As much as anything can be a sure bet, is there anything more certain than the endless discussions each June at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity about the hottest trends and ideas in the ad industry? On everyone’s lips this year: The potential of generative AI, the future of Twitter and TikTok, and the risk of influencer affiliations in a divided U.S. 

Keep in mind that often the new technologies, innovations and ideas people think will reinvent our industry or sow chaos often last about as long as the rosé that fuels the season’s conversations. 

Pokémon Go, anyone? It was the talk of the town in 2016. And two years later, Alibaba touted an AI-powered copywriting tool that could write 20,000 lines of ad copy a second. And even though virtual reality was trumpeted in festival sessions and at cocktail parties for years—remember Microsoft’s HoloLens device?—VR headsets haven’t yet replaced sunglasses, and these days even Meta is disinclined to mention the metaverse (and Apple’s Vision Pro has now shifted the rhetoric to spatial computing).

This week’s festival, created by a group of international cinema screen ad contractors inspired by the Cannes Film Festival, is celebrating its 70th year, and as usual there’s the promise of exciting new developments. It’s also a good time to keep in mind some clear-eyed marketing fundamentals that are even more enduring than this annual gathering.

Integrated marketing is more important than ever

As an industry we need to be more thoughtful about how we interact with and engage consumers across multiple touchpoints, from CTV and websites to our mobile devices and through IRL in-store shopping. Given the ongoing fragmentation in media, coupled with the proliferation of platforms that are walled gardens, the need for fully connected advertising strategies is greater than ever.

Word of mouth isn’t just talk

Online influencers—celebrities and self-made social media stars—aren’t going away, but we can’t forget the power of the average person championing our brands in large and small ways day in and day out. That’s why consumer experience is still so crucial: It’s how we turn customers into advocates. Even in a challenging environment, we cannot afford to pull back on prioritizing customer service and those personalized consumer experiences that drive brand loyalty and endorsements.

Outstanding creativity still rules

Despite all the excitement about data and technology, the main reason so many people make the trek to the South of France in the first place is to see and celebrate great work from around the world. Sure, AI may help us produce even better work more efficiently, but it will never approach humans’ capacity to create art that inspires and moves. Stories based on personal experience, empathy and insight are what connect us all as humans. 

Marketing basics may not grab headlines in Cannes, but they are Lion-award-worthy in an industry that celebrates shiny new toys. 

It’s all too familiar: When the economic horizon gets foggy, the near term for marketing dollars often becomes unclear. 

During periods of economic stress and market chaos, like the one we’re experiencing now, marketing departments are often the first to feel pressure to review their budgets and reduce spending. Yes, it’s possible to build brands and market share during difficult times, but that can be a tough sell to the corporate finance department.

Tough, but not impossible. Trust me, I’ve been there, both as a CMO and in running a business. My relationships with CFOs have proven to be the most tried and trusted when weathering economic storms.

Growing and protecting budgets requires collaboration, relationship building, and strategic assessments focused on the overall goals of the company, not just the spend. It’s a dynamic, ongoing process. And business-minded marketers who successfully demonstrate the value of marketing and work with their CFO and corporate finance team as partners stand a good chance of coming out ahead and keeping most of their budgets intact this year.

What are the ways to do that? 

Build relationships with the finance team: As a marketer, if your first meeting with the finance team is an emergency session to discuss budget cuts, it’s going to be that much harder to defend the value of marketing expenditures. Ideally, a working relationship with the CFO and the finance team has been cultivated over time, and that department is already well versed in what the marketing department does—not just what it spends; how it contributes to the overall business; and the impact budget adjustments will have. While it may be difficult to avoid adjustments to harsh economic realities, there could be a realistic shot at protecting priority projects or teams.

Understand your audience: CFOs and financial team members are generally masters of accounting, risk-management, capital allocation, cash flow, and financial strategy. But they are not marketers, even though they work at a brand or media company. They don’t live in Salesforce and don’t speak campaign KPIs, which means a job of the marketer is to be a translator. But it’s also important to attain a base-level understanding of the finance department’s distinct language and their objectives. Unless marketing develops a collaborative partnership with finance organization, marketing can be mischaracterized as having too much discretionary budget.

