Goafest 2014: Ten trends from Media Lions at Cannes 2013, from juror Melanie Varley

In a session aptly themed ‘Celebrating great media work’ at Goafest 2014, Melanie Varley, global CSO, MEC, spoke about emerging trends, from her experience of judging Media Lions entries at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2013.

She said, “I saw more than 1,000 pieces of work as a judge and it brought home how important the work media agencies do for businesses as well as consumers is. There were 10 characteristics that I found in most entries and most of them were emotional.”

The 10 characteristics she enlisted were: Inspiring, Human, Unexpected, Transformative, Experiential, Unique, Connected, Integrated, Scalable, Ownable and Measurable.

Varley followed this up with some key trends she saw emerging from the campaigns she judged at Cannes,  with examples.

Integrated Human Stories

The strategy head stated that brands were looking at integrated human stories within their campaigns.

The first case she presented was a Grand Prix winner at Cannes for ‘Funeral Insurance Company’ in the Netherlands, Dela.

She moved from a funeral insurance brand to a beer brand for the next case study.

Heineken released this campaign in Puerto Rico in December 2012. The idea was cracked in November and released a week before the brand’s most important sales season (the week before Christmas).

Brands with purpose

The second trend she cited from entries was that brands were looking to be socially good. “Consumers today are expecting brands to be socially good. Keith Weed (chief marketing and communications officer, Unilever Global) has also stated that he wanted  to change the business model of not only being responsible, but to be socially responsible,” said Varley.

The cases supporting this were for P&G and The University of Engineering and Technology of Peru.

Germstamp for P&G’s ‘Safe Guard’

The University of Engineering and Technology of Peru

Social is ‘New TV’

Varley said that 80 per cent of the entries had social integrated within their campaigns. This prompted her to comment that social could now be called the ‘New TV’.

Next up on the showcase was the Nike work ‘Greatness’, which ran in China during London 2012.

Another campaign underlining the impact of social media at London 2012 was ‘Torch view’, for Lloyds TSB. The media agency for this was MEC, UK.

Varley’s next example was the popular Oreo’s Grand Prix winner in the Cyber category.

She emphasised, “This gave brands the confidence that a launch or re-launch can be done by using social media alone.”

Mobile is Still Emerging

Going by the Cannes entries, Varley noted that mobile as a platform was still emerging. While it had been used in many different ways, only a few of them were effective, said last year’s Cannes juror. She presented two of the campaigns.

McDonalds Wifi campaign in Spain

Yihaodian 1000 Stores in China

New Solutions for Business

Varley’s final observation from the entries she judged at Cannes was that ‘Technology and data are shaping new solutions from business’.

The first example under this trend was Coca-Cola Small World Machines.

She ended her session by showcasing her personal and the jury favourite, the entry that won Grand Prix for Branded Content – ‘Dumb Ways to Die’.