Yahoo Finance 3 takeways from the 'Superbowl' of advertising: Morning Brief
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CANNES, FRANCE - Cannes Lions, the enormous advertising and marketing festival, has manufactured a spectacular adult playhouse stretching for a sweat-inducing length of Boulevard de la Croisette. If there's one thing that's clear, marketing budgets are still fat.
Yahoo Finance has been hard at work on the ground, and as Booking.com Chief Marketing Officer Arjan Dijk told us, “in a week... I more or less can meet two years of people."
Talking to "two years of people" in a just few days has brought a lot into focus during the festival, and so far, three big realizations have emerged.
Companies are experiencing a cultural awakening
Brilliant creativity generates demand during downturns
Offshore exclusive invites are where the big money plays
Cultural Curation
Values-based marketing and product campaigns have transformed into a balance beam for companies who waver on their intentions and messaging. Disney, Target, and Bud Light have all stumbled by flip-flopping as they announced commitments to underrepresented groups to expand their customer bases.
"If you back down to bullies, they come further for you,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis says. "And here's the thing: they lost everyone. We are not shopping there."
What’s clear is that companies are carefully curating and fine-tuning their advertising approach amid politically inflamed societal issues, while maintaining messages of inclusion.
Generating Demand During Economic Downturn
One familiar part of the advertising playbook is to show customers that their purchases will go farther than perceived. This is a key strategy for McDonald’s in the face of inflation — and also if the economy ends up in a recession.
“We are a brand that people have always expected affordability and value,” McDonald’s Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Tariq Hassan told Yahoo Finance, “We're living in some pretty unprecedented times in terms of what that inflation looks like, so we continue to ensure that we've got offerings on the menu, whether that's our value meal offerings, or how we think about pricing and relationship to the market."
Essentially, Hassan said, it's about listening to what the customers want.
Cannes Offshore is Peak Exclusivity
The conference is benefitting from a resurgence in travel demand as corporations send decision makers, relationship builders, and their biggest endorsers to draw conference-goers.
But this isn't where the real action is. The ultra-high-net-worth individuals and top executives can be found embarking on private yacht tours to private islands and invite-only discreet events.
Some things do get out, of course. Elon Musk couldn’t keep his cover under wraps as the whispers made their way across the festival. The owner of Twitter seems to have thought it was valuable enough to connect with businesses that may spend on social platform advertising campaigns to make an appearance.
And yes, yes, we're trying to get in there — and we'll let you know what everyone's talking about if we do.
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