Amir Kassaei Says 'Do This Or Die'

Two weeks ago, at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Amir Kassaei, DDB's global chief creative officer, took to the stage to deliver the final seminar of the week's events in the Debussy theatre, entitled Do This Or Die. And he didn't hold back.

Looking palpably annoyed, Kassaei delivered a speech which, in modern parlance, tore the industry a new one.

Railing against what he perceived as advertising's creative decline, it's lack of relevance and soul and the sometimes corrosive effects of awards shows, Kassaei castigated a business which, he beileves, has lost its way.

Immediately after his seminar, Kassaei spoke to shots expanding on some of his points and attempting to explain what, in his opinion, has gone wrong.

During your talk in you genuinely seemed angry and upset at the state of the industry.

I’m worried and it’s not a mood. I always used to be critical in terms of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, but this week [in Cannes] that was kind of the pinnacle of all the wrong things that are happening.

It’s my feeling, and I believe a lot of people have the same feeling, but they don’t have the guts to say it. And, as an industry we have to start discussing some of the things that we’re doing wrong at the moment. 

Have you spoken to other people in your position about this? Is there a sense of agreement on your view?

There are a lot of people aware of the issues. I don’t think that I am alone, but I’m willing to say it out loud.

Why is that? What is it that others have got to lose?

I think it’s a human thing that you are trying to fool yourself and live with it. It’s easier and less painful than to look at yourself and say there is something fundamentally going wrong [with the industry] and that I cannot carry on like this, and have to change it. 

And that I have to change it not because it’s a business. I have to change it because it represents values that I need in life to believe in the good, to believe in the right things. To do what I should do in the best and most responsible way.

For some, it’s easier to just say oh yes, yes… and then move on [in the same way].

Do you think it’s just apathy?

It’s a really tough time because the world is changing so fast, especially in our industry with all of the technological stuff that is happening. It’s tough to catch up, it’s tough to understand what is going on. People are lost and trying to catch up.

You mentioned that “we’re running a race that we can’t ever win”; did you mean people are so obsessed with technology and the evolution of that side of things that they forget the reasons why they are doing it? 

We are getting forced to change, which is not a bad thing, but we are changing in a fundamental way and that is the wrong way. I’m not saying I’m against technology, no, I love technology, and what is happening at the moment is one of the greatest things that could happen to us.

You have a tool, for the first time, to do the job in the right way, but my feeling is that people believe if we are not becoming the new “whatever,” we are nothing - which is wrong.

How long do you think that the industry has been like this?

If you just walk around [Cannes], it’s not about creativity, it’s not the Festival of Creativity any more. It’s a convention. And then if you see the ideas, it’s like being a car company, where you are amazing in producing prototypes for car shows, but you are unable to produce a real car for real people.

Is that what you think; ads are being made purely for the ad industry?

You have to have prototypes because they show you what is possible. But if you’re not able to do the real job, then you have a problem. Now, it would be interesting to see how much of the work that you see [in Cannes], which we are awarding, had any kind of meaning or relevance in the real life of customers. 

Are we looking at and measuring the wrong elements of a campaign?

You should measure the relevance in the life of people, because if you’re relevant every other thing will happen as a consequence and you will be successful, you will gain market share, you will be a successful brand. If you are relevant in the consumer’s life, as a brand, you will be part of the consumer’s life and everything else will come together. 

Is the self-congratulatory element of Cannes, and similar events, not really helping the situation?

I’m not saying [awards are] wrong in general, but I think a lot of people have lost the right approach; [believing] that the job is to do everything that you can do to win an award. No, that’s not the job.

You should get the recognition if you are amazing and doing what you should do in a brilliant way. But if your whole existence, whole focus, whole energy is going into how many awards you can win [but] forgetting about the real job, forgetting about the real connection to real people, and living in a bubble… we are just celebrating ourselves.

What’s your view on the current buzzword; content? 

The problem I have is you’re always trying to come up with the next buzzword which makes it cool to sell to clients. We have always created content, always. And we always created branded entertainment, and yes, it will always be there, so we are talking about stuff that has always been there, we’re now just repackaging it.

And what about data; has the industry come to rely on that too much?

Data is also funny. I read a quote the other day about big data; somebody was saying that big data is like teenage sex, everybody is talking about it, but nobody really knows how to do it, and everybody is claiming they are doing it because everybody believes that everybody else is doing it. That is data.

And, if you look at it, at the moment there is nobody, not even the technology companies, who are able to connect these different types of data in a way that you can generate something valuable out of it. 

One example; you know Spotify? You can sign in via your Facebook account to Spotify, and if I’m working on the computer, in the background Spotify is on, and I’m a jazz fan and so the other day I was listening to Duke Ellington’s Jeep Blues. Two weeks later, on my Facebook feed, I’m getting advertising for the car brand Jeep. That is so annoying.

I am not saying data is not important. I think all these tools that you have now are great, if you still stick to what your main purpose is. Use them, sure, but do the right thing.

You were very forthright about advertising and advertisers taking advantage of charities and NGOs [Kassaei mentioned the increasing accounts of agencies creating work for charities to win awards, but the charity not benefiting in the long term].

I respect everybody who dedicates their life to help other people, but I don’t have any respect for people who are doing it to get an award. You cannot do that.

There are brands who are now talking about corporate social responsibility. If you mean it, if you live it, great, but people have a very good sense for bullshit.

