Daryl Lee’s Post

What Happened to Advertising? At yesterday’s Most Contagious WARC Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity event, Orlando Wood shared this slide which breaks down the features of advertising into left and right brain. Orlando’s research shows that we are seeing a lot more work with the features on the bottom left of the slide (left brain features) than we are on the right(right brain features). The suggestion is that there’s more attention being placed on short-term impact which tends to be more rational and left-brained than the right-brained long-term brand-building. But are there other forces at play here? Are brands shy of the production expense? Has social media made the consumer a more trusted and authentic storyteller than brands themselves? What could some of the other reasons be?

Cannes - will the judges get it right? Also, AdAge asked a bunch of creative to pick the campaigns that will win in Cannes 2024. Will they be right? I hope the Cannes judges get it right. Andrew Tindall recently shared System1 research across 13 years of award winners that suggested awards judges were no better at predicting actual effectiveness than a coin flip. As Andrew reported: "Creatively awarded advertising used to be more effective. But over the past three years, it's become as effective as the average ad." Check Andrew's feed for the research. Do we need new judges? Judges that appreciate what leads to effectiveness? New awards? Something needs to change. Agencies (and clients) spend a fortune on the awards submissions and related boondoggles and it is awfully sad that the awards may not mean anything. 4A's Association of National Advertisers American Marketing Association

It was great to get in last week to the launch of the 2024 Young Cannes Lions in the Lighthouse in Smithfield. Some really interesting nuggets of information from Orla Kinsella too that I’m sure many of you on LinkedIn may find useful in the context of creative advertising: 🧠 - “Attribution modelling punishes creativity.” - Les Binet 📊 - 60% greater likelihood of market share gain if work makes a promise to the customer. 🚫 - "There's no greater crime of creative work than blending into the category.” - Darren Bailes 📈 - Be a trendsetter to break category conventions. 👀 - Brand building work has a demonstrable impact on the ROl of precision marketing. 🤣 - Comedy is back! - 90% of audiences are more likely to remember an ad if it's funny. 📱- Creating bespoke ads for each platform, channel and format achieves better brand equity. 📖- Look inside your product for stories that connect people. Finally, wishing all of the Young Lions the very best of luck for this years competition! 👏🏻 IAPI - Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Next week we're sliding off to Cannes... "Where Creativity Drives Progress"... it certainly has in my case, I wouldn't be half the grown up I am if it wasn't for being of creative mind ! Really looking forward to it as a Cannes Lions newbie, but pretty sure we'll blend in just fine ;-) Give me a nudge if you're out there and fancy a quick social. #canneslions #canneslions2024 #advertising #communications #marketingcommunciations #brandexperience

Really nice breakdown of Lucky Generals' new brand campaign for The Guardian from Creative Moment here. Without wishing to sound like a broken record, this is another campaign that has a really astute messaging insight at the heart of it - focusing on The Guardian's ownership model as its differentiator rather than its reporting or its people per se. Goes to show again how much creativity can be unlocked with what might be dismissed as a banal or tedious detail about a brand. #brandstrategy #creativity #PR https://lnkd.in/eHdRKibk

For some time Hiscox has been my go-to example of a B2B company doing great advertising. And the latest work (from the Uncommon team) is right up there as usual. Big round of applause for Fiona Mayo. So here's my challenge to law firm marketers everywhere: If you can do something this eye-catching and powerful in a category as supposedly 'uninteresting', 'functional' and 'rational' as insurance, what's stopping us? Proof, if we needed it, that there are no boring categories - just boring marketers. #lawfirms #advertising #marketing

An unparalleled helicopter view of the 70th edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – five key takeaways... #ad #digital #marketing #digitalmarketing #brand #agency #brandagency #marketingagency #creativeagency #creatives #creativity #advertising #adadagency #advertisingagency #adland #communications #brandmarketing #marcomms #mediaowner #mediacompany #measurement #innovation #CTV #canneslions #technology #techagency #mediagency

In the latest Private View section of Campaign Middle East, our Executive Creative Director, Frederico Roberto, shares his perspectives on marketing and advertising campaigns. He offers insights into the creative aspects, effectiveness, and impact of projects for various renowned brands.   Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/drsEPYBu #AdvertisingInsights #AdvertisingCampaigns #MarketingStrategy #BrandImpact #DisruptiveMinds #DisruptiveThinking #TBWARAAD

Get your entries in

Love it or hate it, Cannes Lions is back again. It's been quite a while since I last chatted with friends about this with a glass of rose in my hand at the world's biggest creative advertising festival, but the same old debate persists: is it a blessing for professionals or an evil business venture that misses the mark on real marketing value? I never liked black-and-white arguments, but for me, the most important thing is that this industry treats itself in a way that justifies a festival. Awards are a great motivation for creatives, and I wouldn't take that opportunity away. However, the rules and unspoken agreements on judging criteria could be criticized. First of all, I don't think Cannes should be about effectiveness. It may sound outrageous, but in my opinion, a creative festival should celebrate ideas and craftsmanship. Marketing communication is an applied art form (when done well), but that doesn't mean a beautiful idea can't be awarded if it doesn't dominate the sales metrics. If we only award things that "work better than others," we wouldn't need a festival. We could simply compare excel charts and send a Lion to the campaign with the best numbers. Second, the world is increasingly focused on pure popularity—in social media, politics, and many other fields—and I don't think that's a good thing. Curation by respected creative professionals is what sets a festival apart from an automated dashboard of performance metrics. In fact, the further we move from prioritizing effectiveness, the better we can inspire creatives to come up with fresh ideas that push culture forward, rather than just repeating existing memes or meeting category requirements. I won't go into the topic of scam ads versus "real" campaigns now; maybe next time. What do you think? How much weight should judges give to campaign effectiveness at Cannes?