Keep it simple, stupid
Vodafone’s “Red Light app/Between Us” initiative was the winning media campaign at Cannes Lions
Media agencies love complexity, writes Mindshare’s Adam Fulford – is this why so many lost out to creative agencies at this year’s Cannes Lions?
Someone asked me this week why I thought media agencies didn’t win more Cannes Lions this year. As I sit looking out over the Mediterranean feeling somewhat jaded it’d be easy to blame too many lunches and too much rosé, but I think the answer is somewhat more complex.
Looking at the list of agency winners, whilst Starcom, OMD and Mindshare appear in the list of Grand Prix to Bronze winners, we’re massively outweighed by a stellar list of creative agencies. In fact, of 3,100 media agencies over 80% of the entries were from creative agencies.
As someone charged in part with creating more award-winning work naturally I was curious as to why?
The knee jerk reaction would be to blame the entry process, judging panel or some other part of the awards process, claiming somehow that it favours creative agencies. In truth I think the answer lies in our very essence and structure rather than some injustice beyond our control.
As Nick Emery explained, “It doesn’t particularly matter, if the work is about the integrated element of media,” when asked about the origins of entries.
The thing is, the ideas that won were just really, really simple; elegant equations between insight and action, nothing else. No ninja strategy, or massively complex and interconnected ecosystems. If these existed in the plan they had been distilled down to what in essence were just beautiful ideas.
From Vodafone’s Red Light App and beautifully simple media placement, to 3M’s the ‘banner that makes you like banners‘, and Chevrolet’s TTYL, simple utility was there in spades.
Sometimes the answer was simpler still; the first fully personalised TV campaign for Coke, or the 24 Hour ad break are both great examples of the medium being transformed to fit the message.
These examples truly reflect the position of the panel, explained by Nick thus: “The Media Lions are about ideas that work, not stunts. Stunts are small scale, great ideas work at scale, not as one off copy tests or as awards designed novelties. The Media Lions are about ideas rooted in media, created, planned and executed by media people wanting to break conventions. They are about the rigour of media combined with off the wall invention and effective delivery.”
It’s not that media agencies lack the capabilities of ideas, creation or production; today most have creative directors and commissioning editors, developers and full production suites. Arguably we’re better equipped in terms of data and insight, and aren’t tied to a creative process designed to get to a TV script first. Making us more likely to come up with ideas that could live or start anywhere.
The difference is the art of simplification.
This is what creative agencies do well. We’re up against an entire industry trained to within an inch of their lives to simplify an idea again and again, refining and selling it then making sure the execution remains true to the concept. It runs through everything they do, it takes time and dedication.
Media agencies on the other hand love complexity. They’re formed of a myriad of different departments with a plethora of experts, each deeply passionate about the nuances of every facet of an increasingly broad palette of media options.
There’s something about the rigour of writing a manifesto or a 60 second script that forces elegant reduction.
When it comes to ideas we’ve got almost too much to play with; we combine data, content and technology in new and fantastic ways like kids with a new set of Lego. At Mindshare we’ve set out to bring together the best of the best, bringing that in house where appropriate.
We’re incubating digital agency Maido in the UK giving us a fully formed digital design and development capability, and working with external partners in our Content+ and Life+ global initiatives to power our capabilities in highly adaptive engagement and place us at the forefront of incorporating biometrics into targeting and communication.
Stitching all this together naturally involves phasing, flares, extensions, amplifications and interconnected eco-systems. A process that increasingly looks like the wireframes of a hugely complex website. It’s all there to prove we’re spending our client’s millions in the right way, because the answer (rightly) is never as simple as ‘putting it all on black’.
So, if we want to win more awards it’s as simple as writing better award entries. We’ve got all the tools at our disposal; we already have great ideas, as those that won demonstrate.
Ultimately, I leave this year’s festival hugely excited by the year ahead.
The doors are open for us next year, both at Mindshare and every media agency. All we need to do is focus on channelling the iPod not Heath Robinson, because if we, as an industry, are to invent an award winning future of media it’s got to be really, really simple.
Adam Fulford is managing partner, Mindshare.