Inside the PR Lions Jury Room: 2014 Cannes Inspiration and Insight

@elisemitch

Elise S. Mitchell, APR Fellow PRSA

CEO, Mitchell Communications Group

CEO, Dentsu Aegis Public Relations Network

This year’s PR Lions by the numbers:

– 21 jurors from 19 countries

– More than 1,800 entries – a 40% increase over last year – in 36 categories

– 1,417 on the long list

– 192 on the short list

– 71 winners: 13 gold, 24 silver, 33 bronze and 1 Grand Prix

We earned the title of this year’s “toughest jury” for awarding the fewest Lions vs total entries

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Key take-aways: • The surge in entries undoubtedly reflects the industry’s ambition to

play a bigger role in the creative conversation and allows us to showcase PR’s