Dispatches from Cannes: 5 Key Thoughts

With the sun setting on Cannes, it’s time to stop talking and start preparing. 

Nik Wheatley, Notorious Co-Founder, reflects on his thoughts from a week in Cannes, and brings us his 5 big takeaways (not shaped by interest bias, nor proximity to Sports Beach). 

 

The overall feel is that we could be seeing the most pronounced arms race in advertising for a generation, and it should be net beneficial for re-energising the difference in agency, owner and platform propositions.

Obviously, there is a good dose of hyperbole and claim inflation to work through, but A LOT of change is flying towards us.  Some obvious, some with some hotly debated second order effects.

There’s no getting away from the fact we’re in for a wild ride.

So, here you go – 5 things, definitely not shaped by interest bias and after which, you’ll be relieved to hear no more of the C word until I ‘see you next time’ sloshing rose on la Croisette.

 

1 – AI = Equal risk we get Accelerated Intelligence/ Ignorance

Getting this out of the way first. AI was and is EVERYWHERE. With my optimism hat on, we have opportunity to enhance great people and great ideas in ways not previously possible. 

The potential is constrained only by our imaginations and inclination. Every aspect of planning, buying and activation can be supercharged; ills of recent years undone and new standards set for efficiency, insight or creativity – whatever floats your boat.  If we can imagine it, we can have a go.

We spend too much time talking about what AI will do rather than what we train it to do.  There isn’t one AI overlord – they are learning models so the potential sits in the trainer.

And that is really exciting.

The buzz phrase of ‘human in the loop’ surely misses the point. The best results will be human in the driving seat. Anything less is an abdication and more of the same old shit.

There will be a host of ethical and philosophical challenges to follow. Outputs shaped by non-transparent data sets, built from false assumptions are a major risk from a market mired in ill practice and obsessed by saving money on resource rather than making more valuable practitioners.

But buyers get a vote! If we are all trained to ask for background on the assumptions and data sets, I remain optimistic that the good will out. It is one hell of an opportunity and the focus of Notorious will be on how we enhance our people and accelerate their impact rather than making a conscious choice to dumb it down in the name of cost savings.

 

 

2 – Creator commerce targets prime time video  

The Superbowl moment network TV moment is over.

Or so someone with a vested interest confidently proclaimed from a well branded stage.

I’ll admit I went into navigating this with my sceptic hat on and came out a (kind of) convert. I can’t help it, I’m 46 and this isn’t the world I grew up in. I hate my daughter burning her life away on the multitude of ‘For You’ feeds and I hate the mindless hypnotic churn of awful short form content spewing into our lives. The blurred lines between true fandom and paid endorsement.

So, what changed?

If the spiel is to be believed, TikTok Shop is already the equivalent of the worlds 4^th largest retailer – which is mad. Obviously they were always going to make a play on the creators x culture narrative, but the extent to which they have packaged, commoditised and professionalised the product is genuinely impressive.

Everyone else is now trying to play and package their creator suit, suggesting that we have a market about to really spring into life alongside potential for significant innovation and commercial opportunism.

Certainly, you have risk of a platform ‘owning’ the consumer, promotional voice, ad environment and retail fulfilment but that’s an essay in itself.

Right now, CMOs from McDonalds, Pepsi Co and others were directly validating the strength of return x quality of outcomes being delivered through social/ creator commerce, and there appears some credibility that they can claim to be gunning for the big cultural moments on Network TV.

Of which…..

 

 

3 – Whose brand is it anyway?

Much discussion on giving over your brand voice/experience to allow for platform appropriateness, creator authenticity or AI context adaptors.

We have all grown up in a world where the brand has absolute control save for the novelty of an i.e. on-air promotion or advertorial etc. Is this really under threat?

Kind of.

It comes down to how literally you apply the learnings and logic of the previous two points. You can, and some are arguing should, use AI/ad-tech to adapt and serve your ad and your message in thousands of contexts depending on the stage of the purchase journey and the stage of exposure to your brand message.

Secondly, if platforms (where most of our money is now spent) are increasingly geared to deliver as above but also host content experiences, by creators ‘your’ potential consumers trust, then they are better placed to contextualise and sell you.

In both instances, rigorous control by agencies and brands slows things down and becomes a hindrance.

