France: Overview

Paris, the City of Light, has been through heavy times. Even before last year’s terror attacks, the capital’s ad industry was facing a sluggish economy, a confusion of channels and a crisis of national identity. But creativity has bloomed in adversity, fed by young minds at the top of old agencies, a flush of agile, versatile new talent and an eternal passion for the romance of storytelling…

Paris: the most beautiful city in the world; autumn: the loveliest of all the seasons. Together, they’re a sight to make the heart sing. On a fine October day, bathed in glorious sunshine, the City of Light earns its nickname twice over. Chic women don sunglasses and flash shapely legs while pavement tables spill over with locals in animated conversation, sipping their afternoon petit café or glass of pastis. Plumes of cigarette smoke drift upwards on the air; the sense of joie de vivre is palpable. It’s hard to believe that winter is just around the corner.     

But on 13 November 2015, just two weeks after shots’ visit, the capital suffered a terrible tragedy. Less than a year after the terrorist massacre at satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, Islamic fundamentalist group ISIS struck again, killing 130 people in a series of horrific attacks. Among the victims were three of the industry’s own: Publicis Conseil’s Fabrice Dubois, RED/Publicis’ Yannick Minvielle and LocalMedia’s François-Xavier Prévost. At press time, a state of emergency was in force throughout the country, with president Francois Hollande declaring that France was ‘at war’.

Before Paris, and France, was dealt such a devastating, unfathomable blow, the country was still wrestling with the economic legacy of ‘la crise’. While admittedly not as hard-hit as Spain, Portugal and Greece, fast-rising unemployment, sluggish market growth and steep taxes have hampered France’s financial recovery, with the result that advertising budgets have not yet regained pre-2007 levels. Coupled with the fragmentation of campaigns into an ever-increasing number of channels, from digital to social and PR, it’s no wonder agencies and production companies alike are eyeing the generous budgets in markets such as the US, for example, with undisguised envy.

However, Olivier Altmann, founder of agency Altmann + Pacreau believes: “There’s one good thing about the fact clients have less money… you have to be more imaginative and creative. You need to find new ways to get in touch with the consumer.” Paul Kreitmann, creative director at Ogilvy Paris agrees: “We always try to fill the gaps in the budgets with craft. That demands a lot of work and creative solutions.”

A slew of innovative, non-classical projects has been the result of this creativity out of adversity. This year, Marcel topped the French agency table at Cannes with 14 Lions for projects as diverse as Orange Relock Love – a painstaking digital recreation of Paris’s iconic, padlock-smothered Pont des Arts, to preserve every lover’s tribute after the physical tokens were removed – and, following on from last year’s big winner Inglorious Fruits & Vegetables, a second stunt for supermarket chain Intermarché. The Freshest Orange Juice Brand saw individual bottles of freshly-squeezed juice branded according to their exact moment of creation. Meanwhile, Havas boutique Rosapark offered consumers the rather less palatable ‘taste of drowning’ via a daring promo and activation stunt for Tribord, along with the chance to eavesdrop on Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam in Sounds Of The City for Thalys trains.

Over at Ogilvy Paris, innovative, solutions-focused accessories include an ‘arm wrestler’ juice press created for Nestlé’s Healthy Kids campaign, and a ‘screen jacket’, which doubles as a portable projector, to promote Lenovo’s Yoga 3 Pro tablet: “We’re having a lot of fun doing stuff that’s outside our comfort zone, and learning as we go,” says Kreitmann. Over at CLM BBDO, upcoming work includes “a conceptual solution based on product design” for Pedigree.

That’s not to say traditional media are being ignored and, while budgets may be squeezed, the traditional TVC endures: “TV is still the most powerful of all the media, and it may even become more powerful, because it’s the launch pad for a richer [consumer] experience that can continue on other media – digital, or real life,” argues joint Marcel’s CCO Dimitri Guerassimov. However, clients are taking a more cautious approach, says Marc Bodin-Joyeux, executive producer at Passion Paris, by first testing the viability of films online, as was the case for Herezie/Passion’s ongoing Prejudice campaign for financial services provider Cofidis. 

