Entertain or die

By Hari Krishnan and Dilshara Jayamanna reporting from Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has kicked off with a bang. That big bang was created by SNASK, a rock band-meets-genius creative hot shop from Sweden. In their own inimitable way they had a great message for brands and creative agencies. In this confusing world filled with a short attention span, where brands and agencies are crying for attention, you’ve got to obsessively push the boundaries of creativity, break the rules and long held notions to be noticed. 

The rocking SNASK session

That’s how you ‘Make enemies and win fans’, the philosophy of Snask. Also, if you’re a creative hot shop/start up, create your own signature. Your signature of creativity/madness/genius/call it what you will, but that signature is what your clients should vie for. The Snask session was followed by award winning Taylor Herring titled ‘Zen and The Art of The Publicity Stunt’ although it seemed like the publicity stunt was already pulled off by Snask. 

However, Taylor Herring blew our minds off with, no, not creativity, but numbers. Did you know that 40% of the US GDP is contributed by brands that did not exist 15 years ago?  So what did these brands do? Yes they may have found a need gap, offered a product that answered that need, but above all, these are brands that have surprised us with their attitude and creativity. The rules of engagement have changed and the message is loud and clear for brands – stop interrupting. Start entertaining. If you don’t entertain you will just be an irritation because, all brands are entertainment brands today. 

Lutz Eichholz attempting a live world record on stage

Brands have to try harder for attention and gain earned media. Earned media is proof of the fact that you have entertained and aroused enough curiosity to be able to create social conversations. Greenpeace and Richard Branson have mastered the art of capturing our attention with their creativity. Similarly, HBO nailed the marketing of Game of Thrones by placing dragon skulls on the beach and creating virality around the slogan ‘Winter is Coming’ thus achieving invaluable amounts of earned media. Values, attitude and personality are built by brand behaviour not advertising. So here are the Top 5 Most Creative Millennial Brands in Earned Media: #5 Uber, #4 Airbnb #3 Ikea #2 Red Bull #1 Porn Hub. The best marketing is audacious and bold. So put at least 10% of your budget into doing something special.

David Copperfield works his magic

Taylor Herring was followed by an interesting and amusing panel discussion by Chinese new media owners. We all know that China is a market that operates in a completely different orbit. A company called three squirrels introduced themselves to us. What do they do? They provide squirrelised customer service. Yes, you heard that right! The voice of Customer Service is squirrelised and customised based on customer mood selections because ‘cute’ brands attract more customers. So Chinese brands are now on ‘Think Cute’ mode. It took us a while to understand that.

Guinness Records have a huge role to play when it comes to Brands and Earned Media and many brands have used the Guinness association to great effect to earn millions of dollars’ worth earned media. Some brands have been Imaginative: Jaguar launched their F Type SUV by breaking the record for the longest loop, in a specially created structure earning 750,000 views on YouTube, combined readership of 75 million. Hyundai created a message in the Sahara Desert with a fleet of Genesis cars that was viewable from Space earning 20 million views in just 24 hours. 

Some brands use differentiation to create a world record. LG washing machine and the tallest House of Cards – no not the TV series, an actual tower of cards was built on top of an LG washing machine that was in operation to show how smooth it was, earning 100 million+ online media impressions. You need to have the dedication to be able to create a world record. To explain what dedication meant, Lutz Eichholz came on stage to explain what dedication truly meant.

He holds plenty of records for the longest distance travelled on a unicycle. He also created a new world record, live on stage by performing the most 180 degree jumps on a unicycle. Some brands use amplification to good effect. Intel presented a case study of 100 drones in the sky, a world record for the most UAVs in the sky earning 1.5 million views and counting and a combined readership of 112 million. 

As if all this wasn’t magical already, David Copperfield came on stage and mesmerised the audience. He spoke of how the power of a big idea penetrates people’s conscience. He also explained how magic and the context of magic have changed in today’s wired world and how an illusion artist has to create an emotional connection with the audience by involving them. To explain this, he performed live with a member of the audience who later could make a crumpled tissue paper float in the air. Later, he made the crumpled paper catch fire and turn into a red rose and then made a duck fly in slow motion! 

The awards function in the evening for the Cannes Healthcare category also saw the McCann Health becoming Healthcare Network of the Year and Medulla Communications from India become the Healthcare Agency of the Year.

Day 1 at Cannes has been a roller coaster that just kept spiralling up! Watch this space for the action from the next few days.

(Hari Krishnan is Chief Executive Officer, Mullen Lowe Sri Lanka and Dilshara Jayamanna is Senior Vice President/Executive Creative Director, Mullen Lowe Sri Lanka).