Or so the argument goes.

Obviously, I can see the logic, but a world in which your brand voice is effectively deregulated and democratised is basically a return to the Wild West with anonymous brands delegating control of their fortunes to platforms devoid of the normal separations of power.

The world is changing and the facts are that both media and creative functions must find a new way to flex their muscles in order to retain relevance and build brilliant brands. 

It’s a challenge we all need to grapple with and mercifully that is what Jess and I started this for in the first place.

The tool kit is changing, not the objective.

 

 

4 – The self-serve future: a revenue or shortchange multiplier?

The UK broadcasters beach side announcement, on the launch of a jointly hosted platform (initially) targeting the SME market, was an interesting step.

Their agreement to co-operate and share data is on a previously unparalleled scale, recognising and responding to the threat of the platforms and seizing the opportunity to win through collaboration.

There is absolute logic here. The benefits of one higher quality campaign in a better regulated environment should also help to attract new advertisers. Add in the measurement and reporting tools effectively that tear down the walled gardens and we have a noteworthy set of features from broadcasters reading the room and showing overdue commercial tenacity.

But is this the shot in the arm they really needed?

Broadcaster media has justifiably faced criticism for being less accessible and hooked on a decades old trading legacy.  It has been slow to adapt the viewer experience.

And yet it works.  More specifically the whole ecosystem works.

The content environment is high quality, tightly controlled and well regulated.  As is the typical ad quality.  The agency interaction between the creative and media is considered, structured and planned purposefully by people who have years experience seeing what works and knowing when to respond if needed.

Could this not have something to do with why the whole thing works so bloody well?  Of course, tech innovation allows the whole thing be to be sped up but to what end?

TV advertising is hard work but perhaps we ought to appreciate that for what it is…

…Reassuringly hard work that delivers a great experience for viewers and consistently high performing ad returns for brands. Undermine any part of the ecosystem and the whole thing feels like it could be at risk of collapse.

Across Notorious we have significant experience in all elements of the emerging video future, so we are totally here for this conversation and ready to help brands understandably looking for clarity on how to maximise the opportunity. Give us a shout.

 

 

5 – The Trust Paradox

All of this adds up to my final take out from a week marching la Croisette in search of new stuff, rose and merch for the kids…

More talks preached the gospel of trust and their own promise of a well, deep and rich in the elixir of trust; all the time decrying the unspeakable damage brought upon us elsewhere through careless application of tech, defunding of quality, ad saturation or inauthenticity on platforms unforgiving of such heresies.

In a chaotic world of limited quality and barely regulated content we are all desperate for someone to provide us with a trusted high value space attracting significant volumes of high calibre audiences to sell to.

The frustration for anyone working in News is now palpable.

Their collective endeavours provide a genuine watermark for trust, confidence and, at the very least, an attempt to make sense of what is happening.  Their readership are more attractive than your average online audience, significantly wealthier, with greater spending power and a demonstrably positive opinion of brands advertising in their editorial spaces.

And yet.

The defunding of News is past the crisis point, red lights flashing on an industry turning its back.

Beyond the philosophical dangers of penalising media dedicated to trying to make sense of a ‘post truth world’, we are definitely concerned about, what to make of this?

Trust is vital, but we don’t want that trust?

Alas, it is entirely plausible we may now mean something different. A more transactional trust, based on credibility linked to passions, in pursuit of distraction from a world determinedly going south. Far better we re-enact our own version of that meme from the house on fire. Everything is fine.

Obviously, given the plentiful audiences News attracts and rafts of independent studies showing it works, this is ridiculous.

How News should respond in a post common sense industry determined to compartmentalise and isolate visible risk while exposing partners to best of Pandora’s online selection box of deregulated delights? There is a significant argument to hold course of course but the gathered Crositerry (is that our collective noun?) revealed no great urgency and the queues to get into the TikTok creator garden were undeniably longer.

The case for commercial re-imagination of how to leverage News’s audience and their hard-earned trust are beyond compelling if challenging.

 

With the sun firmly down on the French adventure and the yacht crew enjoying some relative peace again, Notorious are aboard and ready to support anyone wanting to figure out what trust looks like for them in making business breakthroughs in the year ahead.