How Creativity Is Becoming Culture

Insights from industry players

As marketing noise intensifies, along with the means to circumvent it, creativity is under pressure to be literally “unskippable.” To cut through, ideas need to transcend conventional advertising and become pure entertainment. As a result, traditional sponsorship and endorsement models are being replaced with partnerships built from the ground up—often blending talent, a creative agency, a production company and a distribution channel—in a quest to produce work that’s more engaging, unique and, ultimately, profitable.

This year, Lions Entertainment—a new, two-day specialist event within Cannes Lions—will explore the opportunities and challenges inherent in trying to create popular culture for brands. Here’s what several experts from the converging worlds of TV, music, sports, art and media had to say about what they’ve learned:

Offer a value exchange

Artists and creatives have access to a committed, passionate fan base, while brands can offer inroads into new markets or untapped demographics. Understanding the importance of this value exchange, over and above the transactional aspects, is a key part of collaboration. “If you create a campaign that the artist really loves, you get all that extra value of them getting behind it through their own social media channels,” says Steve Ackerman, managing director for content agency Somethin’ Else. “Which throws up a lot of extra opportunities, but also potentially a lot of scary moments for the client because there could be things that are out of their control.”

Be authentic

The days of being cool by association are gone. Brand credibility can’t be manufactured by placing a product on or around a celebrity and consumers instantly dismiss such efforts. Partnerships need to fulfill the strategic goals of everyone involved but the output ultimately has to be genuinely fan-centric in order to succeed. “It’s understanding the mindset of the fans that you’re looking to engage with,” says Fredda Hurwitz, global chief strategy officer at Havas Sports and Entertainment. “Oftentimes brands have a view of what they are, who they are and what they represent in the eyes of people, but it’s very disconnected. Take that step back and canvass. Find out what the people are interested in that you want to be engaging with.”

Allow partnerships to go the distance

The rapid pace of industry change can make playing a long game challenging. However, collaboration between a brand and talent is likely to be most successful when there’s the opportunity to adapt and evolve over time. Short-term arrangements struggle to demonstrate authenticity and don’t always deliver meaningfully on strategic goals. “I think that the longer the commitment is, the better it is,” says Lucien Boyer, chief marketing officer at Vivendi. “When you entwine the two and there is a strong relationship, it has to go beyond marketing. It also has to be a business strategy more than just an opportunistic or promotional decision. There are great things that can happen, great ideas, big ideas. The real strong benefit is always based on long-term partnership.”

Creating culture is a daunting task for marketers. But by providing value for creative players, understanding what authenticity means to your audience and putting in the effort to establish long-term partnerships, brands can create meaningful experiences that connect with consumers.

To see whose speaking and judging at Lions Entertainment, visit www.canneslions.com/lions_entertainment or watch the Lions Entertainment Roundtable series and read the accompanying reports here.