Hangovers and lion hearts
Oh, what a day! If ever a day could be told in statistics, surely this is it.
Arriving at the Cannes Convention Centre for the second day of Cannes in Cairns presented by Pinterest at the ungodly hour of 7am, the Misfits Media team was greeted by the vast empty halls of the venue (albeit not to be unexpected) as cleaners finished their work and exhibitors got the coffee machines working, the frozen rose just the right level of slushy and merch stands bulging with swag.
Everything was prepped, ready and awaiting our 650 guests.
The problem was as we made our way to the theatres at 8.45am nice and early for 9am starts to both the ‘Cannes’ and ‘Cairns’ rooms, the 7am vibe remained largely unchanged.
As 9am rolled around, Chris Taylor and I made quips and jokes to our would-be panel speakers while the rooms remained patently empty. Well not 100 per cent empty there was at least a dozen people in each room – you know who you are!
The problem was simple. Day one’s epic bush bash at the Sugar Shed had been totally off the hook. Almost everyone went from there to the infamous Gilligan’s nightclub and ask any Cairns local and they will tell you this venue is the Australian tropics’ answer to Hotel California.
And so, we waited! Let’s start at 9.05, 9.10 even.
But oh, what we of little faith we were.
The team WhatsApp chat lit up with there’s a few people turning up now. Oh, actually there’s a lot. By 9.15 bleary eyed, bedraggled and desperately clutching coffee, News Corp’s magic juices you stumbled in en masse! Four hundred and eighty of you in fact found your way to your seats and sat down to what promised (and proved) to be another day of amazing insights, inspiration and entertainment.
Yes adland you certainly know how to party, but by god you also know the true mantra of any conference experience: play up, but show up!
Welcome to day two’s wrap you beautiful crazy people!
You Can’t Ask That!
The 'anything goes' session was moderated by Digita’s Maurice Riley and the panel was crammed with media heavyweights.
Industry icon Julia Zaetta, Thinkerbell’s Adam Ferrier and global marketing director and CMO of Pernod Richard winemakers, Eric Thomson.
The first rule of You Can’t Ask That, is what happens in the room stays in the room. It’s a safe place for our industry's best to have frank conversations. You know, the ones you have with mates over a few beers.
To keep the conversation authentic, we had a no reporting rule. So, we can’t reveal anything that was said, but we can say you missed out on hearing some spicy takes on universal subjects like ageism and misogyny.
Sorry, but this recap is purely written to just give you FOMO.
You snooze, you lose!
Our friends at Acast put together a couple of 'casts for your listening pleasure...
Knock-off beers with a twist ...
Last night Pubmatic hosted a crew of very important folk for a night of locally crafted beer, good conversation, and delicious food at a gorgeous waterfront pub.
Situated on the edge of Cairn’s Warf, Hemingway’s Brewery is a treat to behold with sprawling waterfront views bordered by the deep green of distant mangroves – but wait until you hear about their signature brews!
Before dinner, attendees embarked on a tour of the on-site craft brewery, climbing to the enormous canopy of vats to get up close and personal with Hemingway’s artisanal brewing approach.
The beer tasting gave us a peek into the diverse range of brews – from the bold Prospector Pilsner to the subtle yet refreshing Three Falls Neipa – before we were wined and dined vat-side, right among the action.
The menu featured fresh seafood including melt-in-your-mouth scallops and lobster with pork crackling accompanied by perfect match brews.
We can’t think of a better way to put a full stop on a spectacular two days of blockbuster content.
Finding the missing middle with Sparrow and Bec
Another day, another lively lunchtime discussion at Cannes in Cairns.
Microsoft hosted today’s leisurely lunch at Cairns’ most iconic waterfront venue, Salt House, serving up delicious seafood and sprawling waterfront views.
And today’s company? None other than the legendary founder of Nest Consultancy, Greg Graham, or as most of you would know him, Sparrow.
Joining Graham on stage was Canva’s brand media lead, Rebekah Cooke and Microsofts regional VP, Nick Seckold.
The conversation focused on the marketing funnel, specifically, which level of the marketing process is most important.
The consensus rested somewhere in the middle.
For a start-up like Canva, that middle can be messy, accordion to Brooke.
As a brand that relies heavily on awareness, and has the capability to produce its creative in-house, Canva almost flips the model on its head.
But how do we measure the value of brand awareness? And if we can’t give concrete data, how can marketers convince their C-suite to invest?
