Brands that speak the language of 21st Century

Mart Tutssel, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett, who was addressing the gathering along with his creative team from New York at the Debussy Hall, Palais De festivals, in Cannes, South of France, talked about the human brands; brands which people love to interact with.

There are two types of brands -- one which talks to the consumers, and the other which talks to people, says Mart Tutssel, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett. He was addressing the gathering along with his creative team from New York at the Debussy Hall, Palais De festivals, in Cannes, South of France.

Brands that speak the language of 21st Century

Tutssel says, "Brands which talk to the consumer are the ones which are only concerned about improving the topline and bottomline, whereas brands which speak to humanity and the language of people are more effective, and consumers want these brands to be part of their lives.

Jay Benjamin, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett, says, "The 21st century has brought in new questions to advertising."

1. What media is the most important to use?

2. How are we going to bring our brand in front?

3. Do we need to build a social platform?

Benjamin claims, Leo Burnett's approach is different.

"We seek questions like what's the human purpose for the brand, or what do people really want from the brand? "

The Leo Burnett team then presented four case studies --

Canon, which created a community for photographers to share, learn and draw inspirations from each other. It wanted to break the monotonous technology-driven communication. It was based on the insight that all photographers seek inspiration beyond technology.

The second case study was on Leo Burnett itself. When it entered New York, it did not want to make a noise, but listen to the people. It created a platform -- New York writes itself -- where people of New York City could connect with the creative community. The platform rediscovered an old community in the city - the Letterpress community, which was struggling to survive in today's times. It was revoked, and now the platform will organise an exhibition for this art form.

The third example was from India, where the Leo Burnett India team created a new font for 10 languages, based on the designs of Gandhiji's glasses.

The fourth example was that of Fiat EVo, which unveiled the digital catalogue of an upcoming car model through QR codes and traffic signs.

Tutssel then took to the stage saying that human kind brands are those which have a clear purpose and also act on it.

He said, "Brands which have a purpose, but don't act dreamy, while brands which act without a purpose are noisy. And, for brands which lack both, they are lazy."

Some of the brands that he felt were human are Canon, Coca Cola, Olympics, YouTube, Facebook and Old Spice.

He ended, saying, "Such brands also perform well at the market place.

To view interviews from Cannes 2011, click here.

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