Hamish Stewart at the Cannes Seminars

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HamishSte.jpgHamish Stewart, group creative director, digital & direct at M&C Saatchi, offers his take on some of the themes that emerged from Cannes this week, exclusive to CB.

The orthodoxy for this week has been that brands need to tell ‘stories that matter’ – effectively aiming to change the world. Coke’s “#workthatmatters” presentation was probably the cornerstone of this thinking; certainly the most passionate that I saw. But while this notion has received a lot of applause, a moment’s thought would tell you that it doesn’t really make any sense.

The reason is that if all brands act the same way, they lose what makes them distinctive – which is the whole notion of a brand. Just thinking about some of the most effective brands in the world provides a pretty quick counter-argument.

Oreo do a good job of branding themselves with the world-changing notion that they’re made from both cookies and cream. Lynx makes the world a better place by convincing teenage boys that they’ll help them pick up. Newcastle Brown Ale is No Bollocks. And the Economist continues to persuade people that it will make them the smartest person in the room.

Brands stand for all kinds of things, speak in all kinds of different voices, represent all kinds of different values, and appeal to all kinds of different people. That’s the point.

Lee Clow put it best in his fantastic interview with George Lois this morning. Instead of saying that all brands need to change the world, he said that all brands need to speak with a consistent voice – wherever people encounter them. It was a point well made, but let’s face it, it’s not exactly new news. It’s our job.

Ironically, within 24 hours of the Coke presentation I saw one on Pepsi in China. After nearly 100 years of “the Cola Wars”, they had arrived at the distinctive, highly differentiating territory of “happiness”. Not exactly a million miles away from “Open happiness” for Coke.