The Cannes return
Guest commentary Michael Waeber, CFO at SFLB, writes why a visit to Cannes is a good investment despite the high costs. If the creatives there work hard.
Guest commentary Michael Waeber, CFO at SFLB, writes why a visit to Cannes is a good investment despite the high costs. If the creatives there work hard.
As the CFO of an advertising agency, you have a different relationship to Cannes than a creative. For us, Cannes is not primarily an advertising festival, but a festival of expenditure. The entries, registrations, flights, hotels and cabs cost around 10,000 francs per person. So the question is justified: Is it worthwhile for an agency to spend this money? It's not worth spending money on a trip to Cannes if the creatives spend the day on the beach instead of at the movies. It's also not worth it if they sit in the cinema but only consume the commercials. And it's not worth it if the creatives only watch the shortlist on Friday and the Cannes reel with the award-winning spots on Saturday.
But it is worth investing money if the creatives engage with as many works as possible. This means not only looking at the winners, but also at the non-winners in the various categories. (That way you can see what distinguishes one from the other.) But above all, taking a closer look means evaluating each work: Why is the commercial good? What is the strategy? What might the briefing have been? Is the idea new? New in this category? Or new in other categories? This is hard work, because you only have around five seconds between each commercial, I was told. It's helpful to have a system for judging - the 7Plus system, for example, which we also use at Spilllmann Felser Leo Burnett.
I'd rather invest the money if the creatives have their own film in the competition. Then they realize that their really great spot is actually a pretty average spot. This keeps them modest, but at the same time encourages them to do better work.
So if you're going to invest in Cannes, do it properly. I won't spend a franc on two days of spot consumption in Cannes, but I'm very happy to invest money in five days of hard work on my own judgment. (Because let's be honest: the creatives don't suddenly have better ideas after Cannes. But they have a better ability to judge, a better understanding of implementation and they are more eager for good advertising. At least I hope so).
Now I wish all the creatives good work in Cannes. We'll see whether the investment was worth it in the months after Cannes. Not just us CFOs.
> Michael Waeber is Chief Financial Officer at the advertising agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett.
As the CFO of an advertising agency, you have a different relationship to Cannes than a creative. For us, Cannes is not primarily an advertising festival, but a festival of expenditure. The entries, registrations, flights, hotels and cabs cost around 10,000 francs per person. So the question is justified: Is it worthwhile for an agency to spend this money? It's not worth spending money on a trip to Cannes if the creatives spend the day on the beach instead of at the movies. It's also not worth it if they sit in the cinema but only consume the commercials. And it's not worth it if the creatives only watch the shortlist on Friday and the Cannes reel with the award-winning spots on Saturday.
But it is worth investing money if the creatives engage with as many works as possible. This means not only looking at the winners, but also at the non-winners in the various categories. (That way you can see what distinguishes one from the other.) But above all, taking a closer look means evaluating each work: Why is the commercial good? What is the strategy? What might the briefing have been? Is the idea new? New in this category? Or new in other categories? This is hard work, because you only have around five seconds between each commercial, I was told. It's helpful to have a system for judging - the 7Plus system, for example, which we also use at Spilllmann Felser Leo Burnett.
I'd rather invest the money if the creatives have their own film in the competition. Then they realize that their really great spot is actually a pretty average spot. This keeps them modest, but at the same time encourages them to do better work.
So if you're going to invest in Cannes, do it properly. I won't spend a franc on two days of spot consumption in Cannes, but I'm very happy to invest money in five days of hard work on my own judgment. (Because let's be honest: the creatives don't suddenly have better ideas after Cannes. But they have a better ability to judge, a better understanding of implementation and they are more eager for good advertising. At least I hope so).
Now I wish all the creatives good work in Cannes. We'll see whether the investment was worth it in the months after Cannes. Not just us CFOs.
> Michael Waeber is Chief Financial Officer at the advertising agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett.
