Even At Cannes, Creativity Is No Longer Enough
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This week, thousands of advertising professionals will descend on the South of France for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, during which they can enjoy sunshine, awards ceremonies and some of the world’s most breathtaking beaches.
But for all of the brilliant, award-winning creative campaigns on display — and all of the corks that will be popped in celebration of them — one very important thing might get lost in the shuffle this week: return on investment. Indeed, of the 20 award categories up for grabs at this year’s festival, just seven will take into account whether the winning entries did anything to improve business outcomes. In fact, rather than baking business results into the criteria for every award that will be handed out at Cannes, there is actually a separate category for “creative effectiveness.”
This focus on creativity for creativity’s sake is misguided. At a time when marketers are able to track the effectiveness of their advertising spend down to the last cent, it is simply not enough for agencies to run a compelling creative campaign unless it also produces measurable results in the form of increased brand awareness and sales.
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