The JaffeBLEND Blog

The Cannes Debate: Sir Martin Sorrel vs. Google

Confrontation? Check. Picking on Google? Check. Entertainment? Check.

The Cannes Debate commenced at 12 noon on Friday, June 20^th with a panel consisting of Kevin Johnson (Microsoft), Henrique de Castro (Google), Hilary Schneider (Yahoo!), Ron Grant (AOL) and moderated by Sir Martin Sorrel (WPP). This was supposed to be a session to discuss the topic "From Metrics to Brand Build – Online's Next Challenge" however on reviewing my notes, this was hardly discussed. Instead Sir Martin didn't waste a moment to dive in and ask more precise and pertinent questions on his mind as he began by cutting out the introductions in order to utilize every minute available. He also got around the "no questions" decision by "sneaking" in his Blackberry so that the audience could get in on the kill. You can view the first 5 minutes here.

Before the session Chris Dobson (Microsoft) commented to me saying "I hope they don't dance around their handbags". In fact, we were not disappointed as this session was all about confrontation (and attack?). Who can forget Sir Martin for labeling Google as a frenemy to agencies. This time he asked Google if they were Frenemies or Froes, to which Google responded "we only have friends". Sure.

Sir Martin started off by indicating that the combined revenue of WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and IPG amount to $ 26 billion in 2007 revenue whereas those on the panel (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Time Warner) account for $120 billion. He also commented on the fact that Google and Yahoo! were appropriately seated together. Gotta love the dry English humour.

No More Microhoo

He kicked off by asking about the hottest topic of the moment – the Microhoo failed partnership and new Google/Yahoo venture.

• Yahoo!'s response was all about "offering the best experience to advertisers and users" by augmenting search marketplace and opening up queries to partners. Yahoo! essentially said a lot but it was difficult to pin point down exactly what her answer was.
• Google emphasized that the interest in Yahoo! is due to their properties (and ultimately a chance to break more into display advertising).
• Microsoft then followed, with a stellar performance by Kevin Johnson whose voice projected way above the other panelists as he made his points most clearly. He praised getting to know Yahoo!'s Management, outlined the deal background and progress, really showing how much they would give Yahoo!'s shareholders and achieve synergies in consolidation in the search market for the industry. So essentially he emphasized what a fantastic deal it was and ended up highlighting what a loss to all this result is.
• AOL finished by saying that they weren't in the search business at all with a focus on reach, relevance and richness in advertising. Their goal is to help marketers build brands online (with a clear differentiated positioning to all the other panelists talking about their search and DM focus).

How do you describe yourselves?

Sir Martin was very interested in this answer based on Eric Schmidt's description of Google at Davos as an advertising partner, and Ballmer's at Microsoft's recent 20 minute discussion on the importance of advertising at a recent Microsoft CEO conference.

• Google responded that they're a technology company and "definitely not an advertising agency" to which Sir Martin jumped in saying, "then why did you just hire an Ogilvy Creative Director in NY?". Clearly Sir Martin wasn't happy about his talent being poached and wanted some answers. Google spluttered a bit and didn't really respond powerfully – perhaps caught somewhat off guard.
• Yahoo! then gave a wordy answer covering every possible strategy for consumers and advertisers including "being the world's largest publisher" and providing relevant content and context. In addition, they're also a technology company. So basically they everything to everyone. Not the best company positioning as we learn in all Marketing101 courses. The Yahoo! answers sounded like they were pre-recorded from a press release.
• Microsoft followed in response to Sir Martin's emphasis that Ballmer has committed to 25% of revenue coming from advertising by 2012. Microsoft is a software and services company with 4 core businesses: desktop (Windows and Office), enterprise (server products), modern consumer electronics (Xbox, Zune, phones) and online business. He took the opportunity to discuss the vision extending Windows, Office and Xbox to Live to make advertising possible, as well as building out the advertising platform.

Sir Martin then diverted to ask Microsoft (and using Microsoft as a bridge to get to Google): Are you seeking to disintermediate agencies? He had been waiting a full 24 minutes to ask this. Microsoft emphasized all their partnerships and relationships proving the strategy to build via partnerships offer them financial prosperity. Sir Martin then referred to Terry Semel's arrival being instrumental in turning around Yahoos! previous attempts to exclude agencies.

