ won the Creative Strategy Lions Grand Prix. “This reframed society’s understanding of a misunderstood issue,” said Jury President Vita M Harris, Global Chief Strategy Officer, FCB.
Focus on YOU
Recognising that creative talent can come from anywhere facilitates new levels of inclusion that harness diverse perspectives. “You are what makes companies human, what makes brands human,” said Unilever’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Esi Eggleston Bracey. Some brands are tapping into this, helping to revolutionise recruitment through challenging outdated perceptions. Gold PR Lion winner ‘Bar Experience’ for Heineken reframed hospitality work from a dead-end temp job to a priceless formative experience. And Gold Social & Influencer Lions winner ‘No Smiles’, for McDonald’s Japan, encouraged employees to be themselves at work. If beige creative work is going to be avoided, the global creative community needs to consider doing the same. As Nick Law reminded the audience: “Homogeneous teams are boring. Heterogeneous teams bump up against each other.”
Orlando says a Golden Age of Advertising has not been a Golden Age of Advertising Effectiveness. We have forgotten we have to interest people in the first place
“The biggest challenge to overcome is the exceptional amount of nothing that people feel when they see advertising,” said System1’s Chief Customer Officer, Jon Evans. Fifty per cent of B2C and 60% of B2B ads are boring, evoke no emotion and have little likelihood of having an effect. In short, dull ads cost more money than creatively interesting ads: £10m in additional media spend, according to System1 and eatbigfish. This opens up creative opportunities for brands.
Keep it simple
Diana Frost, Chief Growth Officer at Kraft Heinz, acknowledged the value of keeping it simple and leveraging the affection that audiences have for brands.
Heinz’s stance on simplicity and creative commitment over time paid off: ‘It Has To Be Heinz’ won the Creative Effectiveness Lions Grand Prix. Over the last five years, Heinz has reignited the brand’s appeal, growing its US retail sales by nearly 50% to reach $851m in 2023
Elon Musk packs in the crowds
“This is the most interesting time in all of history. So enjoy the ride.”
This was the advice of Elon Musk, Chief Technology Officer of X. Speaking in a packed auditorium, Musk predicted that next year will be pivotal for AI – but he also warned that there’s a one-in-five chance of AI going rogue and “something going terribly wrong”. AI is already playing a bigger role in creativity: it was used in 12% of all entries submitted this year. But while some of the innovation we saw at the Festival was based on AI, it was still human-inspired.
AI comes of Age
Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer, OpenAI, spoke about how AI is becoming more accessible: intuitively designed tools don’t require specialised skills. She said: “the technology comes to you."
We saw this across a range of health and wellbeing innovations. ‘Samsung Impulse’ is an app on the Galaxy Watch that uses haptic therapy to assist people with speech disorders. AT&T’s ‘5G Helmet’ helps D/deaf athletes play American football. EarSwitch’s ‘Airquity’ lowers respiratory death rates among Black people by measuring blood oxygen from inside the ear.
And Pharma Lions Grand Prix-winning ‘Magnetic Stories’ for Siemens Healthineers uses AI to turn the scary sounds of MRI machines into children’s audiobooks to help soothe younger patients. The Innovation Lions Grand Prix went to KVI Brave Fund Inc’s ‘Voice 2 Diabetes’. This uses AI to analyse people’s voices to see if they have type 2 diabetes. It’s already been effective in India and has the potential to scale to other markets, with estimated savings of $32bn on costlier diagnosis tools. Meanwhile, Outdoor Lions Grand Prix winner ‘Adoptable. By Pedigree’ shows AI’s efficiency at scale. This AI-powered model lets shelter dogs star in Pedigree’s digital out-of-home ads. As soon as a dog is rehomed, another replaces it on the out-of-home site. Pedigree plans to roll it out across all its digital touchpoints by 2026.
Tiktok and Adobe delve deeper into AI
Generative Ai for marketing an creativity was a key theme throughout Cannes Lions. At Cannes Tiktok it revealed its new features for Symphony the suite of advertising tools. They include Symphony Digital Avatars, virtual characters that can be used in branded content for Tiktok. Tiktok launched a range of stock avatars created using paid actors that are licensed for commercial usage. However it will also work with creators and brands to create their own avatars for use in their videos. Tikok has also created a tool called Symphony Ai dubbing which translates into more than languages. Adobe played a major role in Cannes taking over one of the top hotels on the front.
Being brave as a celebrity has risks by being political
Celebrities John Legend and TV star Chrissy Teigen. Whilst they have said many people love their content and what they do, some will not because of the issues that maybe considered controversial. That’s why we have signed up to says Legend. The couples views certainly upset Donald Trump in 2019 when he described Legends wife as flithy mouthed wife when she called him a Pussy ass bitch. Both have their own brands Loved01 cookery line Cravings and dog food brand Kismet.
Are we missing the hidden buyers in the BSB sales process
Jamie Gleghorn senior partner at Bain & Company commissioned a study of 500 senior b2b buyers found that hidden buyers have 49% of the buying decision but often overlooked in the sales and marketing process. We need to go beyond the obvious people, the obvious messages, and the most obvious mediums. How to take the b2c creativity into b2b Glegohorn says
Havas Media launch new tech and AI
Havas Media launch their new operating system called Havas Converged bringing together insights, design and creativity, activation and delivery and measurement.
Lion of St Mark recipient Jacques Séguéla, Chief Creative Officer and Former Co-Vice-Chairman at Havas, summed it up on Friday at the Festiva with the words WOW WOW WOWl, along with a plea to “love ideas, love creativity, love life”. Pictured here with BCMA Gordon Glenister
BCMA @ Havas Cafe 2024
BCMA is developing an exciting programme of events with global member Havas. Based at the fantastic Mondrian Hotel, the Havas Cafe hosts amazing talks, panels and events during the week of the Cannes Lions Festival.
BCMA Highlights 2023
Above: Andrew Canter, Global Chairman, BCMA presents Sir John Hegarty with his signed copy of the latest BCMA book. We were delighted that John agreed to write the Foreword.
BCMA Panel: Branded Content Made Meaningfully
This is the BCMA panel that took place at the Havas Cafe/Mondrian Hotel, Cannes on 20th June 2023. It was hosted by Andrew Canter, Global Chairman of the BCMA to celebrate the organisation's 20th Anniversary. The panel was moderated by Greg James, Global Chief Transformation Officer, Havas Media Group and celebrated the power of branded content & influencer marketing, honouring the brands and campaigns that paved the way with extraordinary content and groundbreaking activations. The talk will also look towards the future and set the stage for why inclusive, diverse and ethical marketing is vital to supercharging the most meaningful content. On the panel were Carlotta Rossi Spencer, Head of Branded Content Business Development, Banijay, Naomi Taylor, Managing Editor, BBC and Marina Prieto, Senior Marketing Manager LATAM, Pedidos Ya!
Andrew Canter introducing the BCMA panel session with Carlotta Rossi Spencer and Greg James
Gordon Glenister with Claudia Romo Edelman
Rebecca Allen, Gordon Glenister, Karnvir Mundrey and Andrew Canter
Karnvir Mundrey and Andrew Canter
Guests having fun at the Havas Cafe
Join us at the Havas Cafe in 2024
