Five Cs of Creativity: Lessons from Cannes Lions 2023

Creativity is at the core of humanity and here are the 5 Drivers of Creativity that I observed during the Festival Conviction Challenge Courage Clout CoalitionConvictionNo shortage of strong opinions from the Lumiamp232re stage to the Gutter Bar on everything from Gen AI to DEI to CTV Creativity requires a core foundational idea and the audacity to execute it despite naysayers not for the chance of a Grand Prix but for its ability to transform your brand and drive growth The ultimate prize is business growth and when it intersects with social good youamp8217ve achieved the highest mark of successAs Procter ampamp Gambleamp8217s PampampG Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard reiterated amp8220effective creativity is one that drives sales rather than just impresses judgesamp8221At the amp8220Future of Marketingamp8221 PampampG Alumni Network panel I moderated on the VaynerX yacht featuring Mathilde Delhoume Debreu Michelle Froah Nicole Parlapiano and Zubin Mowlavi the role of creativity was paramount not only in new advertising messaging and platforms but at the very heart of the art and science of business growth The CMO must speak the language of business with conviction rather than the marketing acronym soup of LTV MMM and CTAChallengeCreativity is also about being bold and challenging the status quo while calling out the amp8220shinyamp8221 sacred cowsGary Vaynerchuk challenged delegates with his plea amp8220our industry is changing Before you all go and try to expletive figure out AI why don39t you figure out how to storytell where the actual consumersamp8217 attention isamp8221AI was omnipresent at the Festival amp8211 but there was a distinct lack of depth in unleashing its full power An opportunity for the industry to go beyond the easy use cases of data analytics and instead focus on businesstransforming applications like optimizing internal marketing and data platforms OmnicomGoogle partnership and crossAI technology solutions to improve lives Grand Prix winner Michelob Ultra39s quotDreamcasterquot used Gen AI to help a blind man translate basketball data into game information that was delivered in Braille Using AI to drive this type of human ingenuity is the critical ingredient to profitable growth The key question to ask is how can AI ensure we are better storytellers and brandbuilders and not what AI can automate for the sake of automation without connecting it to business growth driversCourageCourage is to speak up make new rules and go forth unafraid of potential consequences because you believe in the greater goodWe heard from the Palais to the beach cabanas that amp8220disruption is inevitable and smart marketers will follow the consumer rather than the hypeamp8221Following the consumer means having the courage to put them on an island of safety as seen in the amp8220Morning After Islandamp8221 platform built off the coast of Honduras to give the birth control pill to hundreds of women in need This Cannes Gold Lion winner in 2022 also won Sustainable Development Goals Lions funding in 2023 totaling 50000 to support its workThe courage to speak up also comes from being dataconfident According to the Institute for Real Growth in the last 40 years the contribution of intangible assets IP customer data brand value has risen from 17 to 90 of total valueamp8211 making brandbuilding an important contributor However Marketing Professor Scott Galloway argued that it is productfocused ads not brandbuilding ads that will be necessary to build up these intangible assetsA proof point he argued is that a lot of amp8220most trusted brands in the worldamp8221 are cutting back on brand ads He cites Apple as an example where the emphasis has shifted to product specs and features This is best exemplified by a 40second spot iPhone 14 spot called amp8220Relax Itamp8217s iPhoneamp8211RIP Leonamp8221 which took home the Grand Prix in Film amp8211 using comedy to tell a product story This represents a smart way to tell a product story using emotion rather than a rational facts and figures narrativeCloutClout doesnamp8217t just come from being a celebrity amp8211 and there were plenty this year at Cannes Florence and the Machine Honey Dijon Spike Lee Eva Longoria Kevin Hart and more It takes clout to win an army of fans who support your creative ideas and it can be developed at any point in your career It comes from a swagger of confidence expertise and gravitas The Cannes Lions CMO Accelerator and Young Lions program nurtures itThe ANA Marketing Capabilities Framework amplifies it by tapping into your human and technical quotient supported by a strong foundation of musthave marketing skills including leadership digital and financial acumen As coauthor of the playbook I worked closely with Jerusha Harvey Padmini Mangunta and Lara Vandenberg and the ANA team to uncover how leaders are continually learning growing and stretching themselves starting as Emerging leaders and reaching Trailblazer status Having clout does not mean being a David Droga or Arianna Huffington it is about demonstrating your expertise listening with empathy and developing a strong army of allies supercharging your personal brandCoalitionNothing is more critical than creating a coalition of support across the Csuite and your wider organization This was evident with Mastercard as CMO Raja Rajamannar and CFO Sachin Mehra spoke on the Debussy stage about the importance of the CMOCFO partnership Mehra pointed out that while both CMOs and CFOs are on the same team and aim to drive shareholder value the significant tension between functions can stem from a breakdown in trustquotSadly only 37 of CMOs believe itamp8217s important to build a relationship with the CFO this is super depressingamp8221 Rajamannar lamentedNot surprisingly the strong CMOCFO Mastercard partnership has yielded strong business and social impact results and even a Grand Prix in the Sustainable Development category with the Mastercardled WheretoSettle app which has helped 20 of the 15 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland find a place to resettleDuring Cannes the Institute for Real Growth released its Achieving Stakeholder Impact ASI study which focused on capturing what it takes to win in the shift from shareholder to stakeholder growth It is essentially the playbook for developing the strongest human relationships and how to create a flywheel of multistakeholder successThe Creative Road AheadAs the Carlton Beach fireworks on the closing night at Cannes bids adieu to the 70th Festival of Creativity it is the potential of the human imagination that unites us to succeed It is this potential that drives us to build highperforming businesses and brands that push us to new frontiers of sustainable profitable and inclusive growthPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Five Cs of Creativity: Lessons from Cannes Lions 2023

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Raquelle Zuzarte

We Are the Outliers - By Jack Myers

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