• AOL responded saying they are essentially 3 companies: Platform A (display network), Digital Publishing (focused on launching new sites to grow audience and offer premium content) and People networks (embracing social media empowering with AIM, ICQ and Bebo).

What is your company doing to help bigger budgets get online?

Sir Martin outlined how WPP do $ 900 million with Google (5%) and normal market share with media owners is 25%. Google have traction with smaller and medium-sized companies however the big consumer budgets are with P&G, Unilever and Nestle. However, these companies are not spending a lot online. He addressed the panel asking "what is your company doing about it? "

• Microsoft responded that they simplify the buy-sell process by automating and changing the workflow and platform with Atlas and drivePM. Microsoft also mentioned accountability to enable advertisers to have insight into the value of their advertising. He used this segueway to talk about their new Engagement Mapping technology with an algorithm to value an entire campaign's components impacting conversion (this signals the end of last click attribution and is another Google-killer so that budgets get spread more fairly and away purely from search). A very smart strategy if you ask me.
• Google said how they help companies understand the role of their website as well as be clear about objectives (ROI vs Awareness). Google likes to work with agencies and direct advertisers to figure this out. He then opened Pandora's Box by saying how agencies are still working traditionally, and therefore Google work directly with advertisers to force agencies to change.

Sir Martin then jumped in saying how "Google says things, but behave in a different way" referring to "Google going directly to advertisers but not for the previously mentioned reasons". He asked directly "is this deliberate chaos or an orchestrated scheme?" The entertainment quotient reached a crescendo as the audience erupted with applause. Google responded that they don't have a 5 year plan but try things and then adapt. I personally have spoken to Henrique before and he told me directly that they don't feel they need agencies as they talk mainly to sales managers using search as a sales and distribution (e-commerce) channel, making them less reliant on advertising as a whole. Since the acquisition of YouTube, they've started building out agency teams, but it's not their main bread and butter (as it is with Microsoft and Yahoo).

The conversation got provocative when Sir Martin asked "Is Google about disintermediating (consciously or unconsciously) other businesses?"

Now the rest of the panel visibly being left behind as the Sir Martin vs Google shootout continued. Sir Martin emphasized how their automation of processes (which Microsoft had actually just referred to as part of their new strategy) eliminates the need for people, and with 100,000 people employed by WPP, this is obviously something he's concerned about. Google reassured that they don't intend to replace the people in the advertising world and they still need their own people in roles like client service, engineers and R&D.

• Microsoft then jumped in saying that their core focus is to help partners prosper (while Microsoft prospers as well of course) and then Microsoft used some airtime to highlight their interest in partner productivity and emphasize how tools like Silverlight, Engagement Mapping and so forth will help empower agencies.
• Yahoo! then elaborated how they work with top 200 brands and agencies. The creation of tools and platforms take friction out of the process and this is the foundation behind the platform strategy. They focus on connecting brands with content and providing the consumer with context.
• AOL's focus ison brand building, targeting, creating transparency and measuring. They look at problem-solving and people, thereby saying "technology should be the background". A clever way to differentiate from the other technology heavy-weights on the panel and in the marketplace.

There was some discussion on video and Microsoft pushed their partnership for Olympics content, focus on IPTV, VOD capability and new Navic acquisition. Sir Martin said how gutted he was to have missed on the acquisition as his pockets weren't deep enough!

Sir Martin then, based on questions emailed during the session to his Blackberry, expressed how the main audience concern about the new Yahoo!-Google's monopoly with 90% market share with high prices, restriction of choice and lack of competition. The answer from Google and Yahoo! was very sugar-coated and all about commitment to giving advertisers better results, offering consumers better results etc. Yawn. Not very reassuring. He also asked about cash-back. Sir Martin then focused AGAIN on Google (to which an audience member then commented, "Why isn't the Google guy fighting back?")

