As I walked onto the buzzing streets of Cannes for the first time, my senses were immediately captivated by the energy that filled the air. I’d heard plenty about Cannes Lions, the globally revered International Festival of Creativity, but being in the midst of it all was an entirely different ballgame.
1. A visual extravaganza
From the moment I woke up from my two-hour nap, (Seattle was a long way to travel to Cannes), I was awestruck by the grandeur of the festival. Usually known for its tranquil beauty, the city was alive and brimming with imagination. Massive installations, eye-catching billboards, and immersive media experiences were scattered over the two-kilometer stretch of La Croisette, transforming the city into a canvas of creativity. I saw firsthand how abstract concepts could be turned into palpable realities, especially those of Spotify, Yahoo!, and Stagwell’s Sport Beach with their basketball court with stadium seating setup.
2. Nuggets of wisdom shared in panels
The festival’s days were jam-packed with thought leadership panels – each a masterclass in the ever-evolving universe of AdTech. Fortunately, as a member of the Experian team, I didn’t have to travel far for unique panels; we hosted four panels throughout the week, and I was immersed in dynamic discussions about new trends, groundbreaking ideas, and the challenges ahead.
One recurring theme that resonated with me was the intricacies of authentically connecting with consumers. Finding genuine human connections amidst digital chaos can be challenging in today’s tech-driven world. These dialogues provided incredible insights into how we could maintain the delicate balance between personalization and privacy and effectively use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance customer engagement without compromising the human essence in advertising.
3. Connect with your peers
If Cannes Lions is known for anything apart from its creative inspiration, it’s the unparalleled networking opportunities. The festival allowed me to interact with professionals from all corners of the world. Each exchange was not merely about exchanging contact details but building meaningful relationships. Will these first arcs lead to meaningful friendships? I sure hope so.
4. A comprehensive learning opportunity
The most crucial aspect of the festival was the immense opportunity it offered for learning. I found myself constantly absorbing new information and insights from the panels, every conversation, and every chance meeting.
5. Juggle your time
Effective time management was crucial for maximizing my Cannes experience, with many things happening concurrently. I would give myself a B- for this. During the day, when I had some downtime, I could have ventured to another panel, attended a networking event, or taken in a view of the city I didn’t get. That’s the biggest challenge, and the beauty of Cannes Lions is its unique blend of professional learning opportunities set against the backdrop of a picturesque seaside town, but how do you do it all?
6. Relish the experience
My week at Cannes was filled with intense learning, insightful conversations, and eye-opening experiences, leaving me mentally drained and intellectually stimulated (I think those can happen concurrently). The festival left me with a renewed appreciation of why we do what we do in the AdTech industry: supporting the pursuit of creativity, the drive for innovation, and the desire to forge meaningful connections.
Cannes Lions was more than just a festival – it was a week of stepping out of my comfort zone, gaining deep insights, and establishing relationships that I hope will last a lifetime. As I boarded my flight out of Nice, surrounded by adults with layers of event access bracelets, I was inspired and stacked with knowledge and ideas that will help drive meaningful marketing opportunities with our content and partnerships.
The grandeur, the learning sessions, the networking, and the profound lessons exceeded all my expectations. My week at Cannes Lions was unique, intense, insightful, and unforgettable. It was an experience I can’t wait to repeat!
