CANNES LIONS 2024: Key Takeaways from Team Accord

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5 Jul

Every year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the greatest minds in creative communications, advertising, and related fields come together to share ideas and celebrate the best, most innovative work of the past year.

Several members of the Accord team attended Cannes this year with a digital pass. This pass provided access to a range of lectures and workshops that discussed the current state of play as well as future possibilities in the world of marketing and communications. We've summarised some of the team's key takeaways below.

Matt Price, Creative Strategist:
The crisis in creative effectiveness, continued

One of the central themes I noticed at Cannes Lions was the ongoing crisis in creative effectiveness. Despite brands spending over $750 billion on advertising last year, only an estimated 6% is considered truly effective.

Peter Field’s research highlights that short-term performance marketing reduces the impact of creative work. Brands are missing out on creating marketing that resonates with audiences and drives substantial brand growth.

Source: IPA Databank 2024 -2022 for profit cases reporting very large trust improvements. Courtesy of Peter Field

Dull advertising creates little impact

Another fundamental, yet often overlooked, aspect of advertising was discussed in a session with Jon Evans from System1: the ability and necessity for advertising to evoke emotions. Jon shared findings from testing 160,000 ads globally, revealing that approximately 50% of these ads elicited neutral emotional responses.

When advertising fails to evoke strong emotions, it fails to move consumers to action. This is particularly concerning given that 52% of the UK population reportedly feels indifferent towards the ads they encounter.

Effective ads should delight, teach, or move their audience.

Aligning marketing teams with executive leadership

Marketing teams must have a strong boardroom presence. Accenture’s research shows CMOs control up to 40% of business outcomes, yet marketing budgets are often the first to be cut.

The solutions that were discussed include aligning CMOs, CEOs, and CFOs on metrics, creative discussions, and embracing challenging work. Transparency and visibility between key board members and the marketing team are crucial.

Alex Smith, Head of Video

The central emerging theme for me this year was the emphasis on the need for brands to connect with culture, placing humanity at the core through emotive storytelling. Whether it makes us laugh or cry, great creative makes you feel something. Connection drives effectiveness.

Ready to laugh again?

Food waste is a serious topic, and we are witnessing an unprecedented cultural movement for change. Even still, Hellmann’s took a strong comedic approach to their Superbowl commercial: ‘Mayo Tackles Food Waste’.

Chris Symmes, Head of Marketing at Hellmann’s, said, “At the end of the day, we are mayonnaise. We shouldn’t (and don’t) take ourselves too seriously. Consumers don’t want to be preached to about something they’re supposedly doing wrong. Humour allows us to invite consumers into the conversation without judgement.”

Master the art of long-form storytelling

In a media landscape in which content is becoming increasingly shorter, long-format commercials offer an opportunity to resonate more deeply with consumers through emotive storytelling. Short form was once the way to cut through the noise, but I would argue that what we’re seeing now is the reverse.

Kathryn Jacob OBE from Pearl & Dean said, “It’s claimed that audiences have limited attention spans, but we’re capable of engaging those distracted human minds.”

One of the main questions we are facing in advertising right now is how we connect brands with culture.

On that point, Alexander Schill, ADCE President said, “We are not talking anymore from the stage to the audience. We have to jump into the middle of the audience to understand what they think, how they live, and what they support. Step down from the stage and try to understand what your customers want. You can’t find the culture of a brand; a brand must find its culture.”

With all the buzz around AI and short attention spans, it’s important to remember that we are humans connecting with humans. Unlocking emotions is the key to move and connect more deeply with consumers.

Anna Henderson, Strategy & Research Executive:
Use emotion to forge authentic connections with audiences

One of the key things that stood out to me from Cannes was the emphasis on emotion in advertising.

Richard Brim from adam&eveDDB highlighted the importance of considering how we want to make people feel. While ads are increasingly perceived as interruptive and tech developments continue to open new doors, our human reactions to emotion remain unchanged.

With shorter attention spans and an increasingly cluttered ad landscape, tailoring emotional content is important. Understanding your audience and their needs from the outset is key, including connecting with them in a way that allows them to relate to the content and feel seen.

By leveraging emotion, brands can create advertising that captures attention, fosters lasting connections with audiences, and drives growth.

The rise of humour in advertising

Similarly, I thought that the conversation surrounding humour was also significant.

Forbes noted that 85% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a funny ad - so the decision to introduce a humour category at Cannes for the first time is welcome news. Technically, it’s a subcategory across 13 existing Lions, but its addition could very much impact the future.

Kenan Thompson, comedian and actor, discussed humour’s power to unite and disarm audiences, making them more receptive to messages. A laugh is a moment that brings people closer, creating a bond between the audience and the brand.

Whether universally funny, tailored to your audience, or relevant to current cultural discourse, humour cuts through the noise and doesn’t need to fight for attention. It will be passed on and talked about, thus increasing an ad’s reach and impact.

Ben Irons, Senior Creative:
Leveraging everyday human moments in advertising

“Life is rich with everyday moments that matter,” opened P&G's Chief Brand Officer, Mark Pritchard, responsible for their brand-building principles as well as managing a multi-billion-dollar marketing and advertising strategy.

He explained that everyday moments like brushing our teeth, doing the laundry, shaving, washing our hands - though not the first things that come to mind when we think of creativity - are rich with creative potential.

Whilst his keynote was primarily concerned with marketing household products that solve everyday problems, we can apply this same thinking to a multitude of different industries and services that we interact with in our lives.

Whether that’s booking a holiday through a travel company, listening to music on the train through a pair of headphones, or buying a new pair of shoes after payday, by leveraging those human experiences in everyday situations, brands can appeal to their audiences on a much more human level and foster more genuine connections to their services.

But how do we do that?

By actively searching for those everyday moments that matter. That is, getting out from behind the computer, spending time with the people your brand serves and observing actual behaviour from how they interact with your brand.

Secondly, define how your brand provides a tangible and noticeably superior benefit, for example, ‘the cleanest, closest shave’ or ‘irresistible softness and comfort’.

But look deeper and more expansively, too. Find out how it contributes to those emotional outcomes and how it makes you feel. This brings us to the last action.

Find the magic of a brand idea to make those moments matter more. That spine-tingling reaction we get when we’ve landed on the perfect idea results from our brain coming together to perfectly combine logic and feeling. AI doesn’t get spine tingles. The answer is found in the idea, which should come from the heart and soul.

Looking Ahead

And there you have it - just a few of the Accord team’s key takeaways from Cannes Lions 2024. They emphasise the importance of authentic, emotional storytelling to create truly impactful campaigns. These insights have encouraged us to push the boundaries of creativity in our work for clients. In light of this, we are excited to introduce our Creative Showcase, a collection highlighting some of our most exceptional and innovative projects from the past year. This showcase is a testament to Accord's ongoing dedication to crafting compelling narratives that seek to engage and inspire.

Did you take part in Cannes this year? What did you learn from the sessions you attended or watched online? We would love to hear about which insights resonated with you the most at AccordCreativeDepartment@accordmarketing.com.