Pi Studios: Creativity is Evolving in the Entertainment Lions Category

The Entertainment Lions category celebrates creativity that turns content into culture. How relevant do you think advertising is now that anybody can be a content creator?

Weirdly, in a world where everyone churns out ‘content’, meaningful entertainment stands out even more. It’s a golden age. Advertising is at its best these days when it is the thing people want to watch, rather than the annoying pre-roll before it.

Do you think the industry has got to grips with what the word content, in an advertising sense, means?

Not really. Content is still the go-to word for bolt on, afterthought and cheap low-craft material to fill social channels with stuff. The word itself feels as irrelevant as influencer to me. I’d rather just not use the word at all.

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

Definitely. I think a lot of forward-thinking marketers and brands have an amazing appetite to do things differently – looking at their customers as an audience with opinions, emotions, needs and a holistic, complex world view. The trick is really seeing that ambition through to how you reach that audience. WeTransfer, one of our clients, has done this in a spectacular way with our new series, Work In Progress, which features artists that creative people care about such as Björk, Rich Brian and Jesse Kanda.

Above: WeTransfer, Presents Work In Progress feat Björk and Jesse Kanda

Does the multitude of platforms and avenues available to an advertiser make reaching people more or less difficult?

Neither really – it just means there are just more ways in. Doing the same thing on everything is meaningless, but using individual platforms for their strengths can be incredibly powerful. Curating and being selective and brave in your platform choices in my experience has resulted in some explosive results.

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

Stuff that is genuinely entertaining, that moves people, and provokes a reaction. Results, coverage and legacy all flow out of the simple fact of “Did this entertain an audience?”

Above: Cannes Lions Entertainment Grand Prix for 2017, Santander, Beyond Money

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

I’m going to sound like a sales guy here – but our work with WeTransfer blurred the lines between what an editorial platform would put out and what a brand would. The genuine traction this series has garnered organically is phenomenal.

I’d love to see premium entertainment series like [Netflix documentary] Last Chance U gain the credit it deserves within something like Cannes. Also, more factual entertainment like Nike and Nat Geo’s Breaking 2, and Channel 4’s Domino’s Pizza: A Slice of Life, which placed the brand at the centre of a universe of fantastic characters, and branded entertainment formats made for the digital age, such as The A-Z of Music, the i-D series sponsored by Marc Jacobs, and Fido and VICE’s [news show] Daily VICE.