Cannes 2016: Shnoosee Bailey; Cyber Lions

We’ve asked some of the ad industry’s leading lights to look into their crystal balls and predict likely contenders from their territories for Cannes glory. Plus a selection of categories are dissected and discussed by a variety of venerable agency heads, giving a considered overview of how the categories and competition has changed, as well as plucking their top picks for prizes from the creative crowd

Does the multitude of digital platforms available to an advertiser make reaching consumers more or less difficult?

Both. It’s functionally easier, but can be harder emotionally. The evolving nature of digital and the explosion of opportunity is incredible. In many ways there has never been a more exciting time to be a creative.

On the flip side, what goes up must come down. So as channels and platforms increase, there is a battle for attention and a decrease in emotional engagement.

I rail against the over-used term ‘media agnostic’. With dwindling attention and shallow brand relationships, we need to be more deliberate in the creative choices we make. We need to wage a judicious charm offensive, rather than blanket bombing the media hitlist.

Do you think brands are more aware now of how they need to approach and engage their customers and what their place in a consumer’s life is?

Brands are improving, but I think in general this awareness could be higher. I’ve been discussing this with Dan Machen, our director of innovation. Over the last two years Dan and team have been deep-diving into neuroscience to look at the amount of available attention and emotional engagement when people are multiscreening. What they found is that people are almost always in a state of constant partial attention. This reduces the amount of available attention they have to decode complex ideas.

What this means in terms of our approach to creative work is a balanced approach of lean-forward storytelling and lean-back digital reinforcement that’s easy for people to process. We’ve created ‘brain-friendly’ creative guidelines to promote awareness of the slim part of people’s lives that brands can occupy.

Do you think that VR and AR will have a big say in this year’s – or future – Cyber Lions winners? Have brands embraced this new technology?

I think VR/AR are the hot topics this year. Certainly they hogged the headlines coming out of CES [tech tradeshow] and Dan returned from SXSW with a 360° camera so we can push into VR more. But, like 3D cinema, the tech won’t necessarily promote mass adoption immediately. We need to look at what really connects VR and AR and makes the experience not just ‘something I saw’, but ‘something that happened to me’.

Which platform do you think is the most powerful or relevant way to reach a consumer?

It depends entirely on the job you are trying to do. In general, though, we are sensorial creatures and the more we can engage sight, sound and feeling – which VR could be really good for – the more people will champion us amidst the sea of stuff they are exposed to daily.

What do you think the next evolutionary step in this category will be?

I think we are on the verge of the ‘Age of Experience’ and as such we will need to go up a level from online video content to really stand out in the slew of VR content. This might be haptic feedback to make the VR feel more real.

What do you think the jury will be looking for when they’re debating the Cyber Lions entries?

Building on the dominant themes of Cannes 2015, I think the jury’s debate will be informed by social purpose and potentially empowering diversity. Also how multiscreen campaigns can be informed by real-time co-created elements. As the late, great David Bowie said, the creative space is defined by “the grey space in the middle” between the artist and their audience. This is doubly true for digital creativity.

What pieces of work that you would define as being eligible for this category have impressed you in the last 12 months?

The New York Times Magazine’s work in VR, sharing portraits of children driven from their homes by war and persecution, broke new ground and was fearless in its grasp of VR as a new storytelling tool. The New York Times giving out 1.1m Google Cardboard headsets to subscribers is as significant as Sir Tim Berners- Lee’s creation of the web in terms of connecting humanity en masse, albeit on a smaller scale.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since Cannes 2015?

As director JJ Abrams said recently at SXSW, we need to make things real to have audiences connect with our work: “Even though we now have access to amazing technology, it’s important not to lose sight of what makes us human.” In moving forward with digital we need to push our work to bring human touches that really connect with the audience.

Will you be attending the festival this year and, if so, what are you most looking forward to about it?

Pitches allowing! Beach parties aside, it’s a great opportunity to compare notes with other creative leaders from around the world.