• Google said they have no monopoly where consumers can decide by clicking away to competitors and advertisers don't pay according to fixed CPM's but a bidding system.
• Microsoft said that when faced with a strong competitor their focus is on innovation e.g. around search queries and disruption of business models, e.g. systems like cash-back. This essentially rewards users with cash for shopping via the Microsoft and partner network. To me, this is like incentivizing channel choice such as with discounts on internet travel bookings versus via traditional channels or simply put, paying folks to come to your party. ;-) He really nailed it when he said "Search connects buyers with sellers, so why is it the middleman keeps all the money?". This system is about providing a better consumer experience, more rewards and better value to advertisers via better conversion rates (early data shows 4-5 x conversion rates versus traditional search).

AOL were then give some floor time when asked how they will avoid further consolidation and competition. They once again talked about focusing on display and that the fact that this won't be a winner takes all scenario and there is enough of the market available for them to be successful.

The final question before every left for their respective boat trips and lunches was, what worries you ?

• AOL kicked off by saying that they are not worried but more focused on executing and solving marketers problems whilst not destroying the fragile relationships as brands start moving online and more human capital moves into the industry. Their worry then would be "doing things the right way".
• Microsoft's concern is dealing with scale on a macro level with the range of businesses. How do they continue to deliver great experiences, enable partners to innovate and be agile enough considering the range of offerings? Another worry is having more than 1 main competitor, which is of course also an industry worry, so Microsoft definitely played into the hearts of the audience with this comment.
• Yahoo! is focussed on continuing their strategy. Once again, not a very crisp response.
• Google want to understand better what consumers do and provide better experiences across search, ads across platforms to enable partners and apps (like Gmail) to make more successful. Larry and Sergey's focus is always on serving the consumer the the right way.

Sir Martin ended by comparing the messages from the powerful panelists with comments from Putin's deputy at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum about Russia:

1. 1. Don't fear us
2. 2. Trust us
3. 3. Prosperity through partnership

Without a doubt Microsoft had the strongest panelist with Kevin Johnson, and a more fair debate would have been with Jerry Yang and Eric Schmidt. I hope you've enjoyed reading this long and detailed overview. Please feel free to comment! I have an audio file from the debate so drop me a mail if you would like to receive it.

Rupert Murdoch on NewsCorp, MySpace and Facebook

A very nervous and softly spoken Hamish McLennan (Global CEO - Y&R) interviewed Rupert Murdoch (Chairman, Chief Executive Officer - News Corp) and Peter Chernin (President, Chief Operating Officer - News Corp) as part of this Y&R session. The thick row of press and constant flashes from the photographers didn't help calm his nerves either.

Murdoch was inspired by his father, and went on to build NewsCorp, responsible for the Simpsons (the longest running TV series in the US) and Titanic (the most expensive and successful movie to date). When asked how to manage creative risk and investment after going $100 million over budget, Chernin responded that it's all about "making big bets". I still think they were extremely lucky as throwing that much money at something is no guarantee of success.

What followed was a discussion in the success of MySpace and the acquisition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). WSJ currently has 50% of its revenues being digital, and this will increase to 75%. It has 23 million UU's and 500 million PV's and has proven to be the only newspaper site to successfully charge a fee it its subscribers.

So what can Hollywood learn about the collapse of the music industry?

Murdoch emphasized how piracy gets out of control when a product is inconvenient or overpriced e.g. a consumer wants one song but has to pay $17 and schlep down to a local store whereas it can be downloaded in 5 seconds online for free. He believes that Hollywood has many more price points and is better positioned going into the digital dilemma. He cited Hulu, which offers content for free with limited advertising. Chernin added that all current distribution models will be additive and not a straight line. Furthermore, there is not enough supply of video advertising in the web.

What was interesting about this discussion is realizing that the recession doesn't seem to hinder their business. Murdoch indicated that at a time when inflation is rising faster than income, NewsCorp intends to take advantage of it! He emphasized, "this is a time of opportunity, to gain market share and build on the solidarity and relationship between the brand and the consumer". A lot of successful brands were in fact created in war times!" Furthermore:

• There are still more and more people coming out of poverty in developing countries, more internet companies emerging and new needs
• More people are staying home and investing in big flat-screen TV's, emphasizing an evolving, yet strong need for content.