“Data is critical… but you can’t measure absolutely everything, and our founders have really bought into the power of creative influence on the marketing side of things so they are comfortable with taking that risk.”
Sparrow, however, takes umbrage with the ‘funnel’ metaphor.
“I love the simplicity, but it's bloody messy and it doesn’t work that way. It’s not linear,” he said.
“I think we’ve oversimplified a really complex model, and even with the top and bottom, people only talk about the middle. I like the construct but it actually downplays the complexity. "
Perhaps, at the end of the day, it comes down to how brands gain trust over time.
“It’s about consumer choices and ethos – how we do things,” said Cooke.
“That probably carries more weight than something amazingly targetted and 'relevant', at least up to a point.
“So it’s a balance but something that has really been going through my mind in terms of media planning is ‘how do we show up in living true to our values?’, and I think that’s equally as important, even if it is hard to quantify.”
The "Flex"ible Entrepreneur, Lillian Ahenkan.
DJ, author, podcaster, and entrepreneur Lillian Ahenkan (aka Flex Mami) sat down with B&T’s own Mary Madigan for a conversation about what it means to be a talent with influence. Flex gave an honest, funny and deeply insightful look into the dynamics of modern brand/creator relationships that have come from her experience as a creator.
It was a journey Flex tells began with a decision not to “compete where I couldn’t compare,” thus inspiring her to create her own lane of content distinct from the acai bowl culture that was in vogue circa 2012.
One key takeaway that Flex offered for entrepreneurs, creators and talent with influence? Do not sell yourself short!
“There is never enough money to sell your likeness to a brand for any time,” says Flex. Of course, the not-so-hyperbolic hyperbole is to say that when crunching the numbers remember that, “the lifespan of every deal goes on far longer than the campaign period”. Flex gave the example of brands often trying to find ways to extend the lifespan of their partnership post-campaign by calling the brand a “friend of brand Flex” or similar questionable associations.
For brands looking to work with talent that influences: understand where influencers actually sit in the marketing funnel. Flex made her opinion clear that “influencers are not for conversion!". Let’s be clear that the ROI can be great, but conversion is not the responsibility of an influencer. So keep their KPIs in the upper funnel.
Finally, don’t unnecessarily hinder the creativity of your talent who you have indeed selected for their creativity with arbitrary deadlines, or as Flex puts it - “fake urgency”. If you want to create something amazing, let an amazing idea dictate the project’s timeline, not vice versa.
As Flex asserts, “time is not real!”
Day 2 highlights reel
crafted by QC. Video
Slow-cooking with John Safran
Aussie legend John Safran sat down with our lord and saviour aka the editor and chief of B&T David Hovenden to talk about everything from white supremacists to the history of cigarettes.
Safran started his career in advertising as a copywriter and, while he enjoyed it, ultimately he felt the senior people in his industry were, “too stressed.”
And therefore, turned his hand to different mediums.
Safran then found his niche in documentary-style shows where he'd put himself into the mix of an array of different – but stressful – situations.
Ultimately they made him an Aussie legend.
Those different mediums, of course, led to him being a writer which is Safran’s version of “slow-cooking.”
It’s also led to some of his best works: Murder in Mississippi and Depends What You Mean by Extremist.
Interestingly, Safran’s caught heat for some of his most provocative work and has been accused of platforming extremists, but he disagrees with that mentality;
“It annoys me when someone from the Guardian today will write an article about a white supremacist, but they only know about that because I wrote about that first."
"My old work is now being built upon by other journalists.”
Safran is also aware his interest in extremists comes from being a minority himself, “I’m Jewish, and that’s the reason I’m interested in extremists, I have a family history of having to deal with them."
Now he has turned his attention to the tobacco industry. His latest book Puff Piece examines the big tobacco industry and its evolution into vaping. He was drawn to the smoking world because they are, “amazing, at changing the meaning of words,” Safran said.
Ultimately, it’s Safran’s words that are always the most interesting.
Embracing the female gaze
Four of the most amazing thinkers in our industry joined the Canne’s couch to discuss why we need to embrace the female gaze.
Bumble’s communication director Lucille McCart, Ogilvy’s copywriter superstar Anais Read and Google’s creative head, Tara Mckenty had an interesting chat, to say the least.
Moderated by Venus founder Bec Brideson, it was a meeting of fabulous minds.
Mckenty talked about how the most effective way to change the gaze is to change who is creating the gaze.
“When we get more diverse creative teams, we will be creating more diverse campaigns that make people actually feel represented,” she said.
Read agreed: “We need representation on every stage from ideation to the suits making the briefs.