Transparency is vital: Marketers can develop mutual understanding and respect by sharing the granular details of their marketing strategy with the CFO. Many CMOs are wary of this idea, but there’s no need to be. Sharing the various dashboards and attribution methodologies the marketing team utilizes will help the finance team appreciate just how data-driven marketing decisions are. And it will reduce perceptions that upper-funnel tactics like branding are a luxury. 

Help CFOs think outside the Covid vacuum: The pandemic has produced all sorts of anomalies in business, abnormal highs and lows in everything from revenue to costs to hiring, not to mention changing consumer behavior. But the pandemic years aren’t viable baselines for evaluating the performance of a marketing spend. Pegging 2019 as the most recent “normal” year has helped our partners make grounded, data-based choices. Partnering with our finance colleagues to identify the nuances of the “pandemic effect” and identifying normalization trends will help everyone align on the appropriate levels of marketing spend to foster growth, retain clients and attract new ones.

Be a team player: Heading into a meeting with defenses up and digging in on every last sponsorship (no matter how expendable) won’t get you anywhere—budget cuts during times of economic headwinds are simply a reality. And the responsibility for cuts falls on the CFO. The more you understand your CFO, the more you’ll appreciate just how difficult his or her job really is. The most successful CMOs come to budget discussions with suggested cuts in hand. Helping financial departments find the reductions they are tasked with implementing gives you a chance to hold onto what really matters. 

The economy is all over the map these days, but one thing is clear: Corporate earnings are trending down, and CFOs won’t just sit there watching. Changes are inevitable, and some may be painful. The best way for CMOs to maintain the resources they need to directly bolster revenue, even in the toughest of times, is to be deeply engaged in those strategic shifts, in collaboration, and as an essential part of a team. 

All with the CFO’s help.

The U.S. government seems determined to eventually ban TikTok. Will that happen? Or will it continue to thrive and delight 150 million Americans and the advertisers using it to reach them? It’s hard to imagine a ban while users are still scrolling and brands continue shelling out to engage them: Ad spending on the social media platform increased a reported 11% in March. 

Even if TikTok is banned or eventually loses some of its die-hard fans to competitors—Instagram and Facebook Reels (140 billion views per day) and YouTube Shorts (50 billion views) are doing their best to entice them—its influence and lessons will live on in the audience habits, content formats, and influencer tactics it has inspired.

So as long as it’s still around and going strong, here are five lessons marketers and agencies can learn from TikTok’s tricks and apply beyond its platform: 

Sticky content keeps users glued to the screen.

Anyone who lives with TikTok users knows it’s almost impossible to get between them and the platform’s quick-cut videos. As maddening as this can be for anyone who’s around heavy users, there are lessons for content and ad pros in the attention-absorbing fast takes, endless stream of content and algorithmically driven recommendations. How many times have you seen someone watch a single TikTok video about, say, adorable Golden Retriever puppies and look away from their phone when they know there will be even more compelling canine mini-stories right behind that one? Good content delivered to the right person at the right time creates true “lean in” moments. 

Creators should be central to marketing efforts.

Word-of-mouth marketing has been around forever and is surely here to stay—except now it’s on steroids. For a long time In digital video, influencer marketing was focused first on those YouTubers and vloggers (remember them?) who talked straight to the camera about, for example, their favorite makeup brands or video games. Today the barriers to creating impressive videos are gone. Creators like Mr. Beast, who recently flew a youngster to Paris in search of baguettes and, to promote Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2,” gave away a Lamborghini,  attract marketers and TV-size audiences. And you can bet fans of TikTok longtimer Charli D’Amelio were as interested in her recent Amazon storefront tour (which included items from Polaroid and Hydro Flask) as in her dance videos. While some creator content is truly cringe-worthy, the creator economy is a force for marketers and for the consumers who buy into their pitches. Just like when digital jumped the shark to become a mainstay in every campaign, influencer marketing has sealed its place in ad budgets.

Big brands can play this game. 

