Health Paper

The Lions Health campaign that I chose to analyze was uncoincidentally the one that hit me hardest during the Health awards on Saturday night, a campaign for the Burns & Smiles Foundation in Paris, France.  The organization's goal is to end the stigma of fear often associated with burn victims, as well as providing such victims with support groups and outlets to eliminate feelings of isolation and loneliness.

The ad starts with a view of a man in his house at night, seemingly talking to himself excitedly. We soon learn that the man is a burn victim, evident by the many scars covering his face. It is Halloween, and after handing several children candy he dresses up and goes out for what is apparently the first time in a long time. He walks the streets, rides a ferris wheel, goes out drinking, and dances with a girl at a bar, all while laughing and smiling. Nobody questions his scars or disfigured face because they all assume it's just a costume. It is later explained that Halloween is the only day in which a burn victim feels they can be themselves, and then showcases the Burns & Smiles logo.

Personally, I believe that this ad was extremely effective. After watching it, I truly could not stop thinking about how different life is for a burn victim. Even now, a few days later, I still find myself thinking about the man with the top hat just trying to live a normal life for one day out of the year.

While the ad was effective for me, I do see several ways it could have been potentially improved. For starters, the ad didn't portray how a burn victim is treated on a normal day to day basis. I think that a huge opportunity to teach others how truly different life is for these people was missed by only showing the man on Halloween. I feel that the audience's comparison of the man on a normal day and on Halloween would have been even more effective.

In class, we discussed several models that have been developed to determine the effectiveness of health ads; in this case, I see the Transtheoretical Model falling in step with this particular PSA.  According to the Transtheoretical Model, also called the stages of change theory, people go through several stages following a call to action before they actually begin to complete that action regularly.

The first stage of the Transtheoretical Model is Precontemplation, in which the person in question has not even begun to think of the call to action.  This stage would be equivalent to the time period before being exposed to the Burns and Smiles advertisement.

The second stage is called Contemplation.  In this stage, the person begins considering making a change to their preexisting routine, but is not yet committed to doing so.  This would be equivalent to the period of time just after viewing the advertisement; for me, it was prolonged for the next few days, because my mind would continue to wander back to the touching commercial but I still knew too little about the organization to consider donating or raising awareness.

The next stage in this model is called Preparation, in which the call to action becomes so strong during the Contemplation stage that the person begins actively preparing to change their normal actions towards a particular event or subject.  Personally, I believe that I am still in this stage. I have begun to educate myself on the mission of the Burns and Smiles organization and am still trying to figure out what exactly I can do to help, but have not actually made a conscious action quite yet.

The fourth stage is appropriately titled the Action stage, because it signifies the first time the person in question makes the action that the ad has called them to.  In this case, it would signify the first time someone shares the ad on Facebook or even donates to the foundation, because they are fulfilling the exact actions that the advertisement is calling them to do.

The last stage is the Maintenance stage, which is simply the transition from a one time action to a repeated action.  This could be as simple as continuing to raise awareness for the Burns and Smiles foundation through sharing articles and news on social media or as large as donating on a repetitive basis.

Overall, this campaign was an incredible use of creativity and storytelling to deliver a message and construct a call to action.  Truthfully, before I attended the Lions Health seminars and viewed the work submitted for that particular category, I was not interested in the health industry in the slightest. To me, it was entirely pointless pharmaceutical commercials with side effects dominating eighty percent of the content.  However, after seeing how inspirational and creative health advertisements and PSAs can truly be, I find myself more open to delving into that particular industry in the future.

Cannes Lions day 5

Wednesday was by far the busiest day that I experienced at the festival. While I was thankful to get to bed that night, it was by far one of my favorite days (and not just because of the multiple celebrity encounters we had). 

My favorite interview that I went to was "How Adidas Lost its Stride," featuring Stan Smith, Alexander Wang, and the CMO of Adidas. The talk was about how Adidas constantly rebrands itself and how that method is what has kept it afloat over the past few decades. I am really skeptical of this claim; while rebranding is necessary when a company is going through a prolonged rough patch, I don't think it's necessary to constantly rebrand and rebrand and rebrand, especially if your brand isn't even doing badly to begin with. Why fix something that isn't broken? From the way it was framed in the interview, Adidas's success came mostly from the way that they are able to rebrand themselves through total brand overhauls; however, I question whether the whole story is being told. It seems to me that a brand with such a loyal consumer base as Adidas must be keeping some aspect of its brand around, or else realistically it would have to build its consumers back up again with each total rebrand. 