Both Murdoch and Chernin chatted about what type of company NewsCorp is, emphasizing the need to get great creative executives and keep them challenged. They stated that it's important to have an environment where people can take risks and feel its ok to fail.

On the state of the current digital marketplace, Murdoch feels that there is still potential with search in the areas of video search and commerce search. Reality TV is also offering very engaging content and blogs offer some wild content, yet also some good content. "If your brand is respected, people will come to that."

MySpace apparently represents 20% of the traffic on the internet (really? perhaps only in the U.S.) and its well positioned as internet advertising evolves into engaging platforms. Facebook was downplayed as a "flavour of the month" and a "directory" whereas MySpace is double its size in the US with visitors staying 50% longer. I think it's always amusing how only the good stats are mentioned – if he were to talk about growth rates, MySpace wouldn't come out looking so hot. Facebook was also praised for opening up its applications, having had a great 6 months last year (what about this year?) and for giving NewsCorp an incentive to raise their game.

Plans are to focus on the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) however their main criteria is for a stable democracy to be in place. While it's almost impossible to enter China, NewsCorp are making good progress in India.

The closing advice was "don't start pushing your brand and be paranoid about your competitors". I wonder how paranoid they really are about the "flavour of the month"?

Going Mobile with Nokia, Paramount & AKQA

It started with a video which felt like a long emotional TV-esque commercial taking us from the history of the first screen, cinema, to the fourth screen, the mobile. Brian Morrisey appropriately referred to it as the conference equivalent of a pre-roll. This panel consisted of Michael Baker (Nokia Interactive), Giovanni Maruca, (Paramount Pictures), Daniel Rose (AKQA Moble) and moderated by Therese Howard (USA Today).

Each panelist got their moment in the spotlight and showcased their work:

·         Nokia:  with their Spike Lee Nokia Productions and the launch of their Ad Lab (to drive the brand and integrate into traditional agency plans working with key agencies)

·         Paramount: with Indiana Jones site and 7,000 (hmm... is that good?) visitors and 50% higher CTR on mobile vs online for the BEE movie

·         AKQA: with VISA signature with a tie-in together with foodand wine, Coke with 120,000 xmas m-cards and Nike ID

The Nike ID solution will launch on Monday allowing people to use their surroundings for shoe design inspiration, by taking a picture on their phone and then, based on a colour algorithm, get sent back the closest Nike matching that picture with a code to order online. Sounds like a great extension of what Stefan Olander, Nike, presented the day before.

With 3.3 billion phones in the world and an estimated $16 billion mobile adspend projected for 2011, this is a lucrative channel to watch. 91% of people have their phones within 1 metre of themselves 24/7 and apparently 16% of people even answer their phones during sex. Does that say more about their phones or the person they’re having sex with? Furthermore, only 15% of the phones current usage is for voice calling versus 100% several years back.

Unfortunately this medium is not without its challenges:

·        The medium is not uniform and you need to develop solutions for differing screen sizes and bandwidth. You also need to do a lot of testing to ensure a good high quality experience

·         Agencies are just getting familiar with online, so its tough to get them to consider and allocate budget to this newer medium.

·         Experiences and advertising is poor, with most brands just shrinking their sites for mobile

The most interesting part of mobile use is the local out-of-home separating it from the PC-based internet connectivity. Whereas people SEARCH on the internet, mobile is all about FINDING  - or is that simply a cute industry catchphrase trying to differentiate the platforms from each other?

Coke’s Happiness Factory and the Art of Storytelling

Another big brand, another red logo, this time it was Coca-Cola’s turn to pack the Debussy theatre in the Palais with people sitting and standing wherever they could.

Ivan Wicksteed, Global Cerative Director at Coke presented the thinking behind the Happiness Factory commercial and strategy while Jeff Kling and John Norman of Wieden + Kennedy sat silently looking very scruffy and very er .. creative.

I had seen the commercial and was very surprised to discover the depth of thought and strategy behind the 30 seconds of entertainment which soon left my mind as quickly as it had entered it. There were a range of characters created with names like “The Mad Capper” who was responsible for placing the caps on the bottles and always managed to knock a tooth out in the process. The ad can be viewed on www.coke.com/HF.

