You can’t ignore the world’s biggest advertising festival, Cannes
Lions, and its impact. Yet talking about
sustainability at an advertising festival as grand as Cannes can still feel like
pitching peace at a weapons conference.
Marcel Marcondes, global CMO of
AB InBev, opened the festival – he did so, because AB InBev is the first
brand in the festival’s history was named Advertiser of the Year for the second
year in a
row
for its successful and effective way of driving growth. He reminded us that,
while everyone can make
mistakes,
his role is to utilize creativity and his partner agencies’ creativity to drive
that growth.
The big question is: Can the advertising industry ever grow responsibly? The
urgent call for climate
action
launched ahead of Cannes Lions this year stayed mostly unanswered across both
the programming and the conversations. DEI was strongly represented, as it has
been for many years — and it is supported by a Glass
Lion; yet,
climate still doesn’t have an award or even a focused track at the festival.
This is a disappointment, as our industry lacks education — as is evident on the
reemerged focus on
greenwashing.
For me, it’s like going back a decade, when greenwashing was first a concern.
It’s incredibly sad to see that we keep talking about the same things instead of
exploring the tougher topics.
There’s a push to turn sustainability and climate into a black and white topic.
It’s the industry’s own fault, with its counterproductive focus on corporate
activism — which, for the most part, is virtue
signaling.
The way forward is to be found in the nuances within the topic of sustainability
— and that’s what we need to discuss at Cannes. It should be a meeting of peers,
where we’re not afraid to discuss and where we acknowledge it’s ok to disagree.
We need honest climate conversations — not yet another sales pitch from a brand
that went from talking about the greatest mayonnaise in the world to how great
it is at saving the world.
Standout climate-related creative
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As big a disappointment as Cannes Lions was across programming and the lack of
focus on climate, it’s the first time in its history that we’ve seen that many
Grand
Prixes
and Golds focused on climate. My top pick would be the campaign by the
United Nations Global Compact’s Brazilian arm that turned Earth into a
company, EART4, and took it public on the stock exchange.
The work shines a light on the importance of putting a value on our planetary
dependency — and how climate change is creating real economic havoc around the
world.
It was also great to see the challenges transforming the Global South being
tackled in a second Grand Prix. As rising sea levels due to climate change
threaten its physical territory, the island country of Tuvalu has been forced to become the
“world’s first digital nation.”
The Solar Impulse Foundation, founded by explorer
and environmentalist Bertrand
Piccard,
launched an exciting legislative push in France — “Prêt à
Voter” (“ready to vote”). It’s
50 law proposals shared with elected French MPs to help accelerate current
regulations for the climate transition; already, three of them have been
adopted. Creativity does work!
I also want to share one low-tech idea: Life-Extending
Stickers — clever produce stickers created by South African retailer
Makro that can help consumers stop wasting fresh
fruit and vegetables by educating them on how to use different items at
different stages of ripeness. The sticker’s gradient matches the
ripeness color of various fruits and vegetables. Along the wheel, text shows you the
best way to cook it at each color: Bananas, for example, smoothly transition
from green (fry it) to yellow (ice cream) to slightly brown (tempura) to brown
(“cupcake”).
Lights, camera, climate action?
There are two types of brands in Cannes. Those that stick to their strategy and
despite economic uncertainty push forward on sustainability. And then there are
those that think short term and abandon the ‘green’ ship (it’s like pissing in
your pants — it will stink at some point).
Let’s embrace failure. I’m not
perfect (admittedly, I sometimes unintentionally help companies that greenwash;
but on a good day, I believe I’m leaving an impact) and our industry is far from
perfect (it’s still an oxymoron to talk about sustainability and
advertising).
Yet let’s embrace creativity and put marketing and advertising as the lead horse
behind responsible and, hopefully one day, sustainable or even regenerative
growth. Our climate-changing world is just waiting for us to answer.
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Thomas Kolster is an internationally recognised marketing & sustainability expert, author and keynote speaker, and founder of the global Goodvertising movement that’s inspired a shift in advertising for the better.
Published Jun 26, 2023 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST