The age of informality is informing brand strategy – and relatability, heart and humour are taking centre stage. Learn more in the final instalment in our series of reports bringing together insights from the 2024 Festival content streams and winning work
Introduction: The age of informality
Harness humour
Be scrappy
Open invite
Several Lion-winning brands skipped the stiff and impersonal to celebrate the imperfect, the illogical and the downright silly. This shift was noted both onstage at the Festival and in the winning work.
Noel Bunting, Chief Creative Officer at Publicis London and 2024 Direct Lions Juror, spoke on the Terrace stage, where she asked: “What better way to come across as authentic as a brand [than by] dropping your shoulders and having more fun?”
And Jeff Immel, Chief Creative Officer at Weber Shandwick, whose team was behind Brand Experience & Activation Lions Grand Prix winner ‘The First Edible Mascot(opens in a new tab)’ by Pop-Tarts, talked about the language of the internet, describing it as “less produced, less perfect and less commercial”.
In this report, see how marketers are becoming more fluent in this language, entertaining audiences and encouraging participation.
Absurdity and new, more relaxed ways to work with celebrity talent emerged as memorable ways to achieve standout and drive effectiveness at this year’s Festival.
Many of this year’s Lion winners showed the benefits of losing the airbrush and embracing imperfection and participation. And across the stages, speakers addressed the benefits of keeping it real to imbue their brands with more character and relevance.
Cannes Lions speakers agreed that persuasion fatigue is real: audiences have had enough of the hard sell. Lion-winning work showed how to grab attention using intrigue and entertainment instead.
Steve Huffman | Co-Founder and CEO, Reddit