After spending months dealing with politicized criticism and personal attacks, it seems that more brands are trying to get back to more basic marketing. The latest evidence comes from Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, who emphasized “getting back to the fundamentals” during a Cannes interview with Ad Age’s Jack Neff. “I think in today’s world, moving into areas of advocacy that are outside of your brand’s wheelhouse, that’s where things can get undone,” he said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev Global Chief Marketing Officer Marcel Marcondes took a similar tone during his Monday Cannes speech, suggesting that Bud Light will be getting back to its brand values “to make beer easy to drink and easy to enjoy.” Those were his first public comments since Bud Light slipped into a sales slump beginning in early April as it struggled to deal with conservative backlash for using a transgender influencer in a social media promotional effort. The backlash has spilled into other AB InBev brands, hurting sales. But that has not stopped Cannes juries from recognizing the brewer’s marketing—it took home its second Grand Prix of the week Wednesday for a Stella Artois campaign. (Scroll down for our full Wednesday Grand Prix wrap-up)
Crude on the Croisette
“Move me, dude.” Those words from the late Dan Wieden have become a mantra at Wieden+Kennedy. It inspired a storefront the agency rented along the Croisette that it rebranded “NOT 4 $ALE.” The pawnshop-style installation stands in contrast to the glitzier neighboring stores and is meant to act as a counterpoint to some of the more serious things happening at Cannes. “At a festival that celebrates the most sophisticated ways of selling on the planet, we decided to build a space that celebrated the crudest,” Adam Rix, the creative director who runs NOT W+K, the agency’s standalone branding and design studio, told Ad Age’s Tim Nudd in an interview.
Good as hell
MediaLink made Page Six—at least its Cannes party did. The Michael Kassan-run consultancy got a shout-out in the gossip column for its Tuesday night party co-sponsored by iHeartMedia that featured a concert from Lizzo, with Page Six observing that it “blew the roof off the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc.” Ad Age spotted IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky and Publicis Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun in the audience. Read more on that in our blog. Speaking of parties, Ad Age hosted our annual Lawn Party on Wednesday. Lizzo didn’t show up, but plenty of industry luminaries did, including Richard Edelman, Aaron Walton and Jon Cook.
$100 million: The total of donated funds that will support a multimedia campaign running on World Cancer Day on Feb. 4, 2024. The Working with Cancer Pledge has launched a competition to come up with the campaign, aimed at ending the stigma of cancer in the workplace. Major holding companies are participating.
Quotable
“I’ve kind of had a love-hate relationship with them—now it’s all love.”—Mike White, the actor, director and creator of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” on his HBO relationship during a Cannes chat with Ogilvy’s Liz Taylor. Read more on their conversation in our blog.
“Go to the basement and see all the work. You can get distracted by everything else, but this is why we’re all here.”— Linda Knight, Observatory president and chief creative officer, offering a Cannes pro tip as part of Ad Age’s weeklong series in which creatives share insights about their nominated work and other Cannes insights.
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