Ivan walked us through the art of good storytelling and the history of Coke where the original stories were told in the form of pictures. The components of a good story are:

·         timelessness e.g. the GRIMM fairy tales

·         character development e.g. in American Idol

·         deep level of immersion with multiple access points i.e. offering story

·         showing a level of truth e.g. for Coke this is OPTIMISM

A story is the same for everyone whereas narrative is the interpretation of the story, which everyone experiences differently. Today it is less about a traditional story with a beginning/middle/end and more about the creation of a canvas where people can be invited in and can CHOSE when and how to construct the story. This is the essence of the Happiness Factory.

So why should we as an industry care about storytelling? Ivan pointed out that while branded entertainment is paid for, story-telling can be income-generating with plans to expand HF with an online experience (hmmm Second Life-esque?), video game and merchandising. Whereas branded entertainment is one-to-many, storytelling is p-2-p. I don’t entirely disagree with this since I have seen many branded entertainment solutions are combined with storytelling involving social media p-2-p elements..

Since Dec 2007, the 4 minute film has been viewed by > 100 million people (versus the BMW films which have been around for 7/8 years and have been viewed 30 million times).

The follow-up commercial is a dramatic feature film and I confess to not really follow the story and was very reminded of Ice Age in which Scrat desperately chases his acorn.

There was one small snag in the presentation of this “celebration of optimism and happiness”. Ivan denied that it was aimed at children when confronted with this question from the audience stemming from the kids health and obesity concerns aimed at sugar-filled confectionary and beverages. SERIOUSLY?? Cute characters in an animated fantasy world extended into a video game are NOT AIMED AT KIDS? Yeah right, and neither was Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory.

Carnival-ogy: The Microsoft Brazilian Party

The last 36 hours have been jam-packed started with the Microsoft party wednesday evening with a Brazilian theme complete with whistle-come-torches (flashlights for all you Americans). There were apparently topless dancers (I missed it but there were plenty of men who luckily didn't) with the highlight being a revolving dancefloor which was a massive hit. As folks got drunker and drunker, the floor would suddenly change direction and it was quite a sight.

The party was hosted at the Palm Casino at the end of the Croisette and was full at 1,000 people and waiting list of 200. While Nigel Morris got in, he had read trouble getting his clients in! There was a great DJ, a make-up and tattoo corner, flame throwers and of course a buffet dinner for everything left starving after the CyberLions Awards.

Things wrapped up around 3 am when busses gathered everyone and regurgitated them back at the Gutter Bar where things were in full swing once again until sunrise.

The next day I attended some great seminars including Coke, Mobile and Rupert Murdoch. The beach beckons today over blogging but I promise to deliver some great content. The piece de resistance (hey, I'm in France, I can show off) or shall we say the crescendo of the week will be at noon today when Kevin Johnson (Microsoft), Sir Martin Sorrel (WPP) and Henrique de Castro (Google) get together to dance around their handbags.

But first, I am off for my first hour on the Martinez beach. It's tough being in advertising ....

“Do Channels Matter?” and Creative Innovation at Nike

The day commenced with sunshine, a stark contrast to the black storm clouds of the evening before and I headed to the Palais for the Microsoft Panel titled “The Digitization of Film” with an interesting line-up moderated by Mike Kassan (MediaLink, LLC).

The panel kicked off asking about the importance of channels to which David-Pugh Jones of MSFT answered, “Not important at all”. He was then followed by Jonah Bloom (Adage) who expressed that “channels matter more than ever before” and Brian Terkelson (MediaVest USA) who concurred,”Channel does matter …. its about the niche mass”. Fernanda Romano (JWT) ended by saying that it depended who you are i.e. if you’re Nestle selling chocolate, its different to if you’re Lost selling content. Mike bemused at the fact that the only panelist who felt that channel did NOT matter was the only channel on the panel, namely MSFT.

Fernanda contributed at 3 different times getting applause from the audience, so I thought I’d highlight her comments here:
• We overthink things so much and tend to stop focusing on what the consumer wants or creating needs for consumers. We have so many meetings discussing the right shade of magenta for a print ad which will feature in a newspaper in India and end up being a totally different shade than ever intended.
• We talk about the disappearance of “the line” separating above-the-line to below-the-line however budgets are still being dissected according to this structure which is why things aren’t changing radically.
• How can we look for inspiration by reading last years books? Amen.

