I started off my day looking around downstairs at all the booths and tables of different companies and organizations. I walked over a Brazilian Publishing company, which publishes over 50 different publications in Brazil. It included magazines of various topics: fashion, travel, health, sex, sports, news, etc. I was drawn to not only the free content, but also the familiar topics on the shelf. I read Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, as much as the average fashion obsessed teenager. However, there was something so incredibly fascinating about seeing the magazines in Portuguese with styles and trends that are different than what I am accustom to seeing. I picked up a Portuguese Elle and Women’s Health along with a smaller, yet heavier magazine that looks very similar to a Portuguese Cosmo. The women in the magazines are just as beautiful and just as glamorous as the women in American magazines. Because I do not understand the written words, I am left to analyze the photos. There are interviews with women, stories on art, fashion and beauty tips, and many advertisements, including Tiffany’s and Co., Keds, Chanel, Prada, and Coach. While the language may be foreign and the brands may be different, two things remains consistent—the fashion is incredible (even the article about the kilt being trendy) and the magazine is very user friendly.
Next, I stopped at the walls filled with
creative and innovative advertisements and PR research. The material was
expansive in content-- from outdoor advertisements to press and print
advertisements to PR campaigns. The advertisements were all categorized by
theme, whether that was television, public service and awareness, beauty and
cosmetics, retail, etc. Some advertisements were hilarious and some were so
profound I stood in front of the ad for several minutes.
Some
had so much content, while others lack of content made them so inspiring with
the simplicity of the page. Fiat’s ad campaign was fairly simple, an illusion
consisting of a picture/letter. Your eye focuses in and out on the picture or
the letter as your mind processes the two images. In the corner, the ad states,
“You either see the letter, or the (image) girl. Don’t text and drive.” I stood
staring at the ad shocked by how true that statement is and how applicable it
is to driving. You cannot focus on two things at once. It is not how our brain
is meant to function, which makes the ad so much more powerful.
Paradoxically,
there were many advertisements that made me laugh. The Harvey Nichols Sale ad
looked so dull and boring…at first. Yet when you look closer and connect the
tag line to the image, you cannot help but laugh a little to yourself. With the
slogan “Try to contain yourself,” the confusion leads you to look over at the
image of a beautifully dressed man or woman with a little wet spot over his/her
bladder area.
For a nice clothing line, this is a
great idea. It showcases their trendy attire, yet it grabs the attention of the
consumer and shows that the company can have fun and is really interested in
providing a relaxed environment for consumers.
I
took a lot of interest in the PR campaigns. Many were done with no funds, just
by the word of mouth and many dedicated volunteers. For a large PR stunt to
occur, it would be assumed that an equally large amount of money would have to
be applied to make it a reality. Yet, Memory Bread was created and exposed to
an international audience without any money down.
After the AMIA terrorist attack in
Argentina, taking 85 victims and leaving 300 injured in a Jewish community, the
Argentinean Community did not want the event’s 18th anniversary to
pass without notice. Volunteers (including Jewish chefs and nutritionists) came
together to create tasty bread with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to
actually help improve brain function and memory. This was the community’s way
of claiming justice for the victims. It was their way of really remembering the
event.
The Memory Bread was a hit and became an
international phenomenon. The power of PR is incredible, and I feel honored to
get to see all the innovative campaigns around the world that have been
nominated for awards at the Cannes Lions Festival.
Adobe: You
Can’t Trust Marketers
In a recent study of the least valuable
professions, marketers are listed among politicians, actors and dancers. This
is because the conception of a marketer is skewed. People think of marketers as
“lipstick on gorillas instead of telling the truth,” Steven Althaus, Director
of Brand Management at BMW said.
In
a world where 73 percent of people do
not believe that advertisements tell effective stories, it is important for marketers to form a narrative
connection to the audience. Lisa Donohue, CEO of Starcom USA, believes it is
essential to stop thinking of stories as channels and start thinking about how
to tell stories and communicate them effectively. In order to do so, trust
needs to be earned. It is a matter of the brand and the marketers working
together to figure out the journey to trust and how to leverage all the
different vehicles in order to build that trust. Above all, she believes it is
important to be authentic, as many speakers have acknowledged during the
festival. Authenticity builds trust, which leads to relationships and great
branding strategies. “I think it will look different if we continue to push the
authenticity and communicate authentically,” the CEO concluded.
Though
Donohue and Althaus made great points, I was very interested with Tina Brown,
the Editor and Chief of The Daily Beast.
As a reader of this publication and a Twitter follower, I was interested in her
idea of editorial marketing. Brown believes it is essential for a marketer to
respect the editorial credibility, which is why The Daily Beast does not
usually, if ever, use purchased editorial pieces. Some people believe these
pieces are better because they have more time to prepare better headlines, but
Brown believes it diminishes the credibility of her publication, which is
something that The Daily Beast is
known to have.