You know a media platform has hit the big time when a traditional marketer chooses it over buying ad time on the Super Bowl, as State Farm did this year in tapping TikTok star, Khaby Lane, for a Gen Z-focused pregame campaign. As the company’s VP of Marketing Alyson Griffin said, they were aiming for “more engagement than just eyeballs.” Better still, influencers can be tapped as creators, a move Mondelēz made when it had designer Vandy the Pink create an exclusive hoodie as part of a party kit aimed to encourage Gen Z snackers to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Chips Ahoy! 

Authenticity rules.

While Instagram users were initially thrilled with filters and features that helped them create slick content that looked professional, many users on TikTok like content that’s far from polished. Consider Miriam Ezagui, an Orthodox Jewish mom of four and nurse who posts technically simple “day in the life” videos from her home. Or consider the curious allure of TikTokers who offer tips on how to clean bathrooms and organize closets by taking us inside their own. It’s hard to get more personal than that.  

Video is here to stay.

Though we’ve been talking about the ubiquity of web video for over a decade, in truth the web remained stubbornly text-centric until recently. Today, video isn’t just embedded in web pages, it’s replacing them as the quality, ease of use, and effectiveness of short-form communication continues to rise. Even news outlets that still publish in print are getting the message that short videos are here to stay. For brands, that means that TikTok-like creative will someday be a primary ad asset in a campaign rather than just one of many digital extensions.

While some of us in the ad business haven’t yet succumbed to TikTok’s charms and become habitual users, we can’t deny it has been a game changer for content consumers, creators, and our own industry. Since it’s going to inform the way brands engage audiences for years to come, it’s worth learning a few lessons from what makes TikTok tick.

This article was originally published on Smartbrief. 

If there is a universal claim in advertising and marketing, it’s this: We put customers first. You will be hard-pressed to find a company that doesn’t say it — and none would claim the opposite. I don’t question the sincerity of the claim, but sometimes I wonder if some in the industry have lost sight of what it really means.

I know that as a customer and media consumer, I don’t always feel my needs are being prioritized. Not when I see the same ads over and over. Not when websites and news apps disrupt my reading experience by loading and reloading ad and video units, bouncing the content all over the screen. Not when simply getting to the article I want to read is an epic endurance test.

Some people in the industry may object. “Look at all the time and money spent on consumer research,” they’ll say. “Layer in targeting and we’re bringing to consumers exactly what they need.”

Recently I heard someone in media suggest that reducing ad load demonstrated a customer-centric approach because viewers are now seeing fewer commercials. Fair point. A step forward? Not if the ads they’re seeing are disruptive to the viewing experience.

Let’s face it: The real issue here is empathy. Though Apple’s Steve Jobs famously eschewed market research, he still managed to create products that delighted customers and made their lives more productive and enjoyable.

How? He was intuitive, for sure. But he also developed products that delighted him and made his life more productive and enjoyable. He did unto the marketplace what he would have the marketplace do unto him.

In his view, that was empathy, and putting the customer first requires that. That should be evident in every aspect of the user experience.

Too often, we fail to think like consumers. We should be thinking: Would I like this? Would I tolerate this? Sometimes I wonder how many of us even use the products we sell.

In the past, brands and media companies could get away with ignoring customer experiences to some degree. But, increasingly, consumers are gaining more power. They can block ads on the web and on mobile devices, or skip ads on video platforms and podcasts. They eschew ads altogether by consuming content only on ad-free platforms through subscriptions. They expect and demand direct communication with brands and, most importantly, they have the social platforms to be vocal if they are annoyed or disrespected.

Customer-first technology?

How has the industry responded?

Technology has corrected for the problem of too much consumer control with nonskippable ad content. That bolsters the metrics, sure, but is it an empathetic, customer-first move? And even if consumers have more control over privacy and data-sharing now, those changes are more the result of public-policy changes than marketplace empathy.

Clearly, technology and the advertising/messaging it delivers can be invasive. Or it can be relevant and respectful. It’s a choice.

Location tracking is an example: At its worst, it is the cringey digital spy that public-policy makers want to rein in.

At its best, the consumer controls the level and purpose of participation. Many people are OK with sharing their location in return for a more relevant experience, including targeted ads that match the consumer’s interests and immediate circumstances. I’m willing to share my location if the value I receive in exchange enhances my consumer experience. 

I’m constantly reminding my team, “We need to deliver clients what they need, not what we want to sell them.” If we focus on the KPIs that clients need to hit, then our solid performance will win us their loyalty and return business.

