Paul Yole’s Cannes Review – It’s a wrap!

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Paul Yole Cannes 2017.jpgPaul Yole has written for Campaign Brief at the last eleven Cannes Lions. Here, Yole gives his final wrap on Cannes Lions.

Well, that was interesting.

I’m not going to get into the politics of #Publicisity but I will say this.

Sort it out guys. Please.

Sir Martin Sorrell has been reported as questioning whether Cannes is losing its focus on celebrating creativity, and suggesting that the whole affair is becoming too much about money.

He’s right on both counts.

For me, Cannes Lions 2017 ranks about 11th of all the Festivals I’ve attended. Which is 11.

I found this year to be chaotic, fragmented and diluted in quality.

Twice, I literally lost track of where I was supposed to be and missed sessions.

A friend overheard a comment from a tech company delegate that suggested he didn’t realise there were awards given here too.

Seriously? Dude, get back to SXSW.

Anyway, despite everything, there was still much to love.

Brilliant work, amazing innovations, great connections made, friendships formed and renewed, and lots to learn.

My message to everyone is to keep entering, and keep attending.

Who knows, the price may come down. Or maybe not.

I went to a WARC session about “The Future of Strategy”.

My main take out was that good Planners can still do stuff the management consultants can’t. The key talent they can bring is their ability to understand human relationships and behaviour.

The last session I went to was the best. It was hosted by Creative Marketer of the Year Burger King on “How to suck less as a client.”

Their presentation had all the pizzazz and theatre of the great Cannes shows of the past, but it had a lot of substance too.

They talked about making your brand’s distinctiveness, values and personality absolutely clear.

They urged clients to create great briefs by being very simple. For example, with one line briefs like, “Let’s show that Burger King welcomes everybody.”

Result? The brilliant ‘Proud Whopper’ campaign. Here’s the case study.

Or, “Rebel chicken” to launch chicken fries. How did they come up with that? (Trainee planners, please discuss in 50 words or less.) Have a look at the result here.

Burger King also talked about letting ideas grow through your uncertainty, because you won’t know if it will work until you try.

The biggest risk, they said, is not taking a risk. Yes, that’s a client talking. They admitted they are afraid all the time, but they know if they don’t cut through, they are just adding to the noise.

For the third year in a row, this has been my final Cannes. Every year, I’ve learnt something new, and I’ve also heard unchanging truths, reinforced over and over.

None was more important than the message in small type at the end of Burger King’s presentation.

We’ve all heard it before, but it has never been more true than now:

“Clients get the work they deserve.”

See you next year. Or maybe not.