Brown made a few remarks that were words
of wisdom for any up and coming journalist or marketer:
- The marketers who listen to the editorial side are the ones who are the most successful.
- The ones who penetrate and learn to tell the editorial story are the most successful, and the ones who are only concerned with their brand are not successful.
- The market will benefit from what you can learn from the audience.
- If you have quality content, people will come.
Overall, I really enjoyed this Adobe
talk. Though I am neither a journalist nor a marketer, it is so important to
understand these two fields regardless of what communications background you
come from. There is not a doubt in my mind that you will come in contact with
BOTH journalists and marketers at some point in your professional life. It is
so crucial to understand how to tell a story and create quality content.
Yahoo: The New World of Online Content – Appealing to the Habits of Today’s
Consumers
I
think the highlight of this seminar, more than anything, was seeing Jack Black
in person and sitting two rows away from the stage. With opening comments like
“I drank a
little bit too much last night,” and “I am not Zach Galifianakisz. I am the
other fat, funny guy,” Jack Black is definitely an entertaining guy.
The
seminar really plugged Black’s new comedy digital Yahoo series Ghost Ghirls. Because the series is
digital and not on TV, it allows the creators the freedom to create their own
personal image and take risks. Additionally, it is not subjected to a 22
episode series. It can be as many or as few episodes as the creators want to
pursue. The fluidity of the online medium allows for creativity and assessment
through data, especially to get feedback from viewers. It is important to “keep
the user first and the brand second,” Erin McPherson, VP and head of videos at
Yahoo, said.
Take risks, celebrate creativity, and invite innovation into your life.
Digital Divas: The Women Leading a
Cross-Channel Shopping Revolution (Master Class)
This was probably my favorite talk yet! When digital platforms meet the modern woman, you get a Digital Diva.
Question: What is a Digital Diva?
Answer: Women who seek digital paths for shopping, sharing, and other
aspects of her life. These are women who are digitally savvy and build
relationships and network digitally.
Question: How many people are Digital Divas?
Answer: Only 18 percent of society is categorized as a Digital Diva.
(It is like an exclusive club, where all your friends are on digital devices.)
Question: What are the characteristics of a
Digital Diva?
Answer:
- Loaded with five or more digital devices
- It is usually an urban woman
- They obtain a network of 400 people on social media (A quarter of Divas have 800 people, even though the maximum number of relationships people can retain is 148)
- 7 in 10 Divas share content
- 1 in 3 divas have adopted a secret online identity
- 74% agree I can express myself online I ways I would never dream of expressing myself offline
- Digital Divas purchase everyday household items online
- Divas are completely addicted to cell phones and cannot live without it
- Divas set digital trends
Some
interesting facts about Digital Divas:
- Women speak 7,000 words a day, while men only speak 2,000 words a day—in a digital space this translates into digitally influencing other women
- UK has the most Divas, Saudi Arabia (fastest growing Twitter users) has the second most Digital Divas, followed by Russia with the third largest amount of Digital Divas
- 75% of Divas sleep with their phones
- On average, a Diva loses 2-4 hours of sleep to mobile devices
- Digital Divas consider their phones to be their best friend, lover, companion, investigator, customer service agent and problem solver
Am I a Digital
Diva? Probably. However, I do enjoy shopping in stores, socializing with people
in person, and my iPhone is my investigator,
customer service agent and problem solver, but definitely not my lover.
Native Advertising (Tech Talk):
Check
out Glossi. Now everyone can be a creative magazine designer. (I personally
think this is a brilliant idea, and I will definitely try and create a Glossi
once I have more content.)
Google Sandbox:
I
am close to speechless with how incredible this event is. It was a
literal/physical ‘Google Hangout.’ Google chrome has a series of new browser
games that are played with the use of a webcam. I did ski bowling, car racing,
a triathlon, a portal search, narrated a silent film, sent international
Burberry Kisses, and my favorite event, Ping-Pong. I entered the Google Hangout
Ping-Pong Tournament with another Syracuse Student, Nomi Foster, where we
dominated and took home first place!
Not
only was it beautiful Google décor with a guitar player singing at the YouTube
station right on ‘Google Beach’ with free drinks, massages, make your own
android design towels, and foosball, but all chrome games were stationed by the
creators or producers of that game. They were all young, no older than 30, and
they were all well established in their field. They shared their experiences
with me and were genuinely interested in networking. It was an incredible and
beautiful experience, by far my favorite event thus far (granted this was only
the second day)!
This
event, along with the Cannes Lions Awards, which were presented tonight for Creative Effectiveness,
Promo & Activation, PR and
Direct Lions, and Cannes Chimera Winners, really got me even more excited for
day three!
Dumb Ways to Die won Grand Prix for both PR Lions and Direct Lions.
Follow the hashtag #NewhouseIDSM for more insight on the Cannes Lions Festival through Syracuse University students.
Follow me on Twitter: @mona_lisap
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