Grand Prix: Modern Marketing At Cannes Lions 2024, Part 1
The one where I try to avoid ranting about Cannes...
I’ve always approached Cannes Lions with a healthy dose of scepticism. Tempered with a dash of hypocrisy.
Healthy scepticism because of:
How the industry seems to spend those five days patting itself on the back, without really addressing the challenges that it faces. The amount of money spent to participate is a good indicator of warped priorities. This seemed to be the case this year too.
The amount of scam work still being entered and awarded. Our industry is about applying creativity to drive commercial outcomes, not creativity for creativity’s sake. A message that still doesn’t seem to have landed, even in this economic climate.
Hypocrisy because if I were to score at Cannes, I’d be patting myself on the back too 🤷♂️
But this post series isn’t intended to be a rant about Cannes.
Every year, I gather my team together and we discuss the year’s Grand Prix winners. This year, I decided to bring that analysis to What Is An Insight?, looking at the winners through a Modern Marketing lens. Each post in the series will cover 5 winners, and I’ll aim to get through the series over the next two weeks.
What’s this Modern Marketing lens, you say? Well, after much research, discussion with peers as well as some good ol’ AI deep-dive, here are the parameters I’ll be using.
Work that’s customer-centric. Based on a strong understanding of real customer needs, using data and insights to personalise the work.
Work that’s deeply rooted in culture.
Work that gets noticed and talked about, on social and in the press. Even if it doesn’t begin there.
Work which has measurable results, driving tangible business outcomes.
(That last point is where I know the Cannes believers will come after me in the comments 😜)
So here goes. Grab some popcorn.
Audio & Radio: Specsavers - The Misheard Lyrics
Customer-centric? ✅.
Rooted in culture? ✅. The misheard lyric is a late night (and TikTok staple). And nothing is more cultural than the Rick Roll?
Gets noticed? ✅. I loved how they seeded this in a manner that started the conversation.
Measurable results? ✅. There’s a direct correlation between the work and the spike in Google Search volume. Share of Search is fairly accepted as an input metric to brand growth. The fact that it led to bookings - icing on that cake.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👍
Health & Wellness: Dramamine - The Last Barf Bag
Customer-centric? ❌. This feels less about a customer need or insight and more about an opportunity to tell the brand story through hyperbole. Nothing wrong with that.
Rooted in culture? ✅. Initially, I didn’t get it. But some quick research unearthed a niche community that collects barf bags, and even a barf bag museum! Cultural relevance today is shifting more and more towards communities and fandom, which makes this one hugely relevant.
Gets noticed? ✅. I love that the team embraced the absurdity of the idea and launched it in the manner they did - with a documentary and the on-ground experience. With creative, social and PR all coming together to drive results.
Measurable results? ❌. I’m sorry, but impressions and brand engagement aren’t strong enough business KPIs. Neither are sales of barf bags. I’m missing the link back to Brand Lift. And let’s not get started on incrementality - the experts in this space would be losing their minds!
Is this Modern Marketing: 👎. It is really clever advertising, though.
Health x For Good: UN Women - Child Wedding Cards
Customer-centric? ❌. This case doesn’t pretend to begin with one. Yes, the team identified a real problem - but it’s not a new one and not an unknown one either.
Rooted in culture? 🤔 Given that child marriage is a cultural issue across the Indian subcontinent, the issue does feel culturally significant. The idea of hand-drawn wedding cards however…not so much.
Gets noticed? ❌. I couldn’t discern any shareworthy elements baked into the work.
Measurable results? ❌. The case study mentions how these cards “will be used to support a law”. “Will be”, not “has been”. The outcomes are yet to be determined.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👎. I’d give this one multiple thumbs down. It reeks of scam and I still don’t get how unreleased work made it to Cannes.
Outdoor: Magnum Ice Cream - Find Your Summer
(Aside: Why does an outdoor ad need a music video to sell it to a jury?)
Customer-centric? ✅ Ice cream is seen as a summer treat. (Unless you’re me.) I do like that they looked to tackle a business problem based on a real customer issue.
Rooted in culture? ❌. Not really.
Gets noticed? ❌. There’s outdoor ads, and there’s outdoor ads that people talk about. This one falls under the first category. Forget getting noticed - I don’t know how people would even notice or read the copy about the app they built in the top-left corner.
Measurable results? ❌. I’m glad they didn’t even attempt to fit results into their case study.
Is this Modern Marketing? ❌. This feels more like the traditional “festival of creativity” kind of work that’s plagued Cannes forever. Could easily pass for scam too - I’d like to see the brief and the budgets before I give this one a pass.
Outdoor: Pedigree - Adoptable
Customer-centric? ✅. While the campaign has the brand’s purpose at its core, it taps into every dog owner’s love for their furry friends. And touches the hearts of some non-dog owners too.
Rooted in culture? ✅. Pedigree are very clear about tapping into a community of dog lovers - whether owners or not - and appealing to their emotions.
Gets noticed? 🤔. I love the idea - it’s one of those obvious ones that should’ve been done years ago. I love how they used adtech to enable it. Not quite sure how this drove earned media, so a lot would’ve depended upon the media plan.
Measurable results? ✅. These may not be the kind of results businesses usually report - but they’re strong results for what the brand intended to do.
Is this Modern Marketing? ✅. I’ll repeat, there should have been a larger earned media component to this, but it’s great work that deserved its moment in the sun.
I do have 27 more winners to cover, but that’s way too much to write (or read) in post. Stay tuned for Part 2, later this week. And please do leave your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to learn from what you think.
Samit