And there are brands who are really living it, [but] there are brands who are doing it because it sounds modern, it sounds more relevant, it’s a cool marketing gap, and that is wrong.

Is it just that it is very hard to be relevant in this day and age? 

No, it’s even easier. Do you know why? Because in 10 years, 15 years from now, we will be living in a world where everything is connected, where everything is in this digital infrastructure, and I believe that people will know everything in real-time.

It will make it even easier to be relevant, because the moment that you are relevant, even in a small spot on a small touch point, the people will do the rest of the job for you. That’s what I believe.

And don’t get me wrong, I think creating relevance is hard, but if it was easy everybody would do it, and then there is no reason for us to say we are special. Finding a relevance is not easy, but there are people who can do it, they are great at it in the advertising industry.

Do clients also have a part to play in this? 

Yes, but the problem is the client is lost. People are telling them “you have to be there,” “you have to do that,” “you have to do this”.

And I think our job and responsibility is to guide our clients, take their hand and say, “yes, it’s a crazy world outside and it’s complicated and it’s changing very fast, but stick to where you are. Have that long phase plan and don’t lose your values. And you have to adapt and we will help you to adapt, but don’t lose focus.” 

What about the ‘cult of the new’, where, every time a new idea or social media platform or piece of technology comes along, advertisers have to jump on it.

But what does it mean if you, as a brand, have 200 million likes? Why is everybody saying that if you have 200 million likes then it’s great? What does it mean if you have an Instagram account with 200 million followers?

Is there some value in that, in its reach?

Awareness, probably, but awareness will not help you if you are not relevant, awareness doesn’t mean anything. And the problem is awareness is so expensive and it’s getting even more expensive.

You mean media buying?

Yes, because you have to invest a lot of money to create this awareness. Whereas I believe if you create relevance it’s much, much cheaper. 

And as the creative head of DDB is that something you’re constantly instilling in the agency?

That is the very idea, the vision that we have for the company. Create influence, because if you are influential it’s a completely different game than if you are simply liked. Influence means that you actually have influence in society, you have influence on people, you have influence in culture, you are changing things.

In your opinion, what are some brands that are doing it right and are relevant?

The most valuable company on the planet is the most relevant brand.

Apple.

Yes. And the interesting thing, I don’t know if you know this, but it’s the most shared, most discussed, most liked brand in virtual space.  

And that’s just because the products they release are relevant?

No, because I believe they understand that the job is about being relevant. But if I’m experiencing an Apple product, there is an emotional connection to it [and] I know there are many dedicated people who are giving everything that they can every day to come up with the best possible products for my life.

And I’m willing to pay a premium for it every year. It’s amazing, and I’m saying, yes I want to have the next phone and I want to have the next one, it’s amazing. But they are not forcing people.

They are found to be so relevant in a specific part of my life, which is digital lifestyle. And there are other categories and other brands who also are relevant in other parts of my life. But a lot of brands are just only trying to annoy to me.

Do you mean interrupt your life?

Yes, interrupt and annoy me. If you have something valuable for my life, I will sit here and I will listen, but don’t annoy me all the time about how great you are, how amazing you are.

It’s like me sitting here, and we don’t know each other, and I talk for 45 minutes without interruption about how great I am. What would you think? You would think, what an arsehole, right? But that is exactly what is happening 90 per cent of the time. 

And I’m not only doing it here; every time that you are on YouTube I’m appearing, I want to talk to you. And then if you are on Twitter, all of a sudden there I am again and I’m telling you the same stuff. And then on Instagram I’m putting up all the photos of my great, funky life... please, cut this out.

I don’t want to sound negative, I love [advertising] so much that I want to find a way for us, for all of us, to be where we should be and to be great in what we are, instead of doing stuff that is not really related to what we should do.

Do you think things are changing? 

I think there are a few people or a few agencies who have the same kind of purpose or same mission, but it’s not a broad movement. And again, I can understand because it’s easy. It’s easy to just fool yourself.

How do you think that change will occur? 

Either it will be painful, really painful, where the whole thing is blown away and then you have to rebuild something out of it. Or there will be, I hope there will be, more and more people realising, wait a second, what are we doing here?, and start to navigate.

But it will not be my generation anyway. It will be the next generation which will come. In 10 or 15 years, you will see either there is no Cannes anymore, there’s no advertising anymore, no creativity in advertising, or it will be completely different.

Do you think too much of focus has gone from the advertising inspiration to being in thrall of tech companies like Google and Facebook?

All these guys, they are selling advertising. We’re not selling advertising, we are selling products and services. That is the big difference. Google is selling advertising. I am selling products and services.

Should it be the other way round then; they should be adapting to us?

Technological algorithms will never create magic. We are creating magic, we’re moving things.

What do you hope for in the next year, two years, five years; do you think people will start taking on board the things you’ve mentioned?

I think the only thing that we can do as a company, as DDB, because of our heritage and because of our special position within this industry, we have to be at the forefront. We have to have this responsibility and also thought-leadership.

We are trying to adapt to that. I’m not saying that 100 per cent of DDB is where we want to be, but at least the attitude is there, at least the will is there. And I hope more and more people are waking up and saying wait a minute, what are we doing here? We are spending millions to award prototypes at festivals.

It’s amazing. And you forgot about building a real car that you can drive from A to B and which helps you in your life. Forget about it. Amazing looking prototypes, look at it. Wow. It will never drive, never drive, but it looks great.