Cannes; I See What You Did There

Every year when June comes around, I get excited because it’s time to celebrate the work we do at one of the most inspiring festivals in our industry; the Cannes Festival of Creativity. It’s great to meet with our peers, share laughs and talk shop. It’s also a great time to catch up with clients and look at the year we’ve left behind, as well as plan for the year ahead. But the best part of Cannes is still diving into the work and enjoying it like a kid at a candy shop, learning about what’s been done and seeing where we’re going. 

This is not a trend, but looking at the work, I did notice that we’ve finally left the time where brands tell consumers that they can be trusted and instead we've entered a period where brands show consumers that they can be trusted.

And I did spot three main trends that are directly related to that. 

Superior use of technology:

We live in a world where technology has been democratized and therefore is reproducing itself at light speed. So brands need to show off their technological savviness harder than ever if they want to attract the attention of anyone. The ideas that used technology in the most interesting ways were probably shortlisted. The bulls-eye in this trend is landing on an invention. Two examples are: Field Trip to Mars for Lockheed Martin (below) and The Next Rembrandt for ING (at bottom). If you had anything to do with these, or if your idea was in any way an invention, you were probably on the stage, smiling for the cameras, award in hand, looking down on me. 

Doing work for a cause:

The fact that we’re all connected, makes us more aware of socially conscious campaigns than ever and the idea that together we can create change, makes us act more like activists than ever. So a brand that doesn’t become an enabler of good, is a brand that is ignored.

The bulls-eye in this category is affecting actual change. Two examples here are: Slow Down GPS for IF Insurance (below) and Landcruiser Emergency Network for Toyota. Advertising that is able to make a difference and can be a force for good in our world is something we should all aim for.

However, with more and more winners falling into this trend, there has been an industry thought that advertising for good should have its own category at Cannes... Let’s see what happens next year. 

Credibility:

By this I mean consumers need to believe that the brand meant what they set out to do. If they played with technology, they better have the right to be in that space. If they claimed to have affected change, they better have really helped others.

The worst that can happen to brands is for their audience to call their bluff. Total transparency is required for this trend to work and XBOX's Survival of the Grittiest (below) and REI's #OptOutside (at bottom) were two campaigns that excelled in this category. If  this is one of your ideas, or if your idea, without effort, proved it was for real, you’ve probably now cleaned up, became the talk of the industry and got the corner office you always dreamed of. 

But you’ll still probably struggle to explain to your family exactly what you do for a living.