#CannesLions 2014: Day 6 Recap #OgilvyCannes

1. 6
Recap
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
day

2. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
what’s a nice cpg brand like
you doing in a place like this?
Years ago, you wouldn’t have seen quite the same Cannes
presence from the giants of the CPG world. With advertising just
as utilitarian as their product suites (and this is particularly true
of P&G), Cannes didn’t matter all that much to them. That was
then. Now, they bring out their heavy hitters and hunt Lions. Marc
Pritchard of P&G spoke of the need to work from essential truths
and make your brand matter. When you’re selling soap powder
or scented water, one way to meet that need is transcendent
advertising. P&G’s work for Old Spice and around the Olympics
certainly qualifies. Keith Weed took a different approach in his
talk. The CMO of Unilever focused less on his company’s own
work and instead on the shared tasks that await us all. Large CPG
companies can take a leading role in making their operations
increasingly sustainable and in nudging consumers to more
earth-friendly habits, and Unilever has continued to demonstrate
its global commitment to both sides of that equation.
1

3. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
you too can help
(red)There’s star power, and then there’s star power. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s
deity of design, joined Bono (blue sunglasses period) to urge juked up
packed house to turn their combined creative power to eradicating
AIDS. His band, U2, was initially uncomfortable with his turn from
front man to righteous man: “The band said ‘this could sink our ship,
you’re meeting really uncool people—like George Bush—looking
really crap in photos, it’s not rock’n’roll’.” Bono disagrees, and he
wants us all to join the band. Since advertisers are “the world’s
thermostat,” Bono is relying on us to turn up the heat, and Ive wants
us to use our industry’s gift for sharp thinking to get us there: “We
don’t let the complexity of the problem be evident in the solution.”
That’s worked for Apple, and it can work for eradicating AIDS, too.
2

4. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
amatterofdebateTwitter, Viacom, and WPP (in the persons of their respective
leaders) enjoyed a spirited…consensus. What was billed as
a debate was, as in years past, an intellectual group hug.
These companies are not competitors; they are instead
different organisms in a shared ecosystem—one in which
they are the apex predators. Twitter wants to be the default
second screen, Viacom is building up production capabilities
to match its commodious distribution network, and WPP
does big business with them both. Viacom’s business is 75%
US while Twitter is the other way ‘round. But for the future?
Well, that depends on how Twitter’s new “easy onboarding”
(someone ban that phrase) and in-the-moment-commerce
(yup, that one needs to go, too) strategies perform.
3

5. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
nope,
nothemeAfter the pleasantries are exchanged and the conversation
between distant colleagues dries up, the talk turns
to the Cannes week just ending. The parties, the work
that won, the rankling injustices, the epic nights, and
the awful next mornings. And the theme. Always the
theme. Many say there was no unifying thread this
year, and on the surface they’re right. But something
big is cutting through the dark water beneath.
4

6. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
maybe there was one
Editorial consciousness reemerged, and it is organizing
the internet, not because it is an autocrat but because
most of us want some sense of what’s worth our time.
Here’s what you already know: We’re too busy having a life
to want to curate every part of our online experiences.
The heady rush of freedom has been grand, but the online
world has gotten so big and so complex that we’d like a
bit of direction, thank you very much. And we need more
than what our friends can provide on their own. Chaos is for
the early adopters; they’re the ones who need unmarked,
untrammeled public spaces in which to range. But the
rest of us value a good experience so much that we’re
willing—desperate, even—to ask someone to come curate
it, to edit it. Brands have sussed this out, and every brief
must now contain the word “curation” on pain of death.
5

7. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6so what does that mean
forme?Twitter’s “easy onboarding” (that phrase just won’t die, dammit)
algorithm means that users new and old aren’t dumped into a
cubist landscape. We’re no longer entirely free to assemble our
own picture window on the world from the shards of a thousand
other views. Twitter is willing to do it for you. How, at its core,
is that any different from what the New York Times does? It’s
not, but the chaotic self-assembled window is still there next
to Twitter’s nicely stage-managed view. If we look out of both,
nothing will have been lost—in fact, much will be gained. But
will we hold on to both perspectives? The chaos loving early-
adopters are moving on. They’ve glommed onto 3D printing and
connected gadgets. The Internet of Things may become the
new social, as our digital world becomes an ever more integrated
part of our meatspace one. The brands will go there, too, not
just as purveyors but as advertisers, too. The Innovation Lion,
first awarded last night, is just a cub. What will it grow up to be?
6

8. Recap day
L i o n s
Cannes
2 0 1 4
6
“wedon’tletthe
complexityof the problem be evident in
thesolution.”Jony Ive, apple