Paul Yole’s Cannes: Just like the first time
Paul Yole has attended the Cannes Lions Festival as a delegate every year for the past 10 years. Here he gives his first impressions of this year’s Festival followed by his take on two of the seminars from Sunday in Cannes.
Saturday: Cannes Lions has undergone a refresh. And I like it.
The Palais has changed its layout to the extent that I almost felt lost, even though it’s the tenth time since I first wandered the halls. Different, but in a good way.
The beach has changed too. More fancy structures, delegate-exclusive areas and a whole lot of construction. The beach itself has suffered some erosion and the event companies have needed to build protective walls to keep out the tide. I hope my photos do it justice.
The beach has changed too. More fancy structures, delegate-exclusive areas and a whole lot of construction. The beach itself has suffered some erosion and the event companies have needed to build protective walls to keep out the tide. I hope my photos do it justice.
I’ve noticed comments in another blog (from a judge of all people) that suggest Cannes may have “lost its way” due to the extravagant parties and so on. Apparently, clients may feel that the industry has become too indulgent.
Of course, that’s bullshit. The savvy clients, of whom there are plenty in Cannes, understand that this is one week that agency people need to let their hair down. And let their hair down they will.
The Cannes Lions organisers have done a great job of revitalising the infrastructure, while of course there is an amazing array of speakers and a showcase of the world’s best work to inspire us all.
Will Smith and Mark Ronson may not be everyone’s cup of tea but we do have a choice. In fact, lots of choice.
Bring it on.
Sunday: Back to simple truths. Thank God.
I used to delight in telling first time visitors to Cannes, “nothing great ever happens on the first Sunday.” Unless you count the odd magnum of Minuty.
But things have changed. Sunday is the new Monday, so I dragged myself along to listen to Nir Wegryn from BrandOpus and acclaimed artist Ori Gerst talk about how perception, not fact, creates reality.
I wish I hadn’t bothered.
It’s an important subject and these are two brilliant people, but I’m afraid it was all too intellectualised for me. The odd bit of Latin was mixed in with stuff about Goya and Manet. All of this clouded the message that to affect behavior we need to affect beliefs. Imagery is therefore more potent than rational facts and functional benefits.
The session with Mark Pytlik of Stinkdigital and Professor Byron Sharp was in stark contrast. Sharp presented a simple articulation of his Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science research that dispels some myths about how we work.
Watching Mark, it did occur to me that by not wearing white sand shoes to work I may have limited my career development in this digital age. So I was reassured when the Professor asserted, “The thing that alarms me about digital is the religious nature of it, the zealotry.”
Get in there!
Reach, he explained, is not optional. Brand growth comes from light buyers and your brand is not especially important to them. So you need mass marketing. True.
Where digital comes in is with its ability to reach different people at different times and places, thus providing incremental reach.
Sharp also refuted the suggestion that young people’s attention spans are getting shorter. Let’s face it, if you can binge watch GoT, attention is not an issue.
If you haven’t read Byron Sharp’s book, ‘How Brand’s Grow’ it is a must read. The original one can be found here and part 2 here.
And while you’re at it have a look at Ian Leslie’s article in the FT which provided a great summary of Sharp’s message.
The key as always is great creativity, because a great idea has the flexibility and legs to provide multiple messages across multiple media.
And great creativity, ladies and gentleman, is what this Festival is all about.