Cannes Do Attitude: Noble Studios’ First Foray into the Festival of Creativity

For the first time in our agency’s history, Noble Studios attended the Cannes Festival of Creativity, the pinnacle event in the advertising and marketing world. This gathering of the industry’s brightest minds has long been on our radar and this year we finally took the plunge. 

Our goal? To learn, to be inspired and to challenge ourselves in new ways.

Why We Attended

Through his experience with larger agencies, Razib Hossain, Noble’s Associate Creative Director, had been encouraging us to attend Cannes for years. He understood that beyond the glitz and glamor, Cannes represents the pinnacle of creative achievement in our industry. It’s a place where boundaries are pushed, perspectives are challenged and the best in the business gather to share ideas and innovations.

As a growing agency, we felt it was time to step onto this global stage and see how we measured up. We wanted to shake ourselves up, to put ourselves in a place that felt a little uncomfortable at first.

Why? 

Because that unrest and unease is where growth happens. It’s the tension of continuous improvement that drives our “Let’s Be Better Every Day” spirit.

Moreover, we wanted to validate our approaches and philosophies. As an agency that prides itself on balancing creativity with performance, we were eager to see how our methodologies aligned with global industry leaders. Cannes offered us the opportunity to benchmark ourselves against the best and brightest in the field.

Our Experience: A Week of Intensive Learning and Strategic Networking

We dove headfirst into the Cannes experience, embracing a packed schedule that left us exhilarated and inspired each day. Our journey revealed the four main pillars of the festival:

• Learning: We attended over 25 talks and presentations, absorbing insights from industry giants like Nick Law and unexpected voices like Paralympic athlete Dylan Alcott. This wealth of knowledge provided invaluable inspiration for our work.
• Networking: We connected with potential partners and industry peers, engaging in strategic conversations and forming valuable relationships. A chance encounter even led to a connection with a world-class sound designer, highlighting the serendipitous nature of festival networking.
• Exploring: We spent significant time in the awards gallery, studying innovative campaigns from around the world. This comprehensive view of current best practices pushed us to think about how we could elevate our own work.
• Socializing: We participated in evening events, which provided a more relaxed setting for networking and absorbing the festival’s creative energy. These gatherings offered unique opportunities to discuss ideas in a less formal environment.

While we embraced the full spectrum of Cannes activities, our primary focus this first year was on learning and absorbing as much as possible. We approached each day with open minds, ready to soak in new ideas, challenge our assumptions and gather insights that could transform our work back home.

Three Key Themes Emerged

1. Validation: Confirming Our Approach

From the very first keynote by Nick Law, Creative Chairperson at Accenture Song, we felt a sense of validation. 

His talk on the balance between creativity and performance, emotion and data echoed the Creative Digital Performance Marketing philosophies we’ve built into Noble over the past six years. 

Law emphasized that creativity is about connection – combining things in new ways. He spoke about how Steve Jobs brought science to humanity and how people feel, then seek to understand and finally act. This bridge between feeling and understanding is exactly what we strive for in our creative+performance mindset.

The McDonald’s CMO Morgan Flatley and CFO Ian Borden panel further validated our beliefs. They emphasized the importance of taking risks with creative execution while maintaining solid strategic foundations – a principle we’ve long advocated. They shared valuable insights:

• Common metrics, language and goals help build trust within the C-suite and with clients.
• Focus on brand lovers, not haters. The lovers will lift your brand; you can’t change the haters.
• Take risks on execution, not on insights. Do your diligence on insights, then feel free to be creative.
• Be bold; complacency is a bigger risk than taking chances.

These points strongly resonated with our approach at Noble, confirming that we’re on the right track with our strategies and methodologies.

2. Inspiration: Igniting Our Creativity

Cannes is a hotbed of creative inspiration and we found ourselves constantly in awe of the work on display. We watched Es Devlin, the artist behind certain Super Bowl halftime show stage designs, speak about paper airplanes as the epitome of art meeting science. This intersection of creativity and technology is something we strive for in our own work. Devlin’s insight that “the best cure to fear or apprehension is curiosity” struck a chord with us, reinforcing our belief in the power of curiosity-driven innovation.

We also drew inspiration from unexpected sources, like Dylan Alcott, a wheelchair athlete and Paralympic gold medalist, who spoke about marketing to people with disabilities. His emphasis on authenticity and inclusion resonated deeply with our values. Alcott provided five key points:

• Talk to people with disabilities – give them a seat at the table.
• Be consistent – not just a one-time effort.
• Making mistakes is okay; don’t let fear paralyze you.
• Don’t just do it for social equity, do it to make money – they are consumers and there’s a huge audience.
• Don’t get left behind in this important aspect of inclusive marketing.

These insights opened our eyes to new perspectives on inclusive marketing and the importance of authentic representation.

3. Provocation: Challenging Our Status Quo

Perhaps most importantly, Cannes provoked us to think bigger and push harder. We realized there are areas where we need to step up our game, clients we need to challenge more and projects where we can aim higher. The festival lit a fire under us, pushing us to break free from comfortable routines and embrace more innovative thinking.

