Erin Riley’s Post

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has unveiled its annual State of Creativity Report, capturing the perspectives of 3000 marketers and creatives in a comprehensive survey of today's creative environment.   The study sheds light on the dynamics of both internal and external relationships, highlighting significant disparities in how brands perceive the agency-client relationship compared to their agency partners. Whether you’re on the brand side or agency side, junior or executive, this report serves as a comprehensive guide offering actionable insights to help navigate potential pitfalls and implement effective strategies across your organization.   Click here: https://bit.ly/3PwSiNx to access the full report. #cannes #canneslions #stateofcreativityreport #creativity #survey #brands #agencies #communication #report

“To Cannes or not Cannes?” There seemed to be a time when people celebrated success, rewarded creativity and banded together as a bunch of talented misfits, celebrating the great and good of the advertising industry, applauding each other whilst getting totally off their nut with only photos to prove they were there. Sadly (to me) it seems those times have gone. Yes, Cannes cost a lot of money. Yes, it’s all a bit pretentious, and yes, there will be PLENTY of folks who say it’s shite - however I bet if someone did a survey it would be those that didn’t get invited, couldn’t afford to go, couldn’t get time off, or are simply aren't that good that complain the loudest. Yes, yes, there will be those that hate crowds, don’t care about awards and think the whole thing is a bunch of irritating guff… If this was true let’s scrap all forms of awards then. The Oscars? Who gives a shit. Having had the pleasure to work with creatives at all levels (from interns to CCO’s) across the globe, and from all walks of life, I know so many of them care a great deal when their work is applauded on the global stage. It means a HUGE amount to them. If you don’t care, that’s fine. But I’ve seen so much negativity around Cannes on LinkedIn and ‘what it stands for’ it’s made my stomach churn. Choosing not to enter, to shy away from awards quietly is perfectly fine. Knowing who you are, what you stand for, and ensuring best in-class results for you, your team, your clients is HUGELY admirable. Honestly... that would probably be my style and approach. However, if I won at Cannes I’d be proud as hell. The recognition of my efforts, my teams efforts, my agencies efforts, my family for putting up with all my late nights and mood swings, etc. So, if you have won at Cannes, well fucking done. If you have attended for the event to rub shoulders with influencers, meet mates, or just to get pissed. Well done to you too. Here’s to the awards, the parties and the hangovers. Without them, what’s the point. #cannes #awards #opinions #winning #parties MCG Talent

HELLO #creatives. Are you sparkling with inspiration from Cannes Lions or are you back to staring into your screen waiting for another kicker fix of creative genius? Worry not! We’ve got you. It’s taken us a hot minute (er, two weeks) to catch our breath, but Brands&Culture has launched its post-Cannes report, in partnership with We Are Social and WeTransfer. In our first report, we’ve deep-dived into the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity winners that listened to, responded to, made, shaped and created culture. This work met consumers where they wanted to be met, uninterruptedly entered their lives, added value and left more than a crumb of value. It made an impact. You’ll get to hear from some of the leaders behind the work, including, the brilliant: Youri Guerassimov & Gaëtan du Peloux, Joint CCO & CEOs,  Marcel Paris Susie Walker, Chief Creative Operations Officer, DDB Jamie George Cordwell, Global Executive Creative Director, Edelman  Marissa Eddings, Senior Director Of Brand, Advertising, Media, In-Store Marketing, and In-House Creative Agency, 7-Eleven Alex Nassour, Senior Creative & Art Director, Wieden+Kennedy  Luca Lorenzini and Luca Pannese, Co-Founders and Executive Creative Directors, SMALL and top quote from Leila Fataar Cultural relevance matters, for everyone: for individuals, for businesses and for society at large. There isn’t a “Culture” Lion yet (there is a cultural insights sub cat though), so we focused on Entertainment, Social and Influencer, PR and Creative Strategy Lions and kept an eye on the cultural pulse across all other categories too to unearth a few trends and natty stats. I really hope you find it useful/ valuable/ in some way insightful :) 🐶 P.s. Did you know that Cannes Lions winners prefer dogs to cats?  🎮 And that gaming and grub should be an entire new Lions category? Josephine Andrews, Vanessa Sawyerr, Michelle Graves, Mark St. Andrew #creativity #canneslions

I have a love-hate relationship with advertising and marketing. That feeling about Commercial Creativity is never closer to the surface than at this time of the year, when Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity comes around again. By Commercial Creativity I mean the loosely defined name given to a group of activities from the marketing function in a business, to those who help those marketers do what they need to do, the advertising, media and branding agencies and everything in between. I was for a long time of this world: Chief Strategy Officer of EMEA, Global EXCO, Global Creative Council for the then named Y&R - VMLY&R (and now VML!) and then Chief Marketing Officer for the United Nations World Food Programme. I did lots of things in those roles, some of those are still part of my life, but they are no longer all of my life. This is an exploration of the good, bad and ugly of the industry, the importance of metas and what you might do if you want to try something different. (A shorter version of this was first published by my friends and colleagues at BeenThereDoneThat - thank you. David Alberts, Nikki Crumpton and Marielle Kouroushi-Phillips). Saïd Business School, University of Oxford #marketing #branding #advertising #careers #personaldevelopment #growth

