Mad, by name and nature. MAD//Fest felt like a street market for marketers. Amidst the hustle and bustle of creatives, brand-side marketers and agency folk, all united in their mutual hunger for marketing knowledge, was an array of different flavours on which to feast. And the feast was fast paced. With talks happening simultaneously across multiple tracks, folks rushed around in order to gorge themselves on the richness, trying desperately to avoid the inevitable FOMO of not being able to be in two places at once.
Jimmy Carr in conversation with Rory Sutherland was simply a joy to watch. Their discussion was as interesting and borderline bonkers as you’d imagine, but it was such a fascinating one. Learning about the career in advertising that preceded Jimmy’s move to comedy highlighted some interesting parallels for me and included tidbits such as “a joke is just an insight that makes you laugh” and encouragement around how many bad jokes (creative ideas) it takes to get to a good one.
I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Sir Martin Sorrell’s advertising forecast on Economic instability and AI which expounded the economic implications of AI for agencies. I had no idea just how divisive Sorrell’s opinions are, but a LinkedIn wrap-up I wrote has certainly brought that to light.
With the evidence pointing to long-standing brand agency partnerships and consistency of content being common precursors to success, it was an absolute treat to hear Ben Fox (McDonalds, CMO) and Josh Bullmore (CSO, Leo Burnett) speak on ‘Creative Resilience: How McDonald’s Stays Relevant Through Shocks and Shifts’. They presented the human insights that have shaped 20 years of strategic decision-making to maintain the industry dominance of one of the world’s most recognisable brands. It was an absolute masterclass.
For me, the key takeaway (pun intended) was the acknowledgement that performance alone won’t cut it, it has to be paired with brand. The terms ‘brand & performance’ kept resurfacing, with one talk from the retail media team at Tesco perfectly illustrating its potency. System1’s Orlando Wood spoke on ‘Selling the Spectacle’, adeptly navigating us through the importance of balancing “Showmanship” (brand) with “Salesmanship” (performance) with a couple of Moulin Rouge posters thrown in for good measure (as you do). These insights really summed up the sentiment I felt throughout the festival, that brand is having a renaissance and I’m here for it.
– Nick Wells, Senior Creative Strategist
I (Charlie) second Nick’s observations on Orlando Wood’s session emphasising the need for Brand x Performance to be delivered in tandem. He illustrated his points on salesmanship vs showmanship advertising with two video examples: Introducing Budweiser Zero (salesmanship) and Yorkshire Tea “Where Everything’s Done Proper” (showmanship). He then shared data on Yorkshire Tea’s growth since they launched the campaign in 2017, clearly demonstrating its success over competitors.
Wood’s point was that showmanship is being underinvested in due to the focus on short term ROI over long term brand equity gains. An issue that’s only getting worse given the industry’s fixation with attributable, direct response acquisition channels. This is happening in spite of data that demonstrates that bold investment in brand focused showmanship advertising provides greater long term value, and supports the success of short term sales activations.
Charlie Taylor, Client Director
In addition to Nick and Charlie’s observations, I (Liv) went to Vicki Maguire’s session which was a refreshing take on the industry and our roles within it as strategists, creatives, marketers but most crucially, as people. Whilst there’s a lot of talk about being braver with our work and thinking, Vicki delivered a bracing exploration about how what we actually need, is to be more boring.
We need to talk less and listen more to the people that we expect to listen to us and our marketing messaging. We need to live alongside them in the real world, watch what they watch, love what they love, read what they read, hate what they hate and ultimately, think how they think (or at the very least, see how it’s possible to think that way).
Vicki’s talk was a regrettably needed reminder that the customer isn’t some mysterious outsider – they’re just us (minus the behind-the-scenes insight). Her guide to ‘being boring’ included:
- Follow someone you hate
- Find something to love about something you hate, and vice versa
- Make work for them (the audience) not for us (i.e. it’s not about ego-driven LinkedIn gratification)
– Liv Phillips, Creative Strategist