For instance, the talk by Deepak Chopra and Pranav Yadav from Neuro-Insight challenged us to think about creativity in new ways. They posited that “without uncertainty, there is no creativity” and that “creativity is your soul.” This pushed us to consider how we might embrace uncertainty more in our creative process.

We were also provoked by discussions about AI in marketing. The recurring theme was that “AI won’t take your job, but someone who knows AI will.” This insight is pushing us to reevaluate our approach to AI and consider how we can better integrate it into our work.

The NFL CMO’s presentation on their “Helmet Off” strategy – focusing on humanizing players to create emotional connections with fans – challenged us to think about how we can apply similar strategies to our clients’ brands. It made us realize that sometimes, the simplest ideas can have the most profound impact when executed consistently.

These provocations are driving us to reassess our processes, push our creative boundaries and challenge our clients to be bolder in their marketing efforts. The festival has instilled in us a renewed sense of urgency to innovate and excel in our field.

Key Takeaways and Insights

Throughout the week, we collected nuggets of wisdom that will shape our approach moving forward:

“When we are born it is an unexplained experience, when we die it is an unavoidable experience and the middle is brand experience.” – Anselmo Ramos (GUT)

This poetic perspective from Ramos highlights the pervasive nature of brand experiences in our lives. It challenges us to consider how we can make these experiences meaningful and impactful, given their central role in human existence. It’s also an inside joke since no one really knows what brand experience is. 

“Design for one to scale to many.” – Someone Smart We Can’t Remember

This principle emphasizes the importance of personalized, human-centered design that can be scaled effectively. It reminds us that even in mass marketing, we should start with understanding and designing for individual needs and experiences.

“Science is great for telling us what we have now, but imagination is required to tell us what we could have.” – Not sure

This quote underscores the complementary roles of data-driven approaches and creative thinking in marketing. While science helps us understand the present, it’s imagination that drives innovation and shapes the future.

“Don’t take risks on consumer insight and strategy. Take risk on the execution.” – McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden

This advice aligns perfectly with our approach at Noble. It emphasizes the importance of solid research and strategy as a foundation while encouraging bold, creative executions to bring those insights to life.

“AI is a health coach, guru, researcher and is pulling together all people’s insights.” – Deepak Chopra

Chopra’s perspective on AI highlights its potential to synthesize and apply vast amounts of human knowledge. It challenges us to think about how we can harness AI not just as a tool, but as a collaborator in understanding and serving human needs.

“Without uncertainty comes no creativity.” – Deepak Chopra

This insight resonates deeply with the creative process. It reminds us that embracing uncertainty and venturing into the unknown is often where the most innovative ideas are born.

“AI will make us more human.” – Deepak Chopra 

Chopra’s perspective offers an optimistic view of AI’s role in our industry. By handling mundane tasks, AI can free us to focus on more creative, emotional, and strategic activities that require uniquely human skills. This aligns with our approach of leveraging technology to enhance, rather than replace, human creativity and intuition.

“Use technology to augment humanity” – Dentsu

Speaker demonstrates humans interacting with quadriplegics in a video game This powerful example shows how technology can be used to enhance human experiences and break down barriers. It challenges us to think about how our work in marketing and technology can serve a higher purpose in improving lives.

“My job isn’t culture. My job is math.” – Passerby on the Phone

Actually, everyone’s job is culture. This overheard comment and our response encapsulates a key learning from Cannes. While specialized skills are important, creating a strong culture is everyone’s responsibility. It’s a reminder that in our industry, the best results come when we blend analytical thinking with cultural awareness and creativity.

“Collaboration will save the world.” – James Patterson 

Patterson’s emphasis on collaboration echoes our experience that bringing together diverse perspectives often results in the most creative and effective outcomes.

“Be bold, complacency is a bigger risk.” – McDonald’s CMO Morgan Flatley 

Flatley’s words remind us that in marketing, bold ideas and calculated risks often lead to the most impactful outcomes. At Noble, we’ve seen firsthand how pushing creative boundaries and taking strategic risks can result in campaigns that not only capture attention but also drive meaningful results.

“Work with freaks, make scary stuff and have some bloody fun.” – Nick Law 

This one aligns with Noble’s “Fun Yeah!” principle. We’ve found that our most innovative and impactful work emerges when we create an environment where unique ideas are celebrated, creative boundaries are pushed and fun is an integral part of our daily workflow. This approach not only leads to more engaging campaigns but also fosters a vibrant, energetic culture that fuels our passion for what we do.

Looking Ahead

This intensive week of learning and networking set the foundation for what we hope will be many future Cannes experiences. 

Our first Cannes reaffirmed that Noble Studios belongs on this global stage. We may have arrived at the Cannes Lions as the “lion cub” in a sea of industry giants, but we left feeling validated, inspired and provoked to push our creativity to new heights. 

In the years to come, we anticipate shifting our focus more towards showcasing our own work and expanding our network, but for this inaugural visit, immersing ourselves in the wealth of knowledge and creativity on offer was our top priority.

If you’re planning to attend Cannes next year, we’d love to connect and share experiences. The world of creativity is vast and there’s room for all of us to grow and innovate together.