Susan Magrino & Mary Blanton Ogushwitz's Key Cannes Takeaways, Part 1 💡 After four days on the ground at #CannesLions, we can’t help but have a ton of takeaways and learnings to bring back to our team for exploration and implementation. So, let’s start with three big ones that continued to show up at a macro level throughout the week.    1. BRAND: Brand is everything. We learned that practices change, but principles endure. Build and strive to work with brands that people or your team would miss if they were to disappear. 2. PEOPLE: Investing in employees, trusting your audiences, and building communities - all people-centric concepts - are critical. At a festival where conversations of AI were everywhere, thought leaders went out of their way to stress how important humans are to all aspects and transactions for brands. 3. CREATIVITY: Creative and many creative tactics will be automated…creativity never can be. Continue to seek out and work with people who prioritize the ways in which brands can grow not only through tactics, but through creativity. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week where we share the biggest tactical takeaways for Marcomms & PR Professionals! #TopPRFirm #ThoughtLeadership #IndustryKnowledge #AlwaysLearning Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Enter the Lions' den 🦁 Last week was the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the largest gathering for those who work in creative communications, advertising and related industries. The week-long event celebrated the best in advertising with the Lions awards and educated attendees with talks on industry trends. Some of the key branding takeaways: 🤖 AI is here to stay Artificial intelligence and its impact on the industry was heavily discussed with many brand activations at the festival involving the usage of AI. While some talked about the capabilities that allowed for better work, others talked about the pitfalls such as the lack of diversity in AI-generated images. 🤝 The business case for inclusivity Due to diversity fatigue and culture wars, many companies have begun defunding their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. However, one panel at the festival highlighted the commercial benefits of more progressive advertising, citing it helps brands sell more and retain customers. ⚖️ Brands can’t shy away from politics Sessions highlighted the importance of brands getting involved in politics. According to Research Live, 60% of consumers buy brands based on their politics. 🎨 The power of the creator economy This year was the first time the festival included a Creator Pass, an initiative designed specifically for content creators to learn about the advertising industry. Simon Cook, the CEO of Lions, acknowledged the major contributions influencers have had in advertising and the potential growth of the creator economy. Creators with a real connection to their audience are who brands should be partnering with, not necessarily the biggest names. 🏎️ Embrace the now The “Coors Lights Out” ad campaign, born from a pure accident that went viral, was a Lions Award winner. Shohei Ohtani, a baseball player, damaged a billboard featuring a Coors Light ad with a foul ball, and within 48 hours, Coors responded with a special edition can that replicated the damaged ad. Brands should be moving fast to capitalize on what’s happening in culture. Want to learn more about the Cannes Lions Festival? Visit canneslions.com 📸 Contagious ---------- #canneslions #cannes #branding #globalbranding #brandingcontent #brandingmanagement #strategicbranding #brandingforbusiness #professionalbranding #brandingstrategies #svanyc #mastersinbranding #svamastersinbranding #svamib #schoolofvisualarts #sva #svabranding #branding #gradschool #mpsbranding

We’re thrilled to celebrate the creativity at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week and wish all our agency clients the best of luck as awards are announced. 🦁✨ A recent study of agency data reveals a clear link between strong client relationships and the number of awards won, reinforcing what we’ve always known:  ✅ Stronger relationships lead to better work ✅ Enhanced team morale ✅ Significant growth and improved margins💡🤝 Here’s to recognising the power of relationship intelligence in driving creative excellence and business success. Best of luck to all the incredible agencies competing this week! 🌟 #CannesLions2024 #Creativity #ClientSuccess #RelationshipIntelligence #BusinessGrowth

It’s simple: Purpose is effective when purpose is done for a brand and company whose values and intentions are authentic.

The conversation on how the creative industry can drive more sustainable behaviors is hot at Cannes Lions this year! I had the privilege to join the brilliant Fleur Stoppani and Leo Rayman in a panel hosted by Ollie Joyce at GroupM to share the findings of the IRG Impact Study on creating value for all stakeholders. My key take out: shifting from competition to collaboration is what it takes! #instituteforrealgrowth #humanizedgrowth #mindshare #groupm #canneslions #sustainablemarketing

TBWA\MTN United - powered by Omnicom A team of over 300 people across 19 African markets, connected by 1 network to build the most valuable African brand because of 1 belief: Everyone deserves the benefit of a modern connected life. As their leader, my joy comes from shaping this community of creative experts from different agencies across Africa that collaborate and co-create, driving the ethos of 1 team, watching people from all walks of life unite behind 1 mission - produce the work you're most proud of. ECDs and strategists from different countries presenting their work to each other for builds and perspectives best practice sharing and adaptation of ideas. No egos. No sensitivity. No market better than the other. Agency leaders leaning on each other for insight and advice. Understanding that one's win is everyone's win. Pulling together, compromising and standing firm for the good of the group. To lead is to clear the way. To say that I love what I do is an understatement. What a priviledge. What a blessing.