Zeno Thinks: Bravery Makes Business.
I was grateful to spend the week of Cannes Lions in the basement of the Palais, reviewing the work, talking to jurors and sitting in on judging panels. If like me, the sun and the crowds don’t agree with you, there’s no better way to experience the International Festival of Creativity.
I know what you’re thinking. Over-rated, over-hyped, over-priced? Enough of the cynicism about Cannes Lions. There’s enough of that in the world. Let’s take a moment to celebrate great work that defines creative excellence and delivers impact in business, culture and society.
Cannes Lions represents the pinnacle of creativity and if you are hitting that you are doing something right. Proving you have a creative value at the table. It’s true, PR agencies continue to struggle to make their mark at the awards. Many don’t even bother to enter great work.
I get it. It’s not cheap to enter work. And the cost to craft a Cannes Lions award-worthy case study alone can be as much as some PR campaign budgets. But the truth is that as an industry, we don’t invest enough in our own brilliant storytelling.
2024 changed everything. It was the year that PR made it to the ‘grown-ups’ table creatively. No more excuses… ‘but we’re the PR agency, not the creative agency’. Those lines have been forever blurred by Specsaver’s Misheard Version which won not one but two Grand Prix accolades. I’m so pleased for Alex and the team at Golin London.
To get to great work takes bloody hard work and bravery. It’s a choice. Like everything in life. To choose to create the right environment inside and out that creates a safe place for brave, dangerous ideas and look at every client brief as an opportunity to do something that has never been done before.
Roaming the exhibition of shortlisted campaigns is also great for spotting creative trends, and beyond the obvious ones — AI, purpose, inclusivity etc.
Play off obvious truths (don’t over complicate). No one can spell your name. MRI scans sound scary. Michael Cera makes skincare (apparently). Every football manager video game fan wants to be a real-life coach.
Make people laugh. Who doesn’t like something that’s funny? What about a really, really, really long promo code? Re-record a music hit replacing the words of the song with misheard ones. Tackle testicular cancer in a playful, fresh way.
Weird works. Bizarre, absurd…it’s meme-ready. Why not celebrate a sick bag? Or enjoy an edible mascot? A promo code on a grain of rice. Cat gravy-licking race.
Cultural dexterity. A reddit thread. A global sporting moment. A celebrity who does something with mayo and ketchup.
Winning work subverted, hijacked and hacked its way through culture and even spreadsheets. Love the idea of ‘earned hacks’ instead of earned acts.
Brands which gave themselves permission to be irreverent, stay scrappy and be abreast of culture shone. Winning work proved its creative and commercial relevance and impact, not just crazy creativity for the sake of it. And hurrah for more commercial creativity not just work that makes us feel good.
AI was present but not dominant. Supercharging storytelling in interesting and scalable ways to fix problems, like finding new homes for shelter dogs or making the sound of MRI scans less scary for children. But AI hasn’t reached its creative potential yet.
Not all creativity needs to be rooted in tech, like crafting cement into tactile paving to help visually impaired people navigate a city.
Whether it was matching-making Ukrainian and Polish businesses, offering cars to job seekers or reframing hospitality employment, you could explain every winning idea in a few words. If you can’t explain it in a few words, you need a new idea.
Coming away from Cannes Lions, I was filled with optimism and hope. To know that there are still creative frontiers to be smashed, still briefs and clients out there with an appetite for and belief in the power of creativity. Because creativity means business.
And if you found this morsel of creative analysis interesting, you can learn more about the major themes from this year’s International Festival of Creativity here.
