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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Experian Marketing Services Consumer Expectation Index shows positive outlook for 2012 holiday season Today we released the newest Experian Marketing Services’ Consumer Expectation Index (CEI) analysis of the first half of 2012. As noted in the release, during the first six months of 2012 we reported that consumer optimism has reached an all-time high over the last four years, beating 2008 by 8 index points. The CEI provides us with unprecedented insight into our economic outlook by who we are; men versus woman, age, household income and employment status, to name a few of the 60,000 variables that we have access to. What’s most striking about today’s release is that optimism is up across the board among men and woman and all age groups; even the unemployed increased their economic outlook from an index of 87.6 to 88.0 from the first half of 2011 to the same period this year. As we approach the holiday season, the latest CEI figures indicate a strong seasonal performance for retailers. The CEI figure for the week of Sept. 3, 2012, (the most recent single week for which data is available) was 7.4 points higher than it was at the same point last year and higher than it has been heading into the holiday season since 2008. This holiday season also could be very good for brands and retailers with big-ticket items to sell Further, key consumer groups are even more optimistic. On Sept. 3, the CEI of those adults who made an online purchase in the past year was 2 percent higher than the national average and 8.1 points higher than the CEI recorded for online shoppers at this time during 2011. This holiday season also could be very good for brands and retailers with big-ticket items to sell, since the CEI among adults planning to make a big-ticket purchase hit 117.9 the week of Sept. 3, 2012, compared with 103.5 the same week in 2011 and 100.5 in 2010. In fact, a CEI above 100 indicates that consumers are more confident than they were during the base line period, which was the first half of 2004, years before the recession began. Perhaps it’s all the talk of the looming fiscal cliff that makes today’s release appear to be counter-intuitive. In fact searches for “fiscal cliff” increased over ten-fold comparing last week to the week ending November 3rd. However, if we look for what people were searching for using search term variations, the top searches were “what is the fiscal cliff” and “fiscal cliff definition,” showing that consumers are still learning what the fiscal cliff is and what it means for them. Hitwise "Fiscal Cliff" Search Term Variations Rank Search Term Percent Volume 1 fiscal cliff 48.07% 2 what is the fiscal cliff 6.74% 3 fiscal cliff definition 6.58% 4 fiscal cliff 2013 6.28% 5 obama fiscal cliff 2.83% 6 what is a fiscal cliff 2.40% 7 the fiscal cliff 1.13% 8 what is fiscal cliff 1.06% 9 fiscal cliff looms 1.03% 10 fiscal cliff defined 0.77% Note – data is for the 4 Weeks Ending November 10, 2012 Source: Experian Marketing Services As the population becomes more educated on the looming crisis, we’ll keep tabs on any resulting changes to consumer optimism, specifically which demographics are most concerned. Learn more about the CEI here.
It is time for us to polish off our crystal ball and give our predictions straight from consumers’ fingertips for the hot products of the 2012 holiday season. Gadgets will reign across many ages Tablets including LeapPads, Tabeos, iPads, Kindles and others will continue to be a popular gift this year, with more choices than ever. On the list of top product-related search terms driving traffic to the Retail 500 category of sites, Kindle Fire HD and Windows 8 top the list as new products. Additionally, Meep!, a child friendly tablet appeared in the top fifteen. Accessories for both phones and tablets will also be popular, especially as the variety grows for iPhone 5 and iPad Mini. A reoccurring favorite gift for the holidays is UGGs which shows a decrease year over year. However, another brand with a similar product is Bearpaw, which is in the top ten searches and has seen big growth year over year. Source: Experian Hitwise Dolls, video games and Furbys, oh my! To identify the popular toys for gifts this year, we researched product-related search terms driving traffic to ToysRUs.com compared to last year’s holiday season. We uncovered trends in the doll category, Doc McStuffins as number one on the list, along with the classic Barbie, which saw a growth in searches year over year. The Furby is making a strong comeback at the number two spot with a reboot and new features. Another trend here is tablets, from branded searches like LeapPad and Kurio there is also the generic term ‘tablets for kids’. In the video game category, the new Wii U that is debuting just in time for Black Friday and should be a big gift this year, along with searches for PS3 games and the Nintendo 3ds xl are all in the top 20 searches. Source: Experian Hitwise Keywords of the consumer to identify demand Beyond product names, it is important to understand the actual way people search, using key phrases and questions. Last year, for example, there was a lot of activity around ‘in-stock’ products, such as the LeapPad explorer, which was hugely popular and quickly sold out in many stores. Retailers and marketers should monitor this throughout the season and make sure to optimize for in stock if there is a popular product that they have available. Source: Experian Hitwise Consumers also focus on what is the ‘best’ – so we see search activity around ‘best place to buy’, particularly around electronics. Questions such as ‘where to buy a’ specific product are also common, such as ‘where to buy a kindle’. These phrases offer opportunities to boost search campaigns by considering how consumers phrase their questions to ensure to capture these searches. Source: Experian Hitwise Quick tip: In the retail category there will tend to be a lot of retail branded store terms but to keep up with holiday search behavior and help make analysis quick, create portfolios of branded terms to easily exclude those from a certain category. When you strip out all the variations of that term you are able to gain insight into product searches that are most popular to a certain site or category. For more insight on the hot product trends for this year from our Hitwise trend-spotters, watch our webcast.
The holiday season – a most wonderful time of the year for retailers – is underway and marketers are tweaking their campaigns for better customer engagement and enchantment. There are many channels in which to reach top customers and prospective customers, and the new holiday season is a great time to refine strategies and tactics to ensure success. To help marketers in their quest, Experian Marketing Services recently conducted a market research study and learned that email marketing trumped all other tactics as the most successful initiative during the 2011 holiday season. Of the 84.2 percent who used email marketing, 95.8 percent reported that their campaigns were successful. Ninety-three percent said they planned to increase or maintain the same level of investment for the 2012 season. In addition to email, the study showed that paid search and online display advertising were the next most successful marketing tactics of the 2011 holiday season, with 48.9 percent naming search and 34.8 naming online display advertising as extremely or very successful campaign tactics. Our internal experts are currently looking at real-time data around these and other marketing channels and will present what they’ve learned during a live webinar on Thursday, October 25th at 1:00 p.m. EST. This information should prove very helpful to marketers who want to improve their campaigns based on current trends and results. Register for the holiday webinar and you’ll receive all of the survey data in the form of a 2012 holiday marketing white paper. Here’s to a joyous and profitable holiday season!