Cannes and Nike: proof advertising is eating itself
From Cannes’ star-studded speaker list to the self-delusion of Nike’s World Cup ad, it’s time to get advertising into context, writes Dominic Mills.
Like the Oscars, Cannes is meant to be an advertisement about all that is good about advertising: great talent producing great work that makes a difference.
But, rather like the Oscars, it has become a triumph of pointless hoopla and excess, in which the point of the exercise gets lost. As a result, Cannes is also in danger of disappearing up itself.
That was my reaction when I saw the list of star speakers at what Cannes 2014 laughingly bills as its learning programme.
Run your eye down that lot, and look at the theme – you’ll be surprised by this – ‘Creativity in Action’.
Yes, here is an occasion consumed by its own self-importance.
After all, how else should you react when the number one listed speaker is David Hasselhoff? Now I quite like the Hoff, not least because he has the ability to laugh at himself. He’s also a good example – to use ‘adspeak’ – of re-branding and the power of re-invention, most recently (and curiously) as a champion of digital privacy.
But I seriously wonder what he has to tell the ad industry that is of any use or inspiration.
Of course, you have to look at these things in the round or, as they say in the trade, with an eye on the money. As the Cannes festival spreads itself over anything and everything that moves – not content with having expanded into PR and branded entertainment in the last few years, it has now added a healthcare communications slot before the main event – it has to justify the increasingly outrageous sums of money it charges.
A full five-day Cannes pass comes in at €2,710, which buys entry to 176 talks and workshops, 16 networking events, four awards ceremonies and a partridge in a pear tree (actually, it doesn’t, since many of these events overlap and so what it buys you is the choice), while the Premier Pass, including a five-star hotel, costs a mere €4,760.
So, as Cannes jacks up the price of everything (just €850 to enter a piece of work!), it has to sprinkle some magic dust all over the event: hence the presence of a galaxy of stars like Sir Patrick Stewart, Ralph Fiennes, Gisele Bundchen, the creators of Game of Thrones, French ex-footballer Marcel Desailly, Courtney Love and, my favourite, techno DJ Carl Craig.
Craig’s chosen subject is ‘How Creativity Helped Detroit Recover from Bankruptcy’, except that the last time I looked – yesterday – Detroit is still technically bankrupt and its plan to escape is awaiting creditor approval.
No doubt the poor, deprived residents of Detroit, possibly the most miserable place in the western world, will be cheered to know the champagne-swillers of the Croisette share their pain and will return to their desks creatively inspired by their unhappy stories.
And what is the relevance of all these stars? Well, it all seems pretty contrived. Gisele Bundchen is also sharing her ‘creative insights and passions blah blah’, but the big sub theme of the event is storytelling.
It seems that every man and his dog has something to say about this subject: from Ralph Fiennes to Patrick Stewart, to some bloke from Downton Abbey, the Game of Thrones guys, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and so on.
Now I accept that advertising is a magpie business, in the sense that it nicks bright, shiny, ideas from everywhere else and turns them to its own purpose. In that context, it has to look outside to other creative industries like TV, music, fashion and film.
But ask yourself this: does David Hasselhoff come because he has a burning passion to share with the advertising industry? Does Gisele Bundchen really believe her passion for creativity blah blah can genuinely illuminate those poor folks in advertising? Does Ralph Fiennes do a turn because he knows his storytelling skills can help advertising make the world a better place?
Of course not. They come for the money (not the speaking fees), the big money that clients and ad agencies make available in private, behind-closed-doors meetings in five-star hotel suites.
Don’t believe me? Let’s check this time next year which Cannes speakers have jumped into bed with which advertisers.
Let’s not pretend that this is about anything other than money, and let’s get advertising into context, otherwise next year Cannes will invite Vladimir Putin to talk about his creative ethos in the rebranding of the Crimea.
Nike bad/Dixons good
The World Cup is always an excuse for brands to forget context, or more particularly their own place in the world. There’s always some junk food advertiser vainly trying to persuade the nation that a) it alone fuels our brave lads with their nutrition, b) that it alone empathises with our passions, our hopes, dreams, fears etc; or c) that it alone can turn you into a super-hero, just like one of our brave lads.
None are prone to this self-delusion like sports brands, and none throw more money at the World Cup than the likes of Nike.
Here’s its latest spectacular, all four minutes of it. It features the usual cast of suspects – Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Rooney etc – performing the usual superhuman tricks. Apparently there’s a funny bit 1.39 in featuring a joke about David Luiz and a wig, but I’d lost the will to live by then.
Here’s the test: is this ad any different from any other World Cup/European Championships by Nike? No.
And could Adidas, Reebok or Puma stick their names on it and leave us none the wiser? You bet.
By way of relief, here’s the first ad from AMV BBDO for Dixons since it snatched the account in January this year.
It features a hapless husband desperately trying to persuade his wife that, if they splurge on a new TV, she can enjoy her gardening programmes. As he says, “perfect timing, what with summer and, er, your grass growing.” Not to mention watching the World Cup.
Understated, gently witty and undoubtedly reflective of what many men are thinking, it stands out against all the shouty stuff pumped out by the likes of Nike. (And, it must be said, all the shouty stuff normally pumped out by Dixons).
What a relief. Fingers crossed Dixons doesn’t revert to type.