"We need the whole process to be diversified, and it shouldn’t just be straight white men.”
Mckenty pointed out: “The people who can change our industry's shape are white straight men in positions of power. They can help reshape the industry, it’s not up to the women.”
McCart also pointed out that a new emphasis on a more inclusive gaze also doesn’t mean a boring one, “We need to start asking, what do women find sexy? Content can still be sexual without looking it through the male gaze.”
The conversation was honest, insightful and fabulously female.
Tiktok vs the world...
Jules Lund, the host from Getaway and founder of Tribe, spoke to our engaged and slightly sore-headed audience today about the power of creators.
Lund broke down why creators are so invaluable to platforms and how they’ve always been the secret ingredient for social platforms to attract advertisers.
Lund said: “Creators could solve so many issues around revenue growth.”
Basically, invest in creators and you’ll reap the rewards.
And why is that? Well, you’d only have to look at the success of TikTok to understand that creator-led platforms are the future.
Viral TikTok videos have turned into water-cooler conversations and marketers want to be part of that.
Lund explained: “If you win the creators, you win the users that are engaged with the creator. Then you win the advertisers that want those eyeballs and if you win those advertisers, you retain the creators because they can get paid.”
There is no arguing that brands are now throwing so much of their energy into resonating on TikTok via creators and it's exciting to see.
Magnite dinner goes here
Magnite’s magical night at Rocco’s rooftop restaurant was iconic.
The venue offered 270-degree, panoramic views and gave guests the chance to have a chat and debrief while taking in the view - Canne eat your heart out.
It was a night of talking about favourite sessions, share clever thoughts and drink champagne. Also, did we mention there were ribs? And lots of delicious food, it was all completely Instagram worthy.
It was incredible to see Magnite put on an event that allowed people to have a laugh and indulge in some industry chatter.
Cultivating conversation while drinking champagne is always a vibe.
Welcome to Pinterest’s daily dose of inspiration, live from Cannes in Cairns.
Today at the Pinterest Hub, we saw the Pinterest Predicts trend, Cuppa Time come to life.
Searches on Pinterest for high tea food ideas are up 4x this year, as Pinners choose Darjeeling with a friend over drinks after work.
The occasion inspired an idea for one delegate to host a lavish afternoon tea party to celebrate their 40th birthday.
Today’s first hit of inspiration comes from the CMOs panel on Creativity vs effectiveness, moderated by Pinterest Country Manager Melinda Petrunoff.
A theme that came through strongly from the discussion between the panellists, 7Eleven’s Julie Laycock, Bangn Body’s Priscilla Hajiantoni, Suncorp’s Mim Haysom and McDonalds’ Tim Kenward, that short term performance ‘sugar hits’ vs. long term brand strategies, shouldn’t be viewed comparatively with one and other, brands need to have a healthy balance of both.
Another highlight was the Creativity in eCommerce session, hosted by AKQA’s Brian Vell.
Brian was joined on stage by My Muscle Chef’s Head of Marketing, Liam Loan-Lack, Mariah Monaghan, Head of Marketing at Nespresso, and Pinterest’s very own Tom Tilney, Agency Lead at Pinterest.
When asked about creativity and personalisation, Mariah reflected back on the conversation Mel had with Ash Barty on day one, when Ash spoke about how she uses Pinterest to inspire her home interior planning. Mariah said that it’s important for Nespresso’s products to be showing up in those environments, where users like Ash can see their machines in the context of her home renovation planning, and make the purchase right then and there.
Tom built on Mariah’s perspective, making the observation that using Pinterest is like “stepping into a boutique that is built just for you.” Pinterest allows people to discover their own personal style, and even if they aren’t sure exactly what they’re looking for, they’ll know it when they see it.
As the conference comes to a close, we’re reflecting on the opportunity we’ve had for the industry to come together in Cairns and as was Mel’s hope when she opened the conference on day one, we return home with a “renewed sense of perspective, energy and purpose.”
Swapping berets for beers with LinkedIn
Hemmingway’s Happy Hour, brought to us by LinkedIn, was the perfect end to our Cannes in Cairns extravaganza.
We swapped out berets for beer, croissants for seafood, and the conversation was bloody buzzing.
It was all good vibes and industry chatter – and did we mention the tunes? Because it was the treat all our adland ears deserved.
Honestly, it was fabulous to see everyone we email in the flesh looking their best!
We can’t wait to have a beer together again, until next time we will always have Paris.. wait – no, I mean Cairns.
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