The same should apply to customers. The more we think like real consumers, the more empathetic we become — and the better we are at addressing people’s real pain points. Case in point: I was recently on a Delta flight from LAX to JFK. The tailwinds moving us from west to east got us into JFK earlier than planned, which, at first, was quite exciting for the flight crew and passengers. But frequent fliers know that an early arrival means sitting on the runway until the gate assigned to our flight is open.

During this flight, we landed and then waited (and waited and waited) on the runway for two-plus hours, way past our scheduled arrival time. It was frustrating and inconvenient – and Delta knew that. From the time I exited the plane to the moment I settled into an Uber for the drive home – 20 minutes tops – Delta had sent a personalized email, apologizing for the JFK runway traffic jam and thanking passengers for their patience by adding 7,500 frequent flier points.

That was empathetic customer service at its very best. It got my attention and it shifted my mindset from a negative experience to a positive one.

Think about it. When our products and services make people’s lives better, on their terms, in ways that respect their time and attention, that’s when our “customer first” claims will stand up to scrutiny.

Why don’t we all aim for that?

This article was originally published on The Drum. 

Parents of teens and young adults will be all too familiar with this scene: you settle in at home to watch an episode of Bel-Air or The Office or even the latest Marvel full-length movie with a member of Gen Z. A shared experience! But their eyes are on more than one screen: TikTok scrolling with breaks for an Instagram check, and maybe even an alert that it’s time to BeReal. Then there are the Snaps, texts, incoming and outgoing selfies, emojis and audio.

Yes, the QR Codes Work

Since the phone has become an appendage, my teen is a lot faster on the take to scan a QR code when it pops up on the big screen – assuming that the creative message is compelling enough for her to take action. If she sees “scan for Bogo code at Aerie,” she’s all in.

For marketers, the opportunity is evident. A QR code appears on a TV screen, is scanned with a phone and can send a viewer directly to a one-click purchase site. Not to mention that every step is measured with precision for the advertiser. Attribution magic.

The message here for brands: make it easy. Incorporating digital QR codes on big-screen ads reduces the purchase funnel for consumers to buy tacos, sneakers, movie tickets, you name it, via their small screen.

Make Checkout and Wallet Management Simple

When was the last time you saw a Gen Zer whip out cash to buy anything (other than your cash)? They are among the early adopters of cashless and cardless consumption, using mobile payments for most of their transactions.

Beyond QR codes, the tech for shoppable connected TV (CTV) has a ways to go before gen Z will jump on board. Anything that requires credit card inputs creates friction in a system, especially for younger consumers who have grown up with the ease of Instagram shopping.

Bake Shopping into Shows

Of course, with streamlined payment logistics, Gen Z needs something to buy, and it won’t be from QVC. But imagine they could snag a favorite football player’s jersey during a game. Again, this kind of shopping has to be simple – and somewhat centralized. Studios are increasingly exploring ways to build this functionality during show development.

As the ad community continues to build out this offering, it needs to settle on a few standard forms of shopping ad units. It shouldn’t be difficult: partner with studios early, connect streaming ads with products in shows, incorporate interactivity within ad units and make ‘add-to-cart’ a one-tap solution.

Help Them Use Their Voices

Gen Z has not only been raised with multiple screens, but they’ve also become accustomed to asking Alexa or Siri for help with tasks large and small.

Voice is an easy way to incorporate all sorts of interactivity into TV ads – and Gen Z can lead the way. Amazon is already experimenting with voice-enabled add-to-cart TV spots.

Acknowledge Multicultural Groups

A multicultural ad strategy shouldn’t be an afterthought for brands. Gen Z is defined by and embraces diversity – look no further than the massive popularity of a Spanish-language artist like Bad Bunny. This group expects marketing efforts from brands to encourage toggling between languages and cultures. Creative and adtech can easily offer options in how – and in what language – they choose to receive messages.

The sooner the ad industry recognizes and channels the behavioral shifts steered by Gen Z, the faster CTV will live up to its interactive promise for all generations, with advertising that’s far more effective and engaging. And you might even get your teenager to watch TV with you.

H/T Elena Carone.