Adweek - 06.04.2020

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IN THIS ISSUE

APRIL 6, 2020 | VOL. LXI NO. 9

TRENDING

Brands pivot events to in-home

experiential pop-ups.

TA L EN T P O OL

How Astound’s Rigel Cable

breaks down barriers.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Bravo’s Imani Ellis is one of the D&I

stars selected by Adweek and Adcolor.

12

7

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WHAT TO SAY WHEN NOTHING SEEMS RIGHT. BY ADWEEK STAFF

YES, YOU CAN STILL ADVERTISE

30

PERSPECTIVE

How Purell became the

go-to pandemic product.

Upfront

THE WEEK IN MEDIA AND MARKETING

CANNES LIONS CANCELED FOR 2020

Advertising’s biggest event of the year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of

Creativity, will not go forward with its 2020 edition. The event, which traditionally

takes place in June, had hoped to go on by rescheduling to late October. Now,

the next edition of the festival won’t be held until June 21-25, 2021.

Though many events have been postponed or canceled out of fear of

spreading the COVID-19 contagion, Cannes Lions organizers said their decision

was also influenced by how the coronavirus has disrupted the advertising and marketing world.

“Cannes Lions at its core has always been about creativity and the Lions. We realize that the

creative community has other challenges to face, and simply isn’t in a position to put forward

the work that will set the benchmark,” said Cannes Lions chairman Philip Thomas. —Eva Kis

EARN THE RIGHT

TO SPEAK

In an inspired stay-at-

home campaign, Burger

King France and agency

Buzzman published

a guide to making

some of its most

iconic sandwiches,

including the

Whopper, in your own

kitchen. According to

Burger King global CMO

Fernando Machado,

while the campaign

was a fun way to keep

the brand top of mind,

it worked because the

fast-food chain had

earned its time in the

spotlight after stepping

up to offer free kids

meals, helping families

who might otherwise go

hungry while schools

are closed.

YOU HAVE MORE

TOOLS THAN

YOU REALIZE

Coronavirus has

shut down video

production and

photo shoots, so

agencies are getting

creative with the

resources they’ve

got such as stock

footage, animation,

archives and, the

hero of creatives

everywhere, user-

generated content.

“It’s back to the

basics,” said Katie

Roach, executive

producer at creative

agency Planet

Propaganda. “No

ornamentation.

No glitzy hoopla.

Just the idea, plain

and simple.”

PIVOT YOUR

MESSAGING

Visa had 80% of its

Olympics creative

ready to go before

the games were

moved to 2021. So

the longtime sponsor

went back to its

roster of Team

Visa athletes to

film new spots—

this time at home,

using their phones,

showing their

incredible skills and

then, like the rest

of us, practicing

hand-washing and

sanitizing. The

Olympics will be

back, but Visa is

keeping its spirit of

tenacity and shared

humanity top of

mind now.

REACH PEOPLE

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

One of programmatic

advertising’s biggest

assets is the ability to

switch platforms to take

advantage of sudden

changes in consumer

behavior. Michael

Provenzano, co-founder

and CEO of programmatic

out-of-home advertising

firm Vistar Media, is seeing

advertisers change

locations rather than

pull their OOH spending.

“We haven’t seen a loss of

budgets yet, and we haven’t

seen reduction or pauses;

we’ve seen shifts,” he said.

As locations such as public

transport and cinemas see

major drops in foot traffic,

others like grocery stores

and pharmacies are busier

than usual.