Accenture CD Emma Carpenter's Mobile Top Tips

Mobile is more than the device in your pocket

One to Watch - Singatel: Data Exstream

This year we’ll definitely see a stronger showing of connected elements that aren’t centred around or limited to the mobile phone. Last year, the most conceptual connected device wasn’t even entered into the Mobile category. Lockheed Martin’s Field Trip to Mars missed out on a Mobile award because their submission hadn't considered the bus to be a giant mobile device. This oversight is unfortunately reflective of how mobile has historically been seen simply as a collection of apps, media or gaming. The Mobile entries this year will demonstrate that the category distinctions between types of mobile device or content will have blurred. Cannes Lions 2017 will be about hugely imaginative brands providing customers with innovative connected interactions and real utility enabled by any portable device. Unlike brands, consumers are not thinking about whether it was delivered online or offline, on a watch, handset, or a bus -- they just want a great experience to present a world of possibility.

Tech giants submitting their own work

One to Watch - Google: Land Lines

As the traditional agency model dissolves and creatives are tempted away by the opportunity to create work that touches hundreds of thousands rather than a niche campaign that might reach a hundred, expect to see more entries into the Mobile category submitted ‘agency free’. In 2015 Google Cardboard won the Mobile Grand Prix and last year we had a controversial entry by Facebook for Facebook. Now that formidable creative, specialist data and technology teams are being built internally, it’s only a matter of time before we’ll have another grand prix conceptualised, crafted and produced entirely in house.

Less focus on mobile technology and more focus on mobile utility

One to watch: SignEmoji 

Problem solving via mobile will be a significant trait of the serious Mobile contenders. Samsung was prolific last year in creating physical devices that enabled humans to overcome considerable challenges, notably the Samsung Blind Cap and BrainBand. Arguably these mobile products are for a niche audience, but what is significant about them is their potential to change human behaviour. As technology becomes more transparent, the convergence of human need and mobile utility is likely to be where this year's Grand Prix will emerge from.

Personalised advertising experiences at scale

One to Watch - Snickers: Hungerithm

Much has been made of VR at Cannes and it will undoubtedly have an impact again at this year’s festival, but what I expect to appear next week is creative work with AI at the heart. Integrating mobile technology that learns and adapts to the user on a natural and personal level, understanding their habits, preferences and using AI to predict their behaviour to deliver a customised experience, perfectly tailored to the individual. What I want to see is personalised advertising produced on a global scale with infinite variations. We may not see this at Cannes 2017 but it’s just around the corner.

Customer experience becomes social experience

This year I think we’ll see the influence of political instability and migration on the Mobile entries. It’s likely that there will be increase in submissions from Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa and Asia focused on enabling mobile services for people without access to the traditional methods of accessing the internet. With displaced people forced to take only what they can carry, we’ll see innovation in communication delivered via mobile. This was beautifully demonstrated by last year’s winner, WhatsGerman [below], showing how mobile can be incredibly effective to those on the move.

Emma Carpenter is a creative director with Accenture Interactive in South Africa. She served as a juror for the Mobile category at Cannes Lions in 2016.