Out of the bubble

By Florian Mayer

The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity – annual class reunion for creatives from all over the world. Opportunity to exchange ideas with other creatives about creation and creativity, to network and award their work … and celebrate each other in the Cannes and advertising bubble of sand, rosé and award shows.

This year, the “most present” of all events took place completely digitally due to the pandemic – and while the BW Lions unceremoniously converted the Hospitalhof into a corona-compliant mini-croisette and spread a touch of festival feeling, everyday life in Stuttgart, including the one or other rain shower, was quite close. As unfortunate as this is, it allowed for a laptop screen-filtered, thus differentiated view of the creative industry and reflected the development of the award-winning works.

After all, advertising, communication, creativity itself have been getting out of their own bubble for some years now. They are building a bridge between brand and purpose, selling and relevance. Companies are realizing that in order to be seen, they have to create lasting bonds and enter into symbioses. With their target group, pop culture, technical innovations – and the social or societal tasks we face. Advertising sucks. In the age of information overload, this statement is more important than ever.

And so crisps manufacturers become entertainment platforms (Doritos: The Cool Ranch Dance by GS&P), fast fashion stores become sustainable instant recycling systems (H&M Looop by AKQA) and vibration vests for cystic fibrosis patients become sound machines (Woojer: Sick beats by Area23). Payment service providers break industry-typical semiotics, communication patterns and expectations and become shopping facilitators (Klarna: Smooth by NORD DDB). A hygiene products manufacturer ensures that an unfair law is changed (The Female Company: Tampon Book by Scholz & Friends). And DDB Berlin’s Uncensored Library for Reporters Without Borders turns the computer game Minecraft into a free speech platform.

Creative communication in the age of relevance – I look forward to seeing more of it. Next year on location, in the Cannes bubble.

 

Image: Sime Basioli / Unsplash