Taking exception to exceptionalism

When it comes to big blockbuster ads, the French can certainly deliver: just look at Ogilvy Paris’s Fleur & Manu-directed spot for Perrier, Hot Air Balloons – a return to an “old-school kind of spectacular” with lush visuals and nods to earlier iconic spots such as the 1991 Cannes Grand Prix winner, Lion. Or BETC, which has found continued success with its cinematic blockbusters for Canal+: Unicorns scooped a silver Lion in Film at Cannes this year. For Altmann, this kind of escapism is a reaction to the less-than-optimistic financial climate: “[Advertising in France] is either all about price, price, price, how to live better for less, or ‘Let’s forget reality and have fun, let’s be entertained in a fantasy world.’” 

Though there have been creative highlights, assessments of the general standard are less glowing. “Like anywhere else, 99 per cent of French advertising is boring,” says Guerassimov. So what of the supreme dedication to craft and form? “As much as I’d love that to be the case [in advertising] I don’t think it is,” says Alexander Kalchev, ECD at DDB Paris, while acknowledging France’s “strong tradition of visual storytelling” and “[the] beautiful work coming out in music video”. Others are adamant that the so-called ‘French touch’ does indeed exist. “French campaigns are very well crafted, there’s definitely something a bit different [about them],” says Nicolas Lautier, creative director at Ogilvy Paris. For Rosapark creative directors, Mark Forgan and Jamie-Edward Standen, that “something” is an artisan’s attention to detail, which informs all aspects of cultural production, from an Hermès handbag down to the humble baguette. Though this preoccupation with form can sometimes overshadow the concept: “The French are more interested in the romance, the story, not the result,” states Forgan.

Stéphane Xiberras, CCO at BETC Paris, puts the “atypical” nature of French adverts down to creatives being “torn between the art of copywriting – what in France is known as ‘the French cultural exception’ – and Anglo-Saxon standards, which seem to be angled more towards efficiency than form. That produces a love-hate attitude to advertising (it’s arty and nice versus it’s commercial, manipulative and bad) which is often reflected in the work.”

Globalisation has also diluted the distinctive French voice, says Matthieu Elkaim, ECD at CLM BBDO: “We’re a bit shy and a bit ashamed to play with who we are… Too many times in French advertising we see work based on global insights. It’s like we try to copy a trend rather than come up with our own.” One agency which bucks the trend, consistently creating strongly Gallic-flavoured work with global resonance is BETC. The recent Air France campaign, France Is In The Air (shot by the misleadingly-named new French directing collective, We Are From LA) is a case in point: quite literally a flight of fantasy celebrating everything from the Tour de France maillot jaune to patisserie, fashion and, of course, l’amour.

Rosapark is also hoping to follow in its stablemate’s footsteps and bring some French je ne sais quoi to the rest of the world. Ten years ago, this was “only about luxury”, says co-founder Jean-François Sacco, “but now we’re exporting [more general] ideas from French culture”. It’s all down to a shift in attitude: “We were too insular before; we didn’t want to mix. France was Versailles, it was Napoleon… but the world is not like this any more.”

It’s not just ideas that are travelling: French talent is also on the move. “More and more young creatives are ready to travel and learn in the US, London and Australia,” states Altmann. Or, as Guerassimov wryly puts it: “Americans have discovered there are other people in the world who know how to do advertising… And then they notice, ‘Shit! They’re three times cheaper – let’s buy them!’” The traffic is also flowing in the other direction, to great creative effect, points out Xiberras: “Today in France we have people coming from all over the world. They are a big reason France is opening up and its productions are becoming more diverse.”

Les boutiques, c’est chic

Back at home, the agency landscape is shifting too. When shots last examined the French scene in 2013, there were just a handful of boutiques, following a trend first started by Fred & Farid; that number is fast rising, counting ‘true’ independents like Herezie, Buzzman, Sid Lee and Jésus, as well as spin-offs from large networks, such as Marcel and Rosapark. They bring a breath of fresh air with their reactive attitude and what Fabien Teichner, co-CCO at Marcel, calls a system of ‘organised chaos’. Many of the current crop of hot shops have been founded by entrepreneurial ex-creative heads of larger networks, seeking a different way of life, with one-time Publicis global creative chief Altmann being the latest to set up his own agency.

This has led to an exciting changing of the guard at the top, as a “new wave” of young 30-something creative directors sweep in: Alexander Kalchev at DDB Paris, Matthieu Elkaim at CLM BBDO and Baptiste Clinet at Ogilvy Paris to name just a few. “It’s good to see the energy and positivity everyone has. There’s no cynicism,” says Kalchev. Their mandate? To instigate change – something that traditional networks are sorely in need of.  

