The word from the streets of Cannes: brands must keep it âauthenticâ

The word to define Cannes 2013, other than P-Diddy, was ‘authenticity’. You couldn’t move for delegates extolling the authentic nature of this campaign, or that one. Probably my favourite example, which picked up a truck load of precious metal, was the rebranding of every McDonald’s outlet in Oz to Macca’s in celebration of Australia Day. Now we all know that the burger chain isn’t Australian, but the campaign is authentic simply because it is believable – McDonald’s celebrating its Australian customers. It resonates with the Australian tendency to abbreviate everything and dish out nicknames like sweeties, but also sits very comfortably with what we know of the brand. Would it have worked in the UK? No, because the audience isn’t united under one banner. Rebranding the chain to Maccy D’s, for example, would have resulted in massive, “you what?”

The corridors and award ceremonies weren’t the only places where authenticity reigned supreme. The stages, too, were awash with the genuine article. The great and good, including Lucas Watson, VP at YouTube, Conan O’Brien of US TV fame and Jimmy Wales founder of Wikipedia, amongst others, tipped a nod to everything real (interestingly P-Diddy was widely criticised for not being authentic):

“Marketing is most successful when it authentically reflects human experience.”
“The role of today’s advertisers is to help brands develop even more compelling and authentic content.”
“If there’s no authenticity behind the brand, no one will engage, and in today’s industry, without engagement, you have nothing.”
“The younger generation has a great sense of what’s phony, brands can’t afford to pull the wool over their eyes.”

There is a clear commonality here, with all of the speakers pretty much saying the same thing – keep it real, or die. What strikes me, however, is that this sentiment isn’t new. Authenticity is something that the direct marketing community has been eulogising about for many years. It is the more succinct version of the 3 Rs: right time, right place, right message, which when taken together equate to relevance.

The crux of a successful direct marketing campaign has always been about framing the brand in the most apt way for the target audience, who in turn reward a personal experience with their engagement. This philosophy has meant that traditional direct marketing agencies have been able to branch into the integrated space ensuring that content, irrespective of channel is relevant and true to the brand’s values.

So the word on the street in Cannes was be authentic, remain true to brand values and human experience if you want to successfully engage with your target audience.

By DMA guest blogger Louisa Osmond, Director at Eulogy!