Cannes Lions - Embracing Change in the 21st Century

Day 1 (Note - Due to a technical problem the hyperlinks do not appear in this post) The day started off with our attendance at the More Mobile Relations workshop. The workshop focused entirely on the emergence of mobile marketing as an effective tool for marketers. As put by Tom Lindberg, CEO of More, "Attitudes [toward mobile] are changing." This is primarily based on much more useful and convenient information being made available to consumers. Futhermore, mobile technology in Scandanavian countries is viewed as less intrusive than TV, radio and direct mail marketing. A survey showed 20% of Swedes found mobile to be intrusive compared to 60% for Television, 50% for Radio, and 40% for Direct Mail. In retrospect, mobile marketing is transforming the ease and early adoption of how consumer receive information about companies. The second event attended was the Master Class hosted by Rick Boyko, Dean of VCU Brandcenter. Boyko's presentation discussed about the way marketing is changing in the 21st Century. Boyko emphasized how "change"is affecting the way everyone from Clients to Agencies have evolved. His focused primarily on the lack of collaborative work between business intellectuals and creatives and the resistance of change. He went on to show a video which further emphasized change. All in all, Boyko's discussion ignited my interest in VCU's Creative Technology MBA program and forum of discussion that could be brought up at Alfred University. The third event was a Master Class hosted by Nick Law, CCO of R/GA. This class combined several elements of the previous two events. "Technology is driving the way information is marketed to consumers through storytelling." He presented a short case study on the evolution of Nike Dunks and the signifance the Dunks had on consumers throughout the years. Law went on to discuss an updated marketing model in place of the now aged Linear model. The model focused on a synergistic effort in creating a campaign that provided emcompassed Information, Utility, and Communication to reach the consumer. As seen with his next Case Study - Nike Sparq Training the campaign aimed to inspire individuals to create effective workout routines with the assistance of a virtual coach. The individuals could then utilize custom blogs to share routines and ask questions, all while still being able to purchase Nike merchandise on the website. This event further sparked my interest in Creative Technology. I learned a lot today about what drives the industry in these changing times. I will embrace these changes with open arms and open brain. Until next time, Ciao. Irving Escobar