Inevitably, there’s a hell of a lot of talk here at Cannes about advertising for good. Maybe it’s people feeling guilty that they’re spending the rest of the day drinking heavily, maybe they genuinely want to change the world. I’ll ...
Read More »Matt Williams: who’s right about advertising and ‘big data’ – Professor Brian Cox or Sir John Hegarty?
“I don’t know who this Sir John Hegarty is – he might be very famous in your industry – but he’s just wrong.” It seems in Cannes, no-one is safe from criticism. Professor Brian Cox (below), poster boy for science, ...
Read More »Matt Williams: why brands need to work harder to make you spend more time with them
Time has been of the essence in Cannes – literally. Without doubt one of the key issues so far, people are either calling for more of it, making products out of recognition that people have less of it, or simply ...
Read More »Matt Williams: how Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel broke the rules but became a success
One thing everyone is excellent at here at Cannes is overanalysing things. Why did that award win over that one? Why did they pick that shot? Hell, we even spend a rather large quantity of time debating the reasons for ...
Read More »Matt Williams: Cannes – the calm before the storm
Matt Williams, head of content at Partners Andrew Aldridge, will be blogging from Cannes for MAA. Here he joins the early starters for the marathon 2015 International Festival of Creativity which kicked off with the Health Lions (below). The strangest ...
Read More »Matt Williams: eight sure-fire Cannes predictions
I was going to write a piece discussing the recent evolution of Cannes Lions, and the shifting perspectives and attitudes towards the festival. Then I read Tom Goodwin and John Owens’ articles on this very matter, and couldn’t have put ...
Read More »Matt Williams: building a creative reputation isn’t rocket science but you have to get out there and do it
Sorry to start a column with a cliché, but they say it’s the little things in life that really make a difference. And in advertising that’s often the case. Let’s face it; most decent-sized advertising agencies are very similar. We ...
Read More »Matt Williams: what does it take to win the big ad awards – craft skill or best marketing idea?
I was asking a friend last week how work was going. This friend is a creative at one of the biggest and most well known advertising agencies in the industry. “I’m actually doing something really interesting at the moment,” he ...
Read More »Matt Williams: are unique events the way to win the agency PR game?
Every week there’s something new that’s killing advertising. That’ll put all agencies out of business. This year, one of those trendy threats is advocacy. Why the hell would clients come to us anymore when they can get better reach and ...
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