This was my first non-’Sit Back & Be Inspired' talk. I wanted to try at least one of the workshops or interactive labs. The setup was in an open area, and you were handed headphones to listen to the speakers. The two speakers were David Clayton, Founder and CEO at True & North, and Lucien Etori, VP and Executive Creative Strategy at R/GA. 

Key Takeaways:

• Marketers are looking for the value exchange: Creating high-value activities—> inspired high-value behaviors —> leading to high-value outcomes.

• Win it, how you create it: Don't identify as the "seller." Sales thinking - for the few, not the many. Design thinking - forces us to start always with a human being, the person we are trying to solve problems for.

• Use your superpowers. What if you can move away from being afraid and be confident? What if you could use the stuff that makes you really good the stuff that's authentic to you? Don't try to be everything to your client. 

• Slow down. Do less, create more value. Everything doesn't have to be done tomorrow. Start to look at your client as a human being. 

While I'm sure people know not everything has to be done tomorrow, it is helpful to have these reminders. I think the work culture can be a lot, especially in America. Everything is or feels fast-paced and like you need to complete the next thing immediately after finishing one thing. 

They showed us an empathy map to use to get a connection to a client. When thinking about the client's profile, ask yourself how they see the world around them. For example, are they formal or informal? Are they curious or cautious? This builds your curiosity about the client. When thinking about the situation, ask, what is their context? You need to capture facts and observations and avoid interpretation. 

Tips for empathy: Transform observations into hypotheses. Show curiosity, not judgment. If you feel you are judging your client, take a step back and re-evaluate. You cannot be both curious and judgmental at the same time. If you fall into judgment, you’re in a bad spot.

• Last step to empathy mapping: Find the sweet spot between what is most valuable to them and where you have a role to play 

• Don’t build slides. Speak to the person. Use an anchor question. 

• Anchor question formula:

• I noticed/read/experienced [observation]…

• It made me wonder [hypothesis]…

• Is that right? How do you see things? (Not about being right or wrong)

I found this interactive lab very useful. While I wouldn’t necessarily change the schedule I ended up following, I wish I had more time to go to other labs. I enjoyed the more personal environment and found it very educational. This event, if it were outside of this festival, would be fun for anyone who wants to learn how to improve their skills, especially for people who are out of school. 

This talk was one of my favorite talks. Although I had heard this point before, the speaker presented it in a way where he was using his own advice. The title did not disappoint. The speaker, Andrew Robertson, President and CEO at BBDO Worldwide, started off by talking about how he attended a funeral. But not what you think, it was a funeral for his friend’s company. His friend was closing down his company and sent out invitations for the funeral that said, “Smarter than most, funnier than you.” Going to this funeral made and talking to his friends, Robertson realized nobody wants funny anymore. He knew how useful humor is when you’re trying to sell something, but based on statistics, humor has declined. Only 1 in 10 of the 2022 Gold and Grand Prix winners used humor.

Robertson pointed out: Humor makes ads more memorable, distinctive, and recommended. it is more desirable and persuasive. When giving statistics on how humor can add the previous list to ads, he joked that humor is 100% more humorous every time. Humor works with, as he started with, funerals. Humor works in stressful times. Humor works in unlikely categories. Humor is a fantastic way to say sorry. It’s hard to be mad at someone when they’re being funny. The #1 thing people want content creators to be is funny, which is above authenticity and trustworthiness.

I liked the acronym he gave: L.M.F.A.O, which stands for laughter means financial achievements optimized. A very good point Robertson made was, “If brands are truly looking to make the world a better place, we could do a lot worse than make people laugh (and, at the same time, make some money).

Here are the similar or long-form versions of my favorite examples he gave:

I was excited to see what the people at Heineken had to say because they have been in business for so long. The speakers were Bruno Bertelli, the Global CEO of Le Pub, Global CCO of Publicis Worldwide, and CCO of Publicis Groupe Italy at Publicis Worldwide. Heineken likes to battle social issues and make their advertising about socializing and opening up to others in a fun, light, witty way. There needs to be no conflict between purpose and product. Heineken exists to bring people together physically and emotionally and be refreshing with an open-minded. They have constantly claimed these areas. They realized that social life is in danger, even before covid. As a society, we don’t consider it a necessity. People are living alone more. The statistic used to be 13%, not 30%, and there is over a 30% chance of having a stroke if you are lonely. They showed one of their ads that showcased work-life balance as the problem. They learned that their ads need to be deeply personal and local. It was not just about big-scale work but making it a daily thing. Heineken has successfully navigated 150 years of business because they have the same values, voice, and message. I thought it was really interesting when they said, “Heineken was always about good times. Never about selling beer.” This made me think of other successful brands that use the same idea, like Coke and Pepsi. I liked how they focused on how consumers think, feel, and relate to their ads rather than just the product.

We only were required to go to 3 talks this day. I had already planned more than 3 talks I wanted to listen to. I sat in for some of this talk while waiting for another. Suzi Watford, SVP and Chief Growth Officer at SiriusXM, sat down with Jameela Jamil, actress, podcaster, creator, feminist, and activist at I Weigh. I Weigh is an Instagram account run by Jamil, which turned into her making a podcast where she talks about topics like mental health and societal norms. 

Key Takeaways:

• Failure is liberating.

• When we have our mistakes, that’s when we learn. Make those mistakes, don’t hide those mistakes. It makes people feel less alone. Loneliness is one of the highest health crises in the world. 

I knew Jameela Jamil from her role on The Good Place, which I loved. However, I did not know much about her. I enjoyed how candidly she spoke. She was very personable. I had no idea she had a podcast, and I look forward to hearing more about what she has to say.

This talk covered the experience of two co-founders of Talented.Agency, Gautam Reghunath, CEO, and PG Aditiya, Chief Creative Officer. This is one of the talks where I was let down due to my expectations. At this point of the festival, it was the second to last day, and I had already been to a lot of other talks. With that being said, they still had valuable things to say. 

A year ago, the pair decided to start their own advertising agency. They took us along their journey and gave their insights into the advertising space:

• People are getting tired of work, and advertising’s probably had it the worst.

• Now most agencies operate at a 34-40% staff turnover rate

• Every independent agency is a response to what its founding team wants to change about advertising. 

• Proudly copy from your heroes for inspiration. Myth: every single part of your agency needs to be original 

• Craft a financial and company structure that matches your principles

• Picking your co-founder is 50% of the job

• You CAN ‘manufacture’ culture. It’s called choosing the right founding team

• Paid hiring tests are a signal to show that even simple acts of creativity have value

• It’s important to have employee representation on the executive committee and decentralized decision making

• Good creative work is the fasted shortcut to pricing yourself higher

• Do great work. Get great sleep