#CannesLions: The good, the diverse and the insane

This trend forms part of feedback from Ann Nurock, who attended Cannes Lions this year on behalf of Bizcommunity. She presented her insights at the Ster-Kinekor and Cinemark’s Cannes Lions Edit event, which showcased the best of Cannes 2016. The event took place at Ster-Kinekor at The Zone in Rosebank on 8 September and at Cinema Nouveau, V&A Waterfront on Thursday, 15 September.

Nurock's top trends include:

TREND 1: GET DIGITAL

The boundaries between humanity and technology are fading.
CANNES AD: The Next Rembrandt

TREND 2: VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

Everyone is talking about VR; it is the future. It is providing consumers with experiences they have never had before. This is not an evolution of cinema, but a completely new experience.
CANNES AD: Field Trip to Mars

TREND 3: COLLABORATION

Collaboration was a key theme at Cannes Lions this year despite Brexit, which placed a bit of a damper on this as it flew in the face of what everyone was talking about. Clients expressly state that collaboration is a major need on all of their brands, and they are sick of project-managing agencies and that agencies need to start working together as agencies’ complexities are not their problem.

This year saw many winners coming from collaboration, with individual Cannes Lions award entries with three and more agencies credited having a 42% greater chance of winning. The right combination of agencies working together effectively also creates more awards – and happier clients.

TREND 4: CLIENT-AGENCY RELATIONSHIP

Research presented at Cannes Lions shows that a client-agency relationship wins a number of awards in its first year. In year two and three this dips, but when that relationship hits the decade-plus mark, they win 50% more Cannes Lions awards.

TREND 5: KILL THE ROCK STAR CULTURE

The days of the creative person dominating the agency are over.

TREND 6: DIVERSITY

Diverse teams are needed, and while this is obvious, it needs to be addressed. Campaigns with diversity in gender and race etc. won more awards as well.

TREND 7: SIMPLICITY, AUTHENTICITY AND THE BIG IDEA

These ruled when it came to what the judges were looking for.

TREND 8: CREATIVITY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

You can do well and do good. This trend continues from last year, when we started seeing brands with a higher purpose. However, this year judges were tough on charities, and wanted to see purpose from big brands.

CANNES AD: SK-II: Marriage Market Takeover

TREND 9: GENDER STEREOTYPES AND THE OBJECTIVITY OF WOMEN

This was a massive theme. Madonna Badger told her story at Cannes, of losing her mother and three daughters in a fire, and when she returned to work following this, she looked at the world with different eyes. Her new purpose was to stop the objectification of women in marketing and so she released – anonymously – the YouTube film, We are #WomenNotObjects.

There are filters marketing agencies and marketers can exercise to ensure they are not perpetuating gender stereotypes and the objectivity of women. This includes making sure women are not used as props, asking if the woman has a choice or voice, to not use female body parts and to practice empathy by asking yourself what if my mother, daughter, girlfriend, wife etc. was in this ad.
CANNES AD: Always #LikeAGirl - Girl Emojis

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Nurock touched on the Geico creative, from the car insurance company that produced the “dog on the table” creative last year. “This is car insurance, and boring, but their ad: Geico Forest shows that as long as you have a human truth or insight then it does not matter how crazy and insane it is.”