Preaching to the converted Danielle Veldre in Cannes
Ever heard the expression “global village”? Not exactly a new concept.
The telephone drew the world closer than ever previously dreamed last century. The invention of the radio and then the television allowed the world to communicate with a totally different voice, and the internet blew away any remaining barriers to global communication.
But the most recent of these technological advances is at least 10 years old in terms of widespread consumer use, so the question is, why are marketers such as McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Hewlett Packard giving lectures at the International Advertising Festival in 2004 about how it’s important to acknowledge the global village in marketing communications as if it’s something new?
Sure it must be hard to crank a lumbering global giant such as P&G into gear when its marketing practices need to be overhauled, but the company has had at least the past 10 years to think about it.
You don’t exactly have to be a cool hunter to appreciate the way the internet has changed the way people communicate and consume.
Now McDonald’s has jumped on the bandwagon, with the burger chain’s CEO Charlie Bell in Cannes this week signalling his desire for one of its agencies to win a Gold Lion.
All of this advertiser participation in Cannes, the ultimate showcase of global advertising creativity, certainly has the potential to enrich the festival and with any luck encourage advertisers to allow their agencies to take more risks.
But marketers getting up in front of a room full of advertising professionals and telling them global marketing is the next big thing seems a bit silly.
And as for advertisers singing from the “Great Creative Sells” hymn-book, the phrase “preaching to the converted” springs to mind.
Even Procter & Gamble global marketing officer Jim Stengel can see the danger of becoming too close to the creative festival.
“We as clients must not change the agenda of this festival. It is about creativity and innovation as judged by those who know the work. That is the essence of this festival and that’s why we’re here,” Stengel said.
“My hope and my dream is that because of our participation and because of our involvement, that actually the creativity and the innovation that reach our consumers will improve.
“Because in some ways we are here so we will buy what you’ve been trying to sell us for many years. And my hope is that at the end of the day, consumers will get marketing that’s more engaging, more watchable, more relevant.”
The talk this week about global marketing at the festival has jarred, not least because plenty of brands have already shown how well it can be done: Nike, Adidas, Apple, Coca-Cola, Sony, Levi’s, BMW—I don’t need to go on.
Creatives don’t need seminars to tell them to take risks. They need brave clients such as Nike and Apple.
Apple’s Steve Jobs and Nike’s Philip Knight must have been too busy taking risks to speak at Cannes this year.