“Outdated business models are the biggest problem that older networks are facing. We want to find a more fluid, clever, agile way to work with the industry,” says Elkaim. It’s not simply a case of unplugging and replugging, adds his colleague, vice president Julien Lemoine, but of making changes “on the fly”. The agency has taken its first steps towards integrated production by installing a new head of production with experience in film and music video – rather than with a traditional agency background – to co-ordinate digital, film, art buying and post production across CLM and its digital sister Proximity, establishing synergies between the two with a view to producing branded and digital content in the next few months. 

Searching for five-footed sheep

Diluting the gene pool is particularly important in France, where creatives tend to be drawn from just two or three advertising schools. Ogilvy Paris is constantly searching for le mouton a cinque pattes [the sheep with five feet] – multi-talented folk with fresh vision – and have recently hired a conceptual artist and a brand designer, both from non-advertising backgrounds, for a new studio focusing on craft and innovation. It’s all part of the agency’s drive to integrate the different facets of social, digital, PR, UX and product design.

The rise in agency in-house production is certainly not unique to France, but it’s nonetheless the biggest issue affecting local production companies, says Wanda’s CEO Patrick Barbier. Smaller and medium-sized production companies have been particularly hard hit by the competition, but more established outfits are now feeling the pinch as well, says Florence Jacob, executive producer at Caviar Paris: “Agencies started these production facilities to provide smaller, lower-budget pieces of content, but now they’re bidding on projects worth €700k – big brands, with big budgets.”

The best way for producers to compete is to hone and sharpen their already-discerning eye for new talent. “In the end, creativity and the strength of our convictions is the key to independent production company success,” states Charlotte Marmion, executive producer at Iconoclast Paris. Jacob agrees: “What we have is the talent to develop talent. So now the competition is about bringing on the right projects, picking the right talent and helping them grow.”

Expanding into international markets, as costly and risky as that may be, is another avenue that French production companies are starting to explore out of necessity: “The French market is small and not enough to satisfy the blossoming talents we produce,” says Barbier, whose production company, Wanda, opened an office in London this year.

“While briefs have stayed creative and ambitious, the crisis has had a massive impact on the budgets,” says Passion’s Bodin-Joyeux. That demands a kind of thrifty creativity that, luckily, the new generation of polymathic directors can provide. Whereas the established likes of Michel Gondry and Frédéric Planchon are specialists in the art of creating ‘The Big Ad’, Dent de Cuir and their fresh-faced ilk are equally at ease shooting a music video or documentary; more importantly, as digital natives, they can “edit, create trailers and act as DOPs as well”, points out Céline Roubaud, EP at Caviar Paris. 

In animation, where France is traditionally strong, tighter budgets have prompted directors such as Manach & Bienvenu to return to traditional crafted 2D techniques, resulting in highly stylized work that’s creatively exciting, not only from a French but also an international perspective, says Bodin-Joyeux. France’s animation schools were previously dominated by the likes of Les Gobelins, but more and more are reaching these lofty standards, producing “astounding talent across the board – not only great directors but great animation artists, too”. 

With promo directors Megaforce, Fleur & Manu and We Are From LA now moving into the global commercials market, there’s no doubt that ‘the Frenchies’ are still à la mode. As Iconoclast’s Marmion points out, “France’s strong music video culture provides a great training ground for new directors to learn their craft and experiment before moving into branded spaces.” And agencies are taking note: by bringing Fleur & Manu on board for Hot Air Balloons, Ogilvy eschewed “the easy choice of a big director who’s already made these kind of films – we went for new directors that had never done that. They were kind of scared, but that’s interesting because they push their own boundaries, and make it the best they can,” says Kreitmann.

One other heartening trend is the rise of girl power in French production. Caviar Paris, Carnibird, Frenzy and Superette are all examples of local production companies managed by women. Jacob, who has worked in production all over the world, sees this development as particularly important, given the country’s strong patriarchal tradition: “In France [production] is very male-driven, and yes, there’s still a glass ceiling. We’ve all got the same stories. So it’s nice to see that this is finally changing.”

Positive changes like these offer small rays of hope against the tragic backdrop of recent events. Though it’s too soon to speculate how the creative industry might be affected, there’s hope that the legendary joie de vivre, the essence of France, will prevail. After all, in the words of a reader’s comment on the New York Times site, “No country does life on earth better than the French.”