There was a lively debate about formats and whether they matter talking about Google having found a simplistic yet effective format to which Mike ended up joking “Can we turn the Microsoft off?” and quickly correcting himself to say “microphone?” due to the mention of the G-word. Miles Beckitt (EQAL) who was behind Kate Modern and LonelyGirl added that there is no emotional connection with search between brands and consumers as it’s a essentially a DM tool. I later heard that Miles is actually a trained reconstructive surgeon. Interesting...

There was hardly discussion about film however Kevin Townsend (Science + Fiction) did emphasize that online is the new format for pilots which can be entirely brand funded, tested and tweaked online before hitting cable TV. His company is incidentally behind the In The Motherhood with Unilever and Sprint.

All in all, a great discussion which ended too quickly!

I then traipsed along the sweltering Croisette in my blister-ridden shoes for some good business meetings and lunch. My paws were spared when I quickly accepted a ride on a Microsoft boat from The Carlton to the Majestic before returning to the Palais for the Nike and R/GA session.

I think that sardines in a can (Cannes?) are less crowded than the Debussy theatre was at 3pm. There were people practically sitting on people so expecations were high ... and this session did not disappoint!

Bob Greenberg sat quietly only adding comments here and there while Stefan Olander from Nike took the floor to present 3 new concepts in a very charming and passionate style. It also helps that he looks like Matthew McConnaughey. Am I right?

Stefan introduced 3 creative concepts which were fantastic to see. Finally some new creativity based on consumer insights and involving community and social media.

1. Nike I.D.
• Will launch in July an innovative new user interface using the shoe as opposed to menu’s. Looks really dynamic with 3D-like effect.
• Introduced elements of community by being able to see other people’s designs by categories and be inspired for your own designs.
• Can add design to social networks like Facebook or blog.

2. Ballers Network
• This is an extension of their great work with running into the area of basketball building on the consumer insight of wanting to have casual/friendly games.
• Includes a Facebook application which allows people to find friends and games using google maps
• Has access to 1700 basketball courts all over the world as well as being able to add local courts

3. Nike+
• The Human Race will involve Nike trying to get 1 million folks running in red-Nike t-shirts across the globe building on the success of events like Run London. It will take place in 25 cities as well as virtually via uploading your run on Nike+.
• Builds on the consumer insight of runners wanting recognition of their sweaty km’s.
• Social media element allows you to select a favoured charity e.g. WWF as well as create teams to compete against e.g. Denmark vs Sweden
• Nike+ Mini are very cool animated avatars of yourself, which you can dress with Nike clothing and add to Facebook, your blog etc. Its linked to your activity via Nike+ so if you haven’t been running, they get slow and lethargic. Quite funny actually. When you run against your friends you can compete to win or lose clothing (Nike+ Strip Poker?).

Overall, my favourite session due to the level if innovation, creativity and inspiration presented in a succinct style really showing how the Nike brand lives up to its mission “to create indispensable digital experiences to make athletes better”. Next year I expect to see some CyberLions awarded to them!

Tuesday Afternoon in Cannes: Rain, Content & Familiar Faces

I headed to the Palais running into familiar faces on the way and finally got to check out the shortlisted entries in DM, outdoor, media, print, new media and ambient media (whatever that is). It was truly entertaining and inspiring leaving me constantly thinking how despite my work being devoted purely to the interactive space, a picture has and always will tell a thousand words.

In particular, I noted the following:
• There were some great 3D use of the outdoor space with billboards and bus shelter. One shelter had a bottle of Heineken with laser beams protecting it like a valuable diamond. Another for McDonalds looked like an entire large fresh salad was being cooled inside with the “M” logo showing in the condensation.
• There seems to be a struggle where to put Digital. It used to be a separate category but with the current convergence you now also see “DM – internet” as a category.
• There were only 3 (!!) case studies for new media on display. What a shame when so much conference content is dedicated to this. Even better would have been some PC’s with a menu allowing people to browse the entries. In today’s Daily Lions I saw hundreds of entries for the Cyber Lions and regret not being able to check a lot of these out.

Check out my photo gallery for pictures of the entries.

I then had a drink with an old industry mate from The Netherlands, Klaas Weima with some great insight and inspiration before heading back for the Zenith Optimedia session entitled: “The Big Bang: Exploring the Explosion of Media and its Implications” with Steve King (Worldwide CEO – ZenithOptimedia),
Frank Harrison (Strategic Resources Director – ZenithOptimedia) and
Fred Joseph (CEO - Zed Digital). They used a Star Trek theme to talk about:
1. Understanding the Gravitational Pulls
• Content accessibility has changed e.g. Bollywood launch theatrical and downloadable movies now on the same day
• Communities are powerful e.g. Facebook fan groups
• Mobile is becoming more significant e.g. 3G has 85% penetration in Japan with 20M Mobile TV penetration, 73% QR codes and 25% mobile wallets
2. Where are We Headed Today?
• Despite the economic downtown, massive growth in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China). He showed lots of charts demonstrating this.
3. Navigating the Big Bang
• There are over 145 (!!) consumer touchpoints out there.
• Slides from Touchpoints ROI Tracker Research were presented (I took some photos of these – not sure if they are remotely visible). This was interesting as it charted touchpoints by their influence and personal nature. Not really rocket science (as he said himself) but he did say search was more influential than banners which I don’t think is true for some really great rich media executions.

King ended with a passionate mini-speech about the future demonstrating his vision and plans saying “we need to get out of the anacronystic (is that a word?) silo’d mentality” as well as talking about the need to move from commission-based compensation to performance-based. It was somewhat general and there were no commitments here which would have been nice to see i.e. “By 2009, Zenith will be rolling out…”

The final session was a panel with the very sexy title “60Frames presents Hollywood and the Internet: creating more engaging branded entertainment”. The session started with some really humorous clips from 60Frames original internet programming. Alas what followed was a panel and the concentration in the room was very low. I think everyone wanted to get more content than opinion and it just didn’t go down too well with people leaving from as soon as 4 minutes after the start. I hung around for 20 minutes before leaving myself. I will check out 60Frames – seems like an interesting new company, created last summer, with some compelling content.

The day ended with a superb thunderstorm with lightning and rain. The normally azure blue sea turned to black, but as it passed, the parties kicked off for another night of fun in Cannes!

MDAS becomes Microsoft Advertising: The Morning

Day 2 in Cannes commenced with the Microsoft half-day Business Seminar. The event kicked off with Marc Bresseel (GM Sales EMEA MSFT) interviewing Brian McAndrews (ex-CEO aQuantive) on the integration into MSFT, the plans for the future and the strategy. The 5 main points I took away were:
1. Steve Ballmer said that in 2010, 25% of their business will come from advertising
2. They’ve signed 100+ publishers since the acquisition and done some other acquisitions
3. There’s a new brand – Microsoft Advertising - representing Performance, Insight and Expertise
4. They have lots of tools (buy-side and sell-side) with drivePM in the middle
5. They’re in BETA for Engagement Mapping with algorithms for more fair attribution other than last click (with one test showing one client valuing 33% lower than it should have been!)

There was then an unintentionally humorous panel with youths and their internet use chaired by Rob Cowan, CEO of Point Blank. My best quote on the topic of Xbox and social networking, was “I like Xbox and Halo as I can talk to my friends and kill them at the same time.”

Mark Kroes (GM in Entertainment Division) showed a great case with Doritos moving from Xbox to a Facebook group using a Zune Card with musical preferences plus a mobile advergame. Rudy Wilson, Marketing Director Doritos, gave an engaging presentation comparing his relationship with his wife to Doritos’ relationship with its consumers. He showcased the “Unlock the Xbox” campaign which was shortlisted for New Media I later discovered. Super presenter!

Julie Foray (Head of Research in UK) presented the www.kids research with video interviews of groups of time-starved moms chatting about their internet use. They were certainly a depressing bunch making a great campaign for contraception. Essentially, their web use focuses on 3 key areas:
• Keeping in Touch
• Entertainment
• Personal Fulfillment
• Family Organisation

Geoff Sutton (GM Content EMEA) then came on stage to show different content solutions and introducing David Lang (Mindshare) talking about In the Motherhood (yes, twice in 24 hours). Since I missed the first 15 minutes, I was pleased to get the full picture and see all the clips – its truly an entertaining solution and he’s a good presenter. He emphasized that you need:
1. a great idea
2. the right execution (amen!)
3. forward thinking clients willing to take risks
We then saw a Omnicom Nordic Brand Science study on the connection between ROI and sales for Kellogs showing how they’ve figured out how to dissect sales into components like seasonality, media, leaflets, price and cannibalization.

Our final treat was a chat with Brian McAndrews and Yusuf Mehdi discussing the 2 elephants in the room:
1. Yahoo Acquisition: “They weren’t our strategy but an accelerant for our strategy” – Yusuf. He is one smart guy and extremely strategic so it was valuable how he brought the audience back to strategy and the big picture.
2. Apple & Google’s great consumer experiences: The MSFT market re-org was talked about as a sign of MSFT’s commitment to merge Windows with the Online side of the business to offer a seamless software experience across PC, mobile and gaming.

The session wrapped up with a question from Chris ? @ Pixar about Google’s expansion plans across multiple platforms to which MSFT responded that they “will announce an acquisition in the interactive TV space”. WATCH THIS SPACE!

Overall of the 4 or 5 MSFT conferences I’ve attended over the years, I have to say that this one was the best. The content and speakers were of an extremely high caliber and my compliments to MSFT for showcasing the consumer and not products like in the past. They seem committed to showing they are becoming more consumer focused. Time will tell if they can also walk this talk.

The Cannes Lion Begins to Roar

I awoke this morning to the gorgeous site of the Microsoft Advertising boat in the waters in front of the Croisette. This €30 M luxury boat is the largest in the harbor and will serve as their floating platform for entertaining clients and VIP’s for the entire week. The Cannes Lions is dominated by Microsoft’s sponsorship for the 5th or 6th consecutive year with no signs of Yahoo or Google in sight. On my agenda is the Business Seminar tomorrow (invitation-only), the “Digitization of Film” seminar, the “Building Creativity” Online workshop and what was it … let me think… oh yes, the PARTY!

The clouds faded away as the afternoon rolled in and I headed to the Palais du Festival for registration and to check out the exhibitors. Microsoft have their usual cyber lounge but have added this year a multimedia section showcasing Xbox, Zune and mobile.

I arrived late to the Mindshare/Unilever Seminar “Breaking the Mould: New Models for Branded Entertainment” since my registration took for-EVUH (“I em zo zorreee madam, it eez ze computerrr”) and managed to convince a feisty French lady that FULL does not always mean FULL. It was indeed packed with many people standing and I found a lovely alcove by the toilet. Is it the draw of the Unilever name? Mindshare? Or the hot topic of branded entertainment?

The “In The Motherhood” campaign was presented by David Lang (President - MindShare Entertainment) and
Laura Klauberg (VP of Global Media – Unilever) and I was pleasantly surprised as my old team at Microsoft, the Branded Entertainment and Experiences team, was the partner in the US for this. The Sprint client was unable to make it alas. You can watch the video here.

This solution focused on consumers with real-life parenting stories which were then “produced” with well-known actresses. There was a strong emphasis on community (UGC & forums) and content, whilst having strong elements of creativity and entertainment. The solution was enhanced with blogging, P2P conversations and game skins using MSN, the Ellen Degenerous Show and mobile for traffic. The results were astounding resulting in and increase in the “Suave” brand sales, increases across all brand metrics and significant web metrics ( 21M video views, 150 M PR impressions and 5th most trafficked parenting site in the US).

Later during my lunch, I landed up a table away from David and Laura, and went over and introduced myself. I have worked a great deal with Mindshare and my relationship with Unilever goes back to when I forged the first successful strategic partnership between them and MSN in 2002. They were both very engaging and lovely to meet! This was the icing on the cake for my first day in Cannes. I’m sorry I missed the MySpace workshop but have another blog post to share soon on their social networking dive in the film industry.