Cannes 2011: "Brands should invest in risky projects, not campaigns!"

On Friday morning at the Debussy, Olivier Altmann, worldwide chief creative officer, Publicis, Paul Kemp-Robertson, editorial director and co-founder, Contagious Communications and Jess Greenwood, director, Contagious Insider, made a presentation on how brands ought to start investing more in risky projects rather than in merely advertising campaigns.

The rationale was that since the number of variables in modern marketing is so vast today, creative experiments are the only way in which brands can innovate quickly to survive the change.

Altmann explained, "There is no perfect recipe for success, but brands have to move quickly, be prolific, stay involved in real life and keep an eye out for what's new and cool." Regarding Heineken, Altmann said that it was an instance of a brand successfully using the insight of consumers' "multi-screen behaviour".

Kemp-Robertson offered, "Another trend is behavioural economics," explaining that this involves staying abreast of social, emotional and cognitive factors that influence consumers. An example of a project that did this was Westpac's 'Impulse Saver' iPhone application that was created keeping in mind New Zealand's need for more savings accounts. This creation allowed people to move money towards a savings account of sorts, by pressing a button each time they felt the impulse to spend.

Another example was Andes Beer's 'Friend Recovery' project. It was an important example as 60 per cent of the brand's production budget was diverted into this technological innovation. The insight behind this creation was that men who have girlfriends are unable to spend enough time with their male buddies at the bar. First, a robot with a video-conferencing system was created. This robot, equipped with microphones and video cameras, allowed people to be with their girlfriends, as well as with their friends at the same time.

Of course, the person concerned was physically present only at one location at a given time (that is, with the girlfriend), whereas his face would appear on the robot that was placed in the second location (at the bar where his friends were seated). Real communication through the robot was possible thanks to the technology.

Greenwood urged brands to focus less on 360-degree campaigns and more on being active 365 days a year. She gave the example of singer Lady Gaga, who does so all the time by turning up at official events wearing a dress made of meat or in a giant egg! "This is what contemporary superstardom is about!" she exclaimed, adding that we need to figure out a similar contemporary superstardom of branding.

Greenwood supported her point with the example of the orange juice brand Prigat, which created a website that enabled orange juice to be squeezed in an actual location each time visitors logged on and smiled into their monitors!

Lastly, the presenters spoke about the '80-20' rule (The Pareto Principle), that is, 80 per cent of a brand's revenue comes from 20 per cent of its consumers. "The law of the vital few is an important one for brands to remember," Kemp-Robertson said.

The speakers signed off by reiterating that creative application is the future of the advertising industry.

To view other interviews from Cannes 2011, click here.