shots 159: L is for Life Lessons

Mark Tutssel, global chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, takes a long, calm look at how the advertising industry should react to the rush and the push of our tech-led world. Be nimble, move with the fast cultural flow, but trust in the eternal power of creativity and remember, the most powerful message is the truth

The past decade has quite possibly been the most notable our industry has ever experienced. From the introduction of the smartphone to the explosion of social media and the resulting endless supply of data, these innovations have changed our industry forever. Technology has made it ridiculously easy to connect to people, yet incredibly hard for advertising to connect with them. With a swipe we are greeted with messages perfectly tailored to us. With a tap we can instantaneously block a brand from ever contacting us again.

In the yesteryear of advertising, brands were able to buy their way into your life. Now, the only way in is by being interesting, engaging and rewarding.

Brands have to earn attention and interest. They have to empower people to take action. While technology has changed, the fundamental challenge brands face remains the same – how can they create lasting relationships with people?

From data to insight to idea

Technology has made it incredibly easy to collect data, but much harder to find the right data point to stop you in your tracks. We have to know how to sort through the staggering mountain of information and harness it to answer: “Can this change behaviour?” and “How will this affect a brand’s business?”

These were questions we asked ourselves when we were developing the Always #LikeAGirl campaign for P&G. To begin with, we were aware that brand affinity is now more important to people than ever. Everyone has their own unique emotional relationship with certain brands and will choose to connect with and buy from the ones that share their values. This is why purpose-driven brands are succeeding.

Always is a prime example of a brand that has built that focus on purpose into its mission. The spark that got us started was the finding that girls’ confidence drops during puberty, significantly more so than boys. That insight led us to dig deeper into the different factors that influence girls during this vulnerable time.

Every idea needs to be rooted in a comprehensive understanding of human behaviour. Our challenge was to transform that insight about girls’ dwindling confidence into a big, unifying idea that’s daring, inspiring, relevant and shareable.

#LikeAGirl was born, and led to the idea to push for a social experiment, engaging a documentary filmmaker. Equipped with a compelling central idea that helped us “connect with” people, a smart media strategy – putting the film on YouTube, followed by a 60-second spot during the Super Bowl broadcast – allowed us to “connect to” the people we hoped to reach.

The process of data translating into insight translating into an idea snowballed into one of the most influential campaigns ever, capturing the imagination of the world, with more than 90 million views. It was one of the most awarded campaigns at the recent Cannes Lions festival. More importantly, this work has transformed the hearts, minds, and behaviour of the world, igniting a cultural movement and proving that doing something #LikeAGirl isn’t an insult, it means amazing things.

Creativity in the age of technology

Technology is propelling the media world along at an astonishing rate. So how do we connect to an ad-literate generation, who will not tolerate being advertised to? To do this and stay relevant, we must be nimble and move at the speed of culture.

While a great deal has changed, one thing hasn’t – the power of creativity. Without a doubt, creativity has and will continue to reign supreme; the best ideas are the ones that are incredibly simple and rooted in beautiful human truths. In this new dynamic landscape, we have to keep creativity at the forefront of engagement because it remains the most valuable asset in business.

We no longer compete within the advertising industry; we compete with all of pop culture. Nevertheless, we are intuitive people and I still believe that the best way to understand consumers is to observe life. I am an eternal student of human behaviour because this is where you’ll find the truth. The finest strategy in the world is to tell the truth.

Our job is to make the truth interesting, relevant and rewarding. And our business is about creating strong, provocative, emotional relationships between brands and people. We are in a human business. You have to feel the relationship and move people to act.

Great brands have a point of view in life. They know why they exist and have conviction. Technology will truly enable human potential, but I believe creativity will always capture people’s imagination and change the fortunes of brands.

Our responsibility is to create ideas that are valuable to people and brands, and that’s true whether they are staring down, completely immersed in something beyond the screen, or they have their chins up and eyes forward, embracing the world with full voracity.