My top ten observations, learnings & Ideas from ‘Cannes in Cairns’.
Last week, our team got the pleasure of attending B&T's 'Cannes in Cairns'. These were our top ten observations, learnings & ideas from the conference.
Observations from the event:
1) The Misfits and B&T now own the best Australian marketing/ advertising / media industry event of the year.
In their 2nd year, attendees grew from 500 to 1200 and we believe it will get even better next year. Cairns is an amazing location and the fact everyone is away from their hometown just gives the event such an amazing buzz. The venues, agenda, parties and sponsor involvement were brilliantly executed. As a networking opportunity it proved to be a premium experience. Will we back? Absolutely.
2) However, the actual content was a little underwhelming.
It was a consensus amongst a lot of delegates that were present who we spoke to. It was a sensational event, but the content didn’t leave many inspired. The most talked about sessions were predictably Stan Grant and Mark Ritson’s sessions – but there were too many sessions that were built on panels where participants just spoke about the obvious things. If you are going to mimic ‘Cannes’ – make sure the content sessions break new ground and leave the audiences inspired & educated. Maybe next year, rather than guaranteeing a sponsor a spot in the agenda – guarantee them a private event or lunch to invite their key clients for a sell & keep the content as a TEDx style program where you must pitch your content idea to a panel to make the final agenda.
3) The Creative industry felt underrepresented.
You could tell by the lack of creative speakers and participants that one very important part of our industry hasn’t bought into this event yet & with their future involvement this event will be so much better.
4) The tale of two parties.
The opening night Pinterest put on an amazing party for all delegates, the venue and theme was superb. However, the closing party on the last night was a disaster, the venue couldn’t house all the patrons leaving people frustrated outside lining up in the rain. This event only catered for food and drink for the first 90 mins. It did however give keen Rugby League participants a reason to leave and watch Origin elsewhere.
Learnings:
5) The funnel is evolving into a customer loop -
depending on your advertiser and their category – a customer is either ‘in market’ for your product or not. This new way of thinking helps marketers understand that it shouldn’t be considered whether you need to be doing Brand advertising or performance rather you should always be doing both. This was well explained by Mel Hopkins from Network 7 in reference to her previous role at Optus.
6) Samsung Ads have big plans to be much more than CTV.
During their session Samsung’s team led by their global head of marketing talked through their CTV offering and impressive data/ measurement products – but then made some interesting announcements that they are planning to launch their gaming hub as well as launch a DOOH solution in Australia.
7) AI is real and predicted to come quickly
Sir Martin Sorrel explained that AI is both an opportunity and threat to the industry. The industry will always need people for creativity, strategy, and ideas but AI will replace the mundane tasks making the industry more profitable. He pointed out that there were about 400,000 media planner/ buyers employed by holding groups that will look very differently in the next few years. What this means for publishers and their sales teams will also be interesting to view.
8) 'Pitch theatre’ is now dead.
Greg Sparrow Graham led a panel with pitch experts explaining that there was no longer a need to theme your pitch or put on a bit of theatre. Clients these days are just wanting agencies to keep it simple and to the point. Don’t waste time recapping a brief or analyse the target audience. The bets pitches these days spend the first 15 minutes presenting the big idea and the rest of the pitch to workshop how they can best work together to create outcomes.
Ideas for the future:
9) Tie the B&T awards into this event.
Just like the Cannes – how great would it be to have awards on the final night to celebrate the years best campaigns, businesses & individuals.
10) Evolve the name of the event
We all get the fact B&T is creating an Australian version of the global ‘Cannes’ event – Cannes in Cairns – so maybe it’s time to be brave and rename this event simply ‘Cairn’.
If you also went to the events and had some observations, learnings and ideas from this event - please share by commenting below:
