Another major takeaway from this year's edition of Cannes Lion is the growing importance of diversity in the campaign. As our societies have become more diverse over time through waves of immigration, many brands still  advertise in the old school sense of white, straight clients rather than taking into account minorities and the LGBT community. 

"Failure to represent results in customer spurn: Half of Black respondents (46%) have stopped supporting a brand that didn’t represent their identity, falling to 35% for Asian respondents and 33% for LGBTQ... Diversity leads to trust: 33% of UK consumers are more likely to trust a brand that shows diversity in its ads, rising to 50% of LGBTQ respondents. This can impact a brand’s bottom line too – 26% of UK consumers are more likely to purchase from brands with diverse ads, rising to 40% of LGBTQ and Black respondents." 

In this sense, the more a brand is diverse, and appealing to a diverse audience, the more trust a brand will generate, thus leading it to notice higher sales.

Another area where brands must be careful is fake news. In an era where fake news is rampant, brands have a moral task to make sure that they use reliable information in their campaigns, instead of solely relying on clickbaits to generate their stories. 

 As long as the brands are keeping up with the human tradition of storytelling,  finding the sources of distribution will not be a source of trouble, especially when it comes to using traditional sources such as television versus using different channels. 

“At this year’s Cannes Lions, one of the key discussions was around how the TV and video ecosystem is at a crossroads as data is changing the way marketers use media. TV provides an exceptional platform for advertisers thanks to its premium content and unrivalled capacity to reach and engage audiences, but it must become data-driven and embrace addressability to cement its position in our multi-channel world... the tech companies are now well established and the consultants have moved in, but brands are making sure their voices are heard. Their focus is on creating trust with contextual, creative messages that awaken consumer emotions. Discussions focused on the large industry players allocating a greater portion of marketing budget to online advertising over print and TV". said both Thomas Bremond from Freewheel and Louise Kloster from Adform.

One can only hope to see these different insights used and applied to future campaigns in the near future. 

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