This year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, held in Cannes, France, was packed with major brand presence from every sector imaginable.
Key themes around diversity, inclusivity and equality were common discussion points through the five-day event. It was clear that brands wanted to find a way to connect to new audiences and meet the demands of a younger, tech-savvy and diverse consumer.
Actions not words
Brand activism was the main talking point in a session titles Taking a stand on divisive issues with Social Bite and P&G.
They stressed that brands should have a set of beliefs as their core value. Being an opportunist and jumping on hot topics of the moment is not the right approach. Brands should stand by their beliefs in the long term. There will be a risk in losing some consumer base, however, it will help brands to build a strong brand identity with a more loyal customer following from a long-term perspective.
Express, inspire and engage
American author Kwame Alexander introduced the concept of using ‘whitespace’ to allow freedom of curation in the session The inspiration of real storytelling.
Alexander used rhyme prediction to showcase this concept. He gave words to a poem and let the audience finish the line. This method enabled the audience to use their own intellect to interpret the story, allowed creative freedom and delivered the message in a more memorable way. Using this concept, brands can connect better with consumers by bringing words to life, using a multitude of media, music, graphics, etc to express, inspire and engage.
Meeting the demands of generation Z
As Generation Z’s purchasing power increases, it is vital for brands to understand and appeal to this consumer demographic. We have studied this consumer group and dissected their key traits, alongside case studies on how brands used strategic approaches to create the ultimate appeal to Generation Z.
For further insight, watch with our latest webinar Decoding Generation Z.