I also went to a discussion session between truTV's Impractical Jokers and Colin Jost from Saturday Night Live. The talk was supposed to be discussing the concept of the fandom, and how the Jokers built and continue to maintain their fan base. In between hilarious jokes and audience interaction, the Jokers explained that the key to maintaining a fan base in any regard is to break down walls between them and the fans as much as possible. They stressed that staying humble is a key factor in making their fans feel as if they know them personally. I think that this is an important thing to keep in mind, especially if my future career involves a company/personality that relies on loyal consumers/fans. While the content of the beginning of the talk was interesting, Colin Josh's moderation and interviewing skills were extremely lacking and took away from what could have been an incredible talk. He was quite obviously unprepared, even stating once that "well, we have 20 minutes left and I'm out of questions." 

Overall, this day was a lot busier than I imagined that it would be, and while the talks I heard were not the greatest, I still learned a lot of lessons. I'm excited for the days to come!

Cannes Lions day 4

My fourth day at the festival was a whirlwind – things were starting to pick up as we approached the middle of the week, and likewise the sessions I attended and things I learned only continued to increase.  The theme of this day seemed to be branding, both traditional and personal.  While I went to five talks, two of them stuck out to me and left a lasting impression.

The first of these influential talks was “Beyond the Image,” an interview with world famous fashion photographer Mario Testino.  Testino addressed the fact that a personal brand can be an intimidating thing to try and find, and then gave the audience advice on how to go about branding yourself while still staying authentic and true to what you are.  This could not have been more relevant to me; as I approach graduation in a few years and get closer to entering the professional world, I often find myself feeling as if it’s impossible to brand myself.  I could develop the brand of a company or product or person all day long, but if I don’t figure out what my personal brand is it will inevitably hinder my creative abilities as well as the ability to leave my mark on the work that I do.  Testino stressed that he would not have gained the success that he has if he had tried to change his personal brand to fit what others wanted; he cited his work with then unknown (but now supermodels) Gisele Bundchen and Cara Delevigne to prove this, because back when he first decided to photograph them he was widely criticized for not using better-known models.  His talk, while centric on him and his personal journey to find his personal brand, gave me a lot of hope because he said that the path to finding his personal brand was simple: he experimented over and over again, and then continued to do the things that ended up making him the proudest and the happiest of himself.  Hopefully I’ll be able to use the advice he gave to further investigate what I want my brand to reflect about myself.

The other talk that really made me think was “How Halsey Broke Out,” which consisted of Ryan Seacrest interviewing Halsey about how she built her career and her brand.  My favorite part of this talk was when Halsey described the creative marketing techniques that she and her team used to promote her newest album.  She made the characters in her music video essentially come to life by creating Twitter accounts for each character, interacting with fans and dropping hints about the album when the release date began approaching.  She and her team also went a step further by hiding maps and clues all over several cities, including fake real estate listings in newspapers and fake classified ads that only her fans that had been following the Twitter accounts would be able to recognize.  This unconventional marketing, while risky, ended up boosting her album sales by an enormous amount.  “The biggest mistake a director can make is not letting the audience get to know their characters,” the young singer said confidently.  While I did get the vibe that Halsey thought she could do no wrong in the world of marketing and advertising, I had never thought about unconventional marketing for things like music albums before, and her talk inspired me to consider these types of promotion in the future.  

While today was exhausting, it was also a lot of fun and I learned a lot.  I can’t wait to see what experiences and lessons the next half of the festival will bring!

Cannes Lions day 3

If my first two days at the Cannes Lions festival were "busy", then the only word I would be able to use to describe today was absolute mayhem.  Because it was a Monday, most executives were just now arriving to their week at the festival, hence the opening gala and most popular awards show taking place tonight.  While the festival environment was full of exciting hustle and bustle, the seminars definitely blew me away in terms of content and inspiration.

The first talk that we went to was called "Unlocking Real Time Creativity" featuring Tommy Hilfiger senior brand manager Avery Baker.  Baker discussed Tommy Hilfiger's venture into the "see now, buy now" method during runway season, dubbed "TommyNow."  This business model is an extremely difficult one to keep up and operate, as fashion companies typically take weeks or even months to deliver its products to its distribution channels post-runway.  Baker shared her nine steps to success during this risky and difficult business move, and the most interesting to me was step number 5: "it's not about you".  She elaborated on this step by mentioning that as a leader, your success is only as great as your follower's success.  I will definitely bring this concept into my future career; when i begin to have subordinates, I will be sure to remind myself that the recognition is not meant to go towards me; in creative solutions, your team is the most important aspect.

