Claire Davidson final day at the seminars at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity

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RED SEMINAR BONO.jpgClaire Davidson (below with Spiderman) is in Cannes this year and is reporting exclusively for Campaign Brief Asia. Here’s her round up of the speaker sessions on the final day of the Festival.

Argh… Day 7. We made it!

I was able to catch a final few seminars at the 61st Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity today, before the final awards night and gala.

Claire_Spiderman1_L1080856.jpgI took in “The (Emotional) Revolution Will Not Be Televised” with Mike Bennett, Head of Invention, VCCP Partnership, Darren Savage, Chief Strategy Officer, Invention, VCCP Partnership and Michael Lee, Executive Planning Director, VCCP Partnership.

We learnt today how emotional measurement technologies – as well as conscious measurements – can uncover new ideas and insights into what works creatively. This in turn will ultimately drive better results for products and advertising.

For years, conventional research pre-testing creative work has been criticised for its inability to accurately reflect how consumers will respond to brand communications in real life.  These approaches to research, such as focus groups in labs, can create false readings. People don’t tell the truth when they are paid $50 and given a packet of chips. Not because they’re telling porkies, but because they really just don’t consume media in this type of environment. 

Daniel Kahneman has studied and advanced our understanding of how people make decisions in their lives, through two key neurological systems: System 1 (emotional) and System 2 (rational).  Decisions can’t be made without both systems working together.

We’re now looking at System 3, as a creative research tool of the future. This must generate data to measure Systems 1 and 2.  It needs to be a natural response, in a natural environment and of course cost effective enough to sample a critical mass.

VCCP’s experiments into System 3 include wearable technology that can be used at home, alongside a bespoke methodology, to better understand how decisions are made.  They are looking at how sound design, context and different types of edits affect perception, interpretation and responses to marketing. It’s about mapping the right piece of creative to the right audience. 

Next up was Chris Clarke, CCO, Digitaslbi International with John McCarus, SVP Social Content of Digitaslbi who brought us ‘Tales From The Accident Factory’.

Clarke started by telling us that 90% of everything is crap.

 

Culture largely happens by accident.  There is an element of accident and serendipity in anything becoming a hit.  Because of this brands need to shift their focus to becoming part of the culture.

Go into culture.  Experiment.  Be brave.  You need to fuck up sometimes and make that a learning process.  Find real stories.  Go out into the world.  Go to strange places.  Meet new people.  Expand the message in this digital world, and use this experimental approach on content creation.  Break the traditional creative model.

We were shown a very worthy example of this process.  We crossed live on Skype to a young leukemia survivor who had recently spent a year in isolation in hospital.  During this very long twelve months, video games became an outlet for her. A multiplayer videogame called Go Unicorn Go has been developed and produced for children in isolation. In honour of the Fireflies, it’s a bicycle game.  We can send a tweet that will show up in the game, and it will give a power boost to the player, and also raise awareness of the Fireflies and other foundations at the same time.  This is just but one example of new ways to engage with people and talk to a large audience.  It is an opportunity for cancer patients to have a multi level game that is helping them connect while also funding cancer research.

RED SEMINAR BONO_GettyImages.jpgRED SEMINAR Jonathan Ive_GettyImages.jpgRED SEMINAR BONO2_GettyImages.jpg“In the NAAAAAAAAAAME of LOOOOOOVE….”

 

I mean… Oh hi, Bono. Sorry, that was embarrassing but it pops into my head whenever I see so much as a photo of you. Lovely you’re joining us down on the Riviera this year…

This year the fair organisers of the festival will tonight proudly present activist and rock star Bono with the Inaugural Cannes LionHeart Award for pioneering AIDS Organisation (RED) – a creative fusion of branding, activism and philanthropy that since its conception in 2006 has generated more than $250 million for the fight against AIDS in Africa.

The Cannes LionHeart Award is presented to the person or organisation that, through harnessing commercial brand power, makes a significant and positive difference to the planet or its people.

 

(RED) engages businesses and consumers to raise money and awareness in the fight against AIDS, and has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic brands – such as Apple, Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company and Bank of America to name but a few – which contribute up to 50% of profits from (RED) branded goods and services to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services.

 

Phew.  It’s a mouthful, but with the Global Fund grants that (RED) supports having positively impacted more than 40 million people touched by the virus, it’s an unarguably impressive organisation and well-worthy of this honour.  Bono and (RED) have shown us just how much cause-related marketing can work.

They picked the colour red because it’s the universal colour for urgency and emergency.

In the much-anticipated final seminar on of the festival, Bono and Jonathan Ive (Apple Inc’s SVP of Design) discussed the success of (RED) and it’s unique collaboration with global partners – including Apple, (RED)’s largest corporate contributor to the AIDS fight – and the record-breaking (RED) Design Auction, curated by Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson.

 

Trying not to swoon.

It’s time now to say goodbye. Thank you Cannes Lions for having me for 2014. It’s been fantastic. Word out on the street is that this has been the best Cannes Lions… EVER…  That’s a pretty impressive title to win. It’s nearly as good as a lion itself.

Claire Davidson, Executive Producer ASIA & MENA @ The Sweet Shop, reporting for Campaign Brief Asia at Cannes Lions 2014.