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New data from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons® ConnectSM mobile and digital panel sheds light on the way smartphone users spend time using their phone, with the average adult clocking 58 minutes daily on their device. On average, smartphone owners devote 26% of the time they spend on their phone talking and another 20% texting. Social networking eats up 16% of smartphone time while browsing the mobile web accounts for 14% of time spent. Emailing and playing games account for roughly 9% and 8% of daily smartphone time, respectively, while use of the phone’s camera and GPS each take up another 2% of our smartphone day. *Activities include use of a smartphone’s native features dedicated to each activity as well as downloaded apps whose primary function falls under the given activity. For instance, “watch video” includes the act of watching video on the smartphone’s native video player as well as use of video apps such as YouTube, Netflix, etc. iPhone versus Android users Smartphone users may constantly debate which operating system is supreme, but we see clear differences between the ways consumers use their phone depending on the operating system that runs it. For starters, iPhone users spend an hour and fifteen minutes using their phones per day, a full 26 minutes more than the typical Android phone owner. Additionally, iPhone and Android smartphone owners use their phones in markedly different ways. For instance, 28% of the time that Android users spend using their phones is dedicated to talking, whereas iPhone users spend only 22% of their smartphone time talking on the device. Android owners also devote a greater share of time visiting websites on their phone than iPhone owners. On the other hand, iPhone owners spend a disproportionately greater share of smartphone time than Android owners texting, emailing, using the camera and social networking. Note on time spent It may surprise some to read that an activity like watching video accounts for such a small share (less than 1%) of the typical adult’s daily smartphone use. However, for the charts above to sum to a single daily total it was necessary to calculate individual activity contribution using a base of all smartphone owners, including those who don’t spend any time engaging in a given activity during a typical day. The chart below provides additional insights into the time spent engaging in the major smartphone activities examining only those individuals who engaged in each activity during a 24-hour period. I’ve also added into the chart a reach and frequency metric to indicate the popularity of each activity and the number of times per day that individuals engage in them. In the chart, the activities with the largest bubbles are those in which the greatest share of smartphone owners engage during a typical day and include the usual suspects: talking (79%), texting (76%), visiting websites (62%), emailing (61%) and social networking (52%). Activities with the fewest daily participants are: watching video, which 2.3% of smartphone owners do during a typical day, and reading, which just 0.5% of smartphone owners do daily. Given that nearly 98% of smartphone users don’t watch videos on their phone during a typical day, it’s easier to understand why video comprises such a low share of the average adult’s daily smartphone use. However, the chart above reveals that those who do watch video on their phone spend, on average, 5 minutes a day watching videos spread out over 4.2 different viewing sessions. For more information on consumers’ usage of smartphones, digital tablets, computers and other traditional and digital media platforms, check out Simmons Connect.
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If the time spent on the Internet for personal computers was distilled into an hour then 27 percent of it would be spent on social networking and forums across the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. In the U.S., 16 minutes out of every hour online is spent on social networking and forums, nine minutes on entertainment sites and five minutes shopping. Global comparison In the UK, 13 minutes out of every hour online is spent on social networking and forums, nine minutes on entertainment sites and six minutes shopping. Australian Internet users spend 14 minutes on social sites, nine on entertainment and four minutes shopping online. Across all three markets, time spent shopping online grew year-over-year, but the UK market emerged as having the most prolific online shoppers, spending proportionally more time on retail Websites than online users in the U.S. or Australia. British Internet users spent 10 percent of all time online shopping in 2012, compared to nine percent in the U.S. and six percent in Australia. This was in part due to a bumper winter holiday season in the UK where 370 million hours were spent shopping online, 24 percent higher than the monthly average. Consumption of news content also increased across all three markets with Australian users emerging as the most voracious consumers of news online. Six percent of all time spent online in Australia in 2012 was on a news Website, compared to five percent in the UK and four percent in the U.S. Meanwhile, the time spent on social media proportionate to other online activities declined across all three regions. The U.S., which has been the most dominant market for social media consumption in the last three years dropped from 30 percent of all time spent online to 27 percent. In Australia time spent on social dropped from 27 percent to 24 percent while in the UK it dipped from 25 percent to 22 percent year-over-year. This highlights the rise in access via 3G and 4G networks as consumers spend increasingly more time online while on the move. "Understanding consumer behavior across channels is more important than ever as more visits are being made on the move, particularly among social networking and email,” says Bill Tancer, general manager of global research for Experian Marketing Services. "With smartphones and tablets becoming more powerful, our data clearly indicates the difference between mobile and traditional desktop usage further enabling the ‘always on’ consumer mentality. Marketers need to understand these differences, as well as regionally, to ensure campaigns can be tailored for better and more effective engagement.” Mobile browsing When looking at the U.S. browsing data for mobile devices, email accounted for the largest time spent on average, for the same categories for Q1 2013. Email made up 23 percent of time spent on mobile devices for Q1-13, while social networking accounted for 15 percent. Entertainment had the third highest time spent with 13 percent, followed by shopping with 11 percent and travel with 9 percent. The mobile data does not include app usage, but does include mobile browsing within an app. Read more of the latest consumer trends in The 2013 Digital Marketer Report Learn more about consumer online behavior by visiting our Online Trends page Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham