Today’s marketing landscape is largely shaped by analytics: the ability to track every penny and the resultant mounting economic pressure on marketing teams to make those pennies work as hard as possible. Commercial transparency and demonstrable success are non-negotiable.
So it would seem the era of Don Draper-style campaigns, where creative brilliance alone carried the promise of impact, is long behind us. As memorable as those ideas were, success can no longer be based on theory.
But leaders at Cannes must understand that creativity is a vital ingredient in the long-term success of brand building and, crucially, in a brand’s long-term commercial viability.
Cannes is a creative beacon in the marketing landscape. Amid the flood of measurement, data and placement services along the Croisette, it’s important not to lose sight of what Cannes could and should represent.
The festival has always inspired our industry to push boundaries and take bold, creative risks. Campaigns like ‘It Has to Be Heinz’, which we worked on at VML, centred on culturally relevant brand experiences that reinforced Heinz’s iconic, undisputed status in the category. Then you have campaigns like Apple’s The Greatest, which celebrated accessibility through classic cinematic storytelling. Such work really spotlights Cannes as a centre for creativity, but also how that creativity can drive business and social impact.
But these aren’t quick wins. They’re bold ideas built with long-term ambition. They remind us that the strongest work delivers both cultural resonance and commercial results.
In a world focused on short-term performance, it’s creativity with vision that builds lasting value.
The long game
In an industry often obsessed with short bursts of attention, it’s important to see a creative partnership that plays the long game – and wins.
We were really proud of WPP’s work with The Coca-Cola Company. This involved creating a global, integrated unit called Open X, which brought together various WPP agencies (such as VML and Ogilvy) into a single team. This team oversees all the global creative, media, data and marketing technology for Coca-Cola’s entire portfolio.
Unlike a one-time stunt or a single campaign spike, this has been a three-year journey of transformation that wasn’t about one ad or even one campaign.
Instead, we focused on aligning creativity, data and purpose. Our efforts paid off: Coca-Cola was named Creative Brand of the Year at the 2024 Cannes Lions.
With this partnership, we set out to challenge what it means to do global marketing at scale. It’s not loud for the sake of being loud – it’s being loud with purpose and intent. Work that makes people feel, share and remember something.
Cannes this year should be more than just conversations around commercially driven transformation. Instead, a rallying cry for the industry to double down on the powerful intersection between effectiveness and creative ambition. These aren’t opposing forces, they are complementary And when they come together, they can deliver long-term brand success.
Creativity is a strategic advantage. When creative ideas are backed by commercial clarity, they don’t just win awards – they build brands that change, resonate and endure.
Today’s marketing landscape is largely shaped by analytics: the ability to track every penny and the resultant mounting economic pressure on marketing teams to make those pennies work as hard as possible. Commercial transparency and demonstrable success are non-negotiable.
So it would seem the era of Don Draper-style campaigns, where creative brilliance alone carried the promise of impact, is long behind us. As memorable as those ideas were, success can no longer be based on theory.
But leaders at Cannes must understand that creativity is a vital ingredient in the long-term success of brand building and, crucially, in a brand’s long-term commercial viability.
