Yes, you Cannes!
Reading time: 4 minutes
As the sun sinks below the Croisette, and the last glass of rose is polished-off, the creative industry heads home for another year.
So what have we learned this year at Cannes?
One thing that struck me in the Data Lions category, was that alongside the usual big budget campaigns for brands such as Stella Artois, Lays, Nike, InBev, there were also a pleasing number of smaller campaigns for lesser-known brands such as Banco Del Pacifico, Honest Egg Co, Aroya, Nextmed Health, Congresso Em Foco, Santam, Nedbank and Skip the Dishes.
What this demonstrates is both the ubiquity and democracy of data.
It is not simply for ‘le beau monde’. It can be utilised cost effectively by any organisation if it is applied creatively.
Data, the great leveller
Every organisation has access to it. Every organisation has to play by the same rules, however, those that are winning are those that are critically looking at their unique business problems and finding ways that data can be applied to create better business and customer outcomes.
An increasingly accessible asset
The benefit of data-led marketing today is that it is far more accessible than ever before. Computational resource is getting cheaper, technological advancements get better meaning everything is speeding up.
Moreover, Brands are no longer confined by the expensive, traditional agency model. They can get the best consultancy without the onus of overheads and parachute in expert resource where required.
This is why every year since the inaugural awards in 2015 the Creative Data shortlist gets more innovative.
Social media data drives targeting
A key trend from submissions over the last six years has been the use of data and insight to drive targeting and personalised experiences, in particular the use of social media data. For example Samsung’s winning campaign to launch its Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone. Sparked by the insight that Gen Z (its primary target) are not huge fans of social media ads tending to regard them as an invasion of privacy, Samsung encouraged its social audience to figure out how to get themselves targeted by specific YouTube ads for a chance to win a Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Rather than extol the product benefits in the usual marketing manner, the brand’s online scavenger hunt (and subsequent retargeting pools) drove consideration through a journey of unbiased reviews, unboxings, tech breakdowns, comparisons and various other slices of content that Samsung didn’t have to pay for.
The judges believed that the concept took re-targeting to the next level, reframing the value of social ads and algorithms to Gen Zers, not as a sinister form of stalking but instead as a fun tool for opt-in engagement. And the results were pretty impressive too - Samsung’s flipping of the script led to 600% higher engagement than the industry average, and a 34% sales increase.
AI and emerging tech
We’re at the tip of the iceberg. Start of the journey. Bottom of the mountain. Edge of the precipice. Choose your metaphor…
We are beginning to see more technologically-driven submissions come to the fore integrating cutting edge techniques such as the Stella Artois Grand Prix winner which saw a series of paintings by celebrated artists, like Van Gogh, Manet and Breughel – each one featuring people drinking beer.
Data points, such as the year the picture was painted, its geographical location, the shape of the glass and colour of the liquid, have been run through a specially created algorithm to calculate the probability that the subjects are drinking Stella Artois. Love it. But, these entries are merely scratching the surface.
There are tons more exciting creative applications that can be explored; the use of blockchain or quantum in a business context, next best action, AI enhanced everything to name but a few.
It’s an exciting time to be in data and at last it feels like it’s taking its rightful place in Cannes.