Sint-Cann-eke again?

Emotion was the common thread running through the presentations. Campaigns that manage to touch emotions stick best with audiences. And no, to play on emotion, you don't have to be a nonprofit. Surprisingly, the idea doesn't even have to be clever.

While smart ideas can blow marketers off their socks, they often miss the mark with the general public. It just doesn't hit them, according to Tom Ernst of YoungDogs. Research by System1 and eatbigfish shows that watching a grazing cow triggers more emotions than half of the TV spots. Ironically, then, many past award-winning campaigns often turned out not to be as effective as expected.

Source: The Drum

So the challenge is to trigger real emotions. To do this, you don't have to be clever, but funny and surprising. Surprise triggers emotions. For example, printing 20 grains of rice. Pretty silly, but unexpected! A "technique" that also recurred frequently was not communicating your brand in your campaign, and letting people speculate about what is going on.

Arnaud Pitz, creative director of Egghunter, was a judge for this year's film category. He gave us some valuable insights into the judging process. For example, we learned that good commercials don't necessarily have to be long. Short and sweet often works better.

Timing is not only important in terms of the duration of your commercial, but also an important element in your spot. One spot that applies this perfectly is "What the Fast" by Krungsri First Choice. Play with timing in your storyline and create surprise.

Finally, he gave two more tips for those who want to compete for a Cannes lion: keep in mind the age of the judges and remember that your case will be judged on a laptop, not a cinema screen.

There was a constant repetition, "The greatest things are achieved with simple ideas." I thought to myself, "Coming up with that doesn't seem so simple after all!" My thoughts were articulated perfectly by a "Young Dog" who said that simple ideas are not always the easiest to come up with. A shot in the dark. An example of such a great idea that seems oh so simple? Wendy's, which adds additional offers to the shortcut menu the moment you want to delete their app. You just have to come up with it.

Source: Manuel Borde

What was striking is that these simple ideas often got a big rollout. Media were used en masse, millions of people were reached. You also saw this large rollout in the credits; some cases had a list of up to 120 people. For a Belgian agency, such resources are almost impossible. But it is not only about go big, but also about make it big: presenting your case convincingly is at least as important.

In addition, we saw a comeback of out-of-home media. When Shohei Ohtani hit a Coors Light display in a stadium with a baseball, breaking a piece of the screen, Coors Light used this incident as an occasion to release new cans within 48 hours. They also adapted their out-of-home campaign and managed to get a lot of press. A great example of how to maximize the impact of a simple idea.

In turn, Whatsapp's "Privacy swap" campaign used window banners to offer privacy to residents of well-known buildings, just as Whatsapp guarantees privacy to its users.

Source : Love The Work

Source: Pub

In short, St-Canneke not only brought inspiration and new insights, it was also a refreshing immersion in the creative world of Cannes. A mini-Cannes experience that left one longing for more!