Cannes Contenders 2015: Jan Jacobs on Outdoor

How creatively successful do you think the last 12 months have been in Outdoor advertising?

I guess living in NYC makes me a bit biased towards Outdoor – in a good way. Here you see it everywhere and you actually pay attention to it, as New Yorkers spend so much time walking. The creativity can always be improved, but I think the experimentation is good.

What pieces of Outdoor work have impressed you most and why?

Like everyone else, I was really impressed by the British Airways digital board [#Lookup, below]. It’s the sort of thing that will find its way onto people’s vacation pics of their trip to London. We will see more and more of this interactivity as the technology becomes commonplace.

Having said that, you can still achieve huge impact with very simple, graphic billboards if the message is powerful enough. As an example, we were lucky enough to get a placement in Times Square for the new adidas Originals Superstar campaign. A simple, powerful statement from the brand on the modern notion of being a superstar, for its shoe of the same name.

How much of a positive impact has technology had on this category?

Very positive. Even OOH in its most static form, let’s say a static billboard, can now be captured digitally by anyone walking by, and in seconds it will be a digital ad on social media channels. We don’t think about this power but it’s pretty amazing. The consumer is the medium – it’s part of the reason we started Johannes Leonardo, to maximise this phenomenon.

Where do you think this category is heading in the coming years?

Potentially, we could see a whole new era of interactivity between OOH and our mobile devices. Your phone knows where you are. It could also know where a billboard is, and the billboard could even know that you’re there. When that starts to be the norm you can imagine the creative possibilities. The industry has long struggled with mobile advertising, and its link to OOH could well be the thing that unlocks its potential.

What, for you, is the most exciting element of working in advertising at the moment?

The fact that the digital vs traditional debate seems to be subsiding. Not only has digital pretty much become traditional – as we’ve now lived with this tech for long enough – but marketers are coming back to what works: strategic insight and great creative to carry that insight. All mediums are on the table. There should be no bias by an agency.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since Cannes 2014?

More an observation than lesson: people have tried very hard to dethrone it, but film still remains an extremely powerful medium for telling a story, or explaining a brand’s POV. Where the film lives is what has opened up – it doesn’t need a TV anymore.

What’s been your favourite campaign – Outdoor or otherwise – from the last year?

Jim Carrey’s Saturday Night Live spoof of Matthew McConaughey’s Lincoln spot.

Will you be attending Cannes 2015 and, if so, what are you most looking forward to?

Yes, I’ll be there. What I’d most like to see is what people do on big, global brands. The one-offs can be fun executions, but seeing someone execute a big idea for a global brand, at scale, is always inspiring. It’s the hardest thing to do in our business.