Cannes Lions 2012

Summary
An overview of a Cannes Lions Workshop on sound branding, hosted by Walter Werzowa, best known as the inventor of the Intel "bong". Key insights include: sound is the second most-important (and widely-used) sense for marketing messages; a good "fit" between sound and image increases brand recall; people's behaviour is governed to a surprising extent by what they hear – as there is a big difference between listening to something and hearing something, much of this behavioural change is unconscious; when composing your brand's musical identity, keep things as global and universal as possible.

Summary
Highlights of a Cannes Lions Forum session on mobile marketing. Standout insights from the presentations include: Mobile usage rates and engagement are rising sharply – advertisers need to reflect this in their budgets, and some would do well to adopt a "mobile first" policy; gaming is a segment enjoying particularly rapid growth: brands moving into this space might even find new revenue streams as a result. Other major points to consider in setting a mobile strategy include: how to integrate mobile with other media and how to adapt the creative to the fragmented mobile marketplace.

Summary
An overview of digital themes discussed at the 2012 Cannes Lions, featuring insights from the agency side (GroupM and Cheil) and from digital players Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Across the presentations, there are several points of agreement: that digital is reshaping the advertising landscape, and engagement with social media platforms in particular increasing all the time; that advertisers are balancing their traditional buys with campaigns aimed at building digital buzz. But more need to take on board social science research on network effects to make the most use of the platforms; and that digital culture is not the same the world over: China and Korea, for example, are at a higher state of development in many ways to their Western counterparts.

Summary
Summarising a presentation from ad agency Initiative on the industry trend towards brand owners partnering with tech start-ups to assist their digital campaigns. Topics covered by the presentation include: the explosion of entrepreneurialism in the tech world has led to the establishment of many start-ups offering services useful to brands, and agencies such as Initiative have therefore helped the two sides to partner with each other and launch marketing initiatives; leveraging the digital know-how offered by start-ups has allowed brands to find campaign success for their mobile and online video activity; and, when pursuing such partnerships, clients are advised to "positively agitate", urging the start-up to constantly improve their service; start-ups, on the other hand, are advised to "turn off the pitch machine" and "be patient".

Summary
Client and agency views from the conference stage at the 2012 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Presentations reveal that, while clients are entering into closer collaborations with agencies, and are reacting to societal trends, many are also maintaining their existing brand values. Continuity is key for Barilla's ad creative, while Visa is finding value from its long-standing association with the Olympics. Meanwhile, agencies are adapting to digitally-driven shifts in society: this not only involves them adapting to online and mobile ad formats, but extends to some firms concentrating more on helping with clients' NPD (R/GA), embracing CSR (Havas), or leveraging big data (Leo Burnett).