For all the fevered talk of AI dominance in the run up to Cannes this year, the atmosphere in the Palais, at least early on, barely mentioned the topic that’s been upending the industry for the past few years.
Instead, we heard all the importance of humanity, of IRL experience, of storytelling and character.
Susan Credle, receiving the Lion of St Mark, took a stance against the overwhelm of AI slop. “Performative marketing and trying to do things fast and cheap, I have no interest in that,” she said, predicting that “I think we’re about to have a renaissance where brands become important again.
Credle reminisced on her career, in a fun session in which we learned that at high school she was a cheerleader and actor and was voted the ‘biggest flirt’ in her year group. She said that’s because she’s interested in people most of all and she credits her theatre and cheerleading skills for leading her into a career of ‘storytelling, performance and motivating people.’
One of her biggest achievements was reinventing the M&Ms characters at BBDO – it was a brief nobody else at the agency wanted because it was seen as ‘children’s advertising’ but Credle and her partner Steve Rutter managed to persuade the client to create a comedic ensemble cast of characters imbued with different personalities (snarky, subversive and even sexy) that led to some classic ads. When budget constraints forced them to think beyond TV, that led to merchandising, character licensing and eventually M&Ms stores.
Credle also spoke about the long running Allstate campaign as evidence of the power of consistent of platforms, and shared a lesson on fighting for your work, from an anti-bullying campaign for P&G’s Secret that got dropped when there were changes at the client: “I should have fought harder to keep it alive.”
Consistency was also a theme for Marcel Marcondes, the Global CMO of AB InBev, as the beer giant received the honour of Creative Marketer of the Year for the third time. “I really believe that consistency is one of the most underrated things in the world,” he said, referring to Corona ‘s platform about reconnecting with nature.
As one of the world’s top marketers, it was notable that Marcondes also referred in passing to the seismic changes going on in the advertising networks as he referred to his “Justice League’ of agency partners (in which Anselmo Ramos of Gut is apparently Batman, always dressed in black). While some of the agency logos are changing, he said, it is the ‘humans’ that he can call on that matter.
So is this setting the tone for the week ahead in the Palais? Open AI is speaking but so is Marc Pritchard of P&G on how robots can’t build brands. The tension between old and new Cannes is palpable and we’re going to hear a lot about ‘humans’.
Alexandra Jardine is head of creative strategy at Persuasion Communications. She is the former creativity editor of Ad Age.
