We haven’t been to the South of France this week, but we’ve been talking about the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
exist International Creativity Festival, the funniest thing happened. The early big winner wasn’t great advertising, but classic content marketing.
in his recent books During his keynote address at Content Marketing World 2023, Robert Rose asked if marketing has simply become content marketing. Well, this year’s Cannes International Creativity Festival Award It may herald a turning point.
What does CMI chief strategist Robert think? Watch the video or continue reading.
Lessons from the Cannes International Festival of Creativity
As a rogue marketer, I’ve never been invited to an event like Cannes International Festival of Creativity. But marketing professionals, content creators and creatives flocked to the south of France to view more than 25,000 entries.
The festival was founded seventy years ago by advertising executives jealous of the Cannes Film Festival. They want their work to be recognized and just look at the South of France to know it will never become the Florida International Festival of Creativity.
The festival has always been known for celebrating pure advertising, particularly B2C advertising produced by large companies that can afford the high admission fees.
Fun fact: In 2013, McCann Australia made history by winning the most Grand Prix awards of any entry (five). It won what today is called content marketing – Subway Train stupid way to die Activity.
I’m impressed by this year’s early winners.
Tell a story for victory
Siemens Healthineers wins pharmaceutical award for its product Magnetic Story Activities. The MRI machine maker has teamed up with children’s authors to tell audio stories that are paired with the sound patterns of MRI scans, which can be loud and disturbing to children.
For example, a child can listen to a story called “Flying Train” through headphones while undergoing a skull scan. The rattling sound of the MRI fits perfectly into the storyline.
Is this an advertisement? No.
Is it a brand that leverages content to create a more engaging, inspiring and satisfying customer experience? Absolutely.
Credit this winner to the practice of content marketing.
The Health and Wellness Awards went Dimenhydrinate mini documentary About – most importantly – barf bags. FCB Chicago produced this 12-minute film exploring collectors of airplane barf bags. Yes, people collect everything you can imagine. They discussed a drop in demand for air sickness bags, with the brand taking credit for the drop.
Is this an advertisement? Not really.
This is brilliant creative content and it changes Not a very attractive topic into something fun and engaging.
at last, Pedigree won Outdoor Grand Prix. The campaign leverages the dynamic technology of out-of-home advertising, using a series of digital ads featuring real, adoptable animals. When a pet is adopted, its ad is removed from the inventory.
Is this an advertisement? certainly. But it’s just great content – and even without the backing of the Pedigree brand, it’s valuable to viewers. It may create brand affinity because it’s not actively selling something.
Call the Pedigree campaign the spirit of content marketing through traditional advertising media.
Content is at the heart of good advertising and marketing
The spirit of delivering value, trust and extraordinary content seems to be the focus of the Cannes Film Festival. Is how people define brand advertising part of a larger trend? Is this a backlash against the programmatic, buy-now goods of performance algorithm marketing?
I hope so.
The Cannes Film Festival offered plenty of lessons, even for those of us who don’t often hang out with famous people in the south of France.
Maybe when we get together at Content Marketing World in San Diego later this year, we can pop the champagne and talk about how your differentiated marketing can turn into great content.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
