There has been and will be plenty more written about this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, including from this Forbes contributor, but for now, this list of 20 quotes sums up my week at the Festival, and hopefully provides some food for thought around the key subject areas covered this past week.
“It’s not just about data; we need leaders with real cultural curiosity who are connected to current happenings and motivated to really contribute to culture.” – Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo
“‘Viral’ is one of the most grossly misused terms in marketing today.” – Dr Karen Nelson-Field, Director, Centre for Digital Video Intelligence, University of South Australia Business School
“I don’t want to work with any brand if I can’t learn from them.” – Pharrell Williams, artist
“AI [artificial intelligence] is not just heading for our industry, it will radically change the machinery we use in marketing.” – Sir Tim Berners Lee, computer scientist, best known for inventing the World Wide Web
“Talent is the biggest issue facing our industry; marketers need to understand that it’s about ideas and not just execution.” – Matt Biespiel, Senior Director, Global Brand Development, McDonald’s
"Hi, it's the plants on the phone. They say they need watering...." – Kati London, senior researcher at Microsoft Research’s FUSE Lab
"Not all great work comes from the center; you need to pay attention to bottom-up work as well.” – Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo
“Creativity isn’t just for marketers; the business operations must be there too.” – Chris Miller, Divisional Vice President, Global Brand Strategy and Innovation, Abbott
“A thousand little things prevent women from being successful .” – Laura Jordan Bambach, Creative Partner, Mr President
“Smart partnerships and personalization that’s relevant are two of the most important things for the future of marketing.” – Anna Hill, Chief Marketing Officer, The Walt Disney Company UK and Ireland
“Women are fish who are always growing better feet.” – Colleen DeCourcy, Global Executive Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy
Erica Hoholick (left), President, TBWA/Media Arts Lab; and Colleen DeCourcy (right) at the Cannes... [+]
“Basic human truth can unlock global ideas, but you can’t lose sight of local nuance.” – Jonathan Mildenhall, Chief Marketing Officer, Airbnb
“Transparency is the new black.” – Chuck Porter, Crispin Porter + Bogusky partner/chairman
“We need to move on from a woman thing to a people thing, but there are stats to face.” – Suzanne Powers, Global CSO, McCann
“Distribution is king; content is queen.” – Dr Karen Nelson-Field, Director, Centre for Digital Video Intelligence, University of South Australia Business School
Karen Nelson-Field at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, courtesy of Getty... [+]
“Aging is the diminishing of early fearlessness.” – Sir Kenneth Branagh, actor, director, producer, screenwriter
“It’s not about who’s right; it’s about what’s right…there’s a new age of accountability.” – Pharrell Williams, artist
“The more fun you have, the more creative you will be.” – Jessica Walsh, Art Director, Designer, Partner, Sagmeister & Walsh
“Nobody makes rational brand decisions: we just think we do.” – Dr Itiel Dror, consultant and researcher in cognitive neuroscience, University of London
And while you’ve been reading this, just think: “Our attention span in 2012 was 12 seconds; today it’s nine. For context, the attention span of a goldfish is eight seconds.” – Ryan Seacrest, Actor and Producer.