The next session that I went to featured seasoned fashion magazine editor Joanna Coles and supermodel Karlie Kloss.  I was pleasantly surprised by Karlie; her down to earth personality and passion truly inspired me to find my own passions.  Kloss has been a supermodel since the age of fifteen, but before that she was obsessed with math and computer science.  She mentioned that recently, there was a point in her career in which she felt unfulfilled and craved meaning in her life.  As a result she founded "Koding with Klossy," a camp that teaches young girls the basics of coding on all platforms.  The camp has grown exponentially in the last few years.  I noticed during this interview that Karlie struggled with articulating her thoughts when discussing seemingly mundane topics like the fashion industry and editorial work; however, she truly shined when she had the chance to talk about her passions, especially Koding with Klossy.  She has inspired me to try to find my own passions and build my career upon them.

The third session I attended was called "The Changing Face of Original Content," sponsored by YouTube and starring Demi Lovato.  The beginning half of the seminar featured Kevin Allocca, head of culture and trends at YouTube.  He identified different trends that have been prominent in the YouTube community and touched on how important creators and their fans are to the YouTube culture and brand.  My favorite point that he made was that YouTube creators don't try to appeal to the masses; instead, they are focused on appealing to their fans, which typically make up a niche market depending on the creator.  Niche markets are very influential and very prominent in today's market, particularly among the younger generation, so i think it's important to have a firm understanding of how serving them correctly can benefit me as a marketer.

Cannes Lions day 2

My second day at the Cannes Lions festival was much different than my first; maybe it was because I knew the lay of the land a bit better, maybe it was the abundance of rose at Connections Beach’s happy hour.  If the theme of my first day was learning, the theme of my second day would hands-down be experiencing all that the festival and its associated partners have to offer.

The first session I attended was “Stop Liking, Start Doing,” presented by the president of Pinterest, Tim Kendall.  Kendall focused on how the internet has become an addiction in recent years; he even challenged some audience members to put their phones in locked safes for the entirety of his hour-long presentation.  My favorite point that he made was that the promise of the internet was to connect us, but instead it has ended up consuming us.  Kendall prides himself in creating one of the first social media platforms that gets people off their feet by giving them ideas and equipping them with the tools necessary to carry them out.  With a future in digital media, it is important for me to remember that it is extremely unethical to use my content to keep people attached to their phones.

The next talk that I went to was “Health Wars: The Last Doctor & the Rise of Artificial Intelligence” by Dr. Vishal Nangalia.  Nangalia discussed the future of artificial intelligence as it pertains to healthcare and healthcare marketing, the most fascinating being that artificial intelligence could potentially be used to stand in for nurses in the near future.  The most interesting point that he made was that by 2025, many medical positions will be obsolete because of AI, which I find myself questioning.

The last session I went to was called “Mobile-Only Pioneers: What’s Next?” starring Maureen Taylor, Global Creative Director for Spotify.  She discussed how Spotify has begun actually branding their users’ music choices, a campaign entitled “branded moments.”  In essence, Spotify is able to allow marketers to reach whatever target market they want in the exact time that their market would be susceptible to their advertisement (for example, placing a Gatorade ad at the beginning of a workout playlist).  This concept is absolutely mind blowing to me; after all, music is one of the biggest indicators of how we’re feeling and what we are wanting, so branding these moments is absolutely genius because it lessens fear of being obsolete through selective retention by a huge percent.  In my future career in branding, I will be sure to remember how Spotify figured out how to harness what once was considered impossible information to collect: people’s feelings.

Commercial critique 1

The commercial that I viewed for my first critique was advertising the 2017 Honda Utility line of vehicles.  The ad begins by zooming in on one of the Honda Utility vehicles, with the door opening to showcase a Claymation camping scene.  The camera then zooms in on another Honda Utility vehicle that contains another Claymation environment.  This pattern is then repeated once more, showcasing a children’s soccer game and then a tailgate party.  The commercial concludes with a lineup of the four vehicles included in the Honda Utility family, closing out with the brand’s logo and familiar jingle. 

The use of Claymation figures and the upbeat, feel-good music in the background brings forth a family-friendly vibe to the cars that are being showcased, and the activities being portrayed evoke a sense of fun and adventure.  The commercial seems to indicate that a Honda Utility vehicle would make these activities much easier and that owning one of these cars will make a family “look the part” of the fun-loving Claymation families shown.  Honda was clearly trying to go after married couples with children with this advertisement, and I personally believe that it would be extremely effective.

The production of this commercial consisted of almost entirely Claymation figures and environments.  Real images of the Hondas were superimposed into the Claymation setting using some sort of digital animation.  The production of this commercial was likely costly as Claymation films are known for taking a long time to complete, especially when different environments are involved. 

While I believe this ad was effective, one aspect that could use improvement is the very end.  The commercial ends with a simple view of the Honda Utility lineup, which I believe detracts from the wonderful Claymation experience that was being portrayed prior.  I think that a Claymation aspect of some sort, however small it may be, should have been added either during or after the vehicle lineup to fit the theme of the rest of the advertisement.