Rochelle Burbury, the former editor of B&T and AFR media editor turned PR queen, was on the ground at Cannes in Cairns, Presented by Pinterest, and found plenty of inspiration in Charles Darwin.
The theme I’ve chosen for day two of Cannes in Cairns is Darwinism – the biological evolutionary principle of survival of the fittest, or to be more precise for adland, ‘survival of the fit (for purpose)’.
But first I need to backtrack into the night of day one when we saw and heard about some real-life Darwinism in action. In fact, some may be worthy recipients of an infamous Darwin Award for individuals who protect our gene pool by eliminating themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species’ chances of long-term survival.
You may have heard the rumour of someone ‘falling in a hole’ at the conclusion of the spectacular Pinterest welcome party. Getting away from the party was like the Hunger Games as a mass of liquored-up humanity fought to get a bus – only the fittest survived. And it was my very own colleague, Julie, who fell down said hole and was rescued by Nathan, the knight in shining white Boomtown t-shirt, surviving her very own brush with the Darwin Award. (She will hate me for this!)
Back to day two. The sessions and discussions I experienced seem to all fit neatly into the Darwinism theme.
Beginning with the Boomtown ‘Eff off’ session where only the fittest survived to find seats in a standing-room-only event. It seems regional advertising is sitting pretty for ‘survival of the fit for purpose’ with national brands investing in the regions doubling as the result of Boomtown’s efforts.
Next, Mat Baxter threw a controversial grenade when he told the audience that annual media deals should be blown up. Ok, maybe not blown up but he is certain they are doomed. Much like a reformed smoker preaching his newfound distaste for the fags.
Baxter told B&T’s Arvind Hickman that if an agency needed to move sizeable amounts of money from one media company to another due to either efficiency or performance gains, it would cause “big dramas” – because of commitments made in deals. It’s the “antithesis of where need to be”.
Media agencies and owners are simply operating on “muscle memory” that relies on price, often without client briefs, rather than the ability to dynamically optimise throughout the year without committing to an annual deal.
It’s about survival he said, “You catch up or you die.”
The most telling line from Baxter was that a lot of clients might be scared to discover what they might find. Indeed they would. It’s not just above-the-table arrangements that are at stake here.
But will Darwinism determine annual media deals’ fate? Are media agencies ready for survival of the fit for purpose? Is it a flawed model? Hell yes. Does it need to change? Inevitably it has too – but who will be the first holdco to jump? I reckon no one wants to be on that cliff to survivalism.
Does Baxter have a reason for the annual deals to go the way of dinosaurs? He sure does and it might just be that model that pushes them off the cliff.
Cam Blackley and Emily Taylor from the Bureau of Everything continued the Darwinism theme with their “The industry is a fucking waste of space” preso.
They call out boring work as junkvertising and shitty marketing landfill. They believe that waste is everywhere – from business problem solving, to creative opportunities, to building brands. And – the bit that nailed it the most – “creeping conservatism” – which is both true and scary.
Even the Australia’s Funniest Ads shows on TV have gone, because there’s no longer enough good material to justify them – or maybe Australians have just become so disinterested in advertising, declining ratings could not justify them anymore.
AI, they said, will make dull and average more common.
So Darwinism in action here is complex. Will AI be the survivor at the expense of interesting? Or will the creative community fight to eliminate indifference? In fact, it may be that creeping conservatism, in an ad industry that’s beset by whinging about its own state and future, will the winner here. I hope Cam and Emily’s rebellion against waste ramps up – real fast.
The final nod to Darwinism is, ironically, ageism.
It was nothing less of a delight to see Jane Caro take to the stage to slam-dunk the audience into rethinking its attitude towards ageing. After all, being ageist is shooting their future selves in the foot.
And watching younger audience members visibly and uncomfortably squirm when she talked of older people having sex, wet (and not so wet) spots, tits that don’t hurt anymore, Karens really being women who don’t put up with any shit, and “putting older people in your fucking ads” was also a joy. And also true.
She called out some depressing and truly awful stats about the way Australian society treats its older people that should have made everyone in that auditorium sit up and take serious note. We’ll all be old one day.
Jane rightly points out (as I did yesterday) that this industry is particularly ageist. That age is used as an insult. Only seven per cent of people in adland are aged over 55.
But they are actually the real survivors. Older people are some of the most interesting, fun, intelligent and outrageous people I’ve ever met. None of this ‘sober curious’, ‘forest bathing’, ‘BoPo’ or other woke weaponising that we’re increasingly exposed to.
So the last word and survival of the fittest goes to Jane and ‘older people’. They are the true survivors. Embrace your inner hag and have zero fucks to give. It’s their (our) time now.
