Mandy Galmes’ Cannes Diary: Day One + Two

| | No Comments

IMG_6827.jpgMandy Galmes, co-founder and MD, Fuel Communications is Australia’s representative on the PR Lions jury. Galmesalong with many other jurors, is reporting exclusively for Campaign Brief.

Day two of judging and we are off to a good pace now. With the record number of entries this year there is a lot to get through before we even get to the shortlist stage – whittling down more than 2,000 to just 500 for the shortlist. The 20-person jury is divided into four groups and we have about 500 entries under our belts so far. In this process we are starting to see some consistent themes across categories – from gender equity to the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe, from bullying to banning the trade in Ivory, and – love them or hate them – emojis.

We are moving toward consensus about what we are looking for: a surprising idea that caused a change in behaviour. An idea where there was a clear link between the brand and the issue. An idea that worked – that helped accelerate that brand or build consensus amongst its audiences.

A barrier to the success of many campaigns continues to be measurement. In some cases, it’s noticeable by its absence. And, like an uncle who has outstayed his welcome on Christmas day, AVE continues to linger. But it is actually the sheer volume of unmeaningful data that makes eyes glaze over. Everything claims to have broken the Internet, to have gone viral, to have been viewed one million/billion times or to have trended in the top 5 subjects on Twitter/Facebook/other platforms. Without context these numbers are hollow.

The campaigns that will do well will clearly show the impact they had in a more meaningful way. They will illustrate how decisions, attitudes, actions or behaviours were altered or impacted as a result of the idea. And the good news is that, in a pool of more than 2000 entries from across the world, there is a large percentage that do show exactly this.

IMG_6826.jpgIt’s not often that I have the chance to sit alongside 20 of my peers from around the world and simply talk all day about what is at the heart of what we do. As Agency leaders we are typically solving problems and managing our businesses. But as we build toward our short list and watch the Lions Festival being constructed around us – its encouraging to feel the confidence of communications agencies and the central role that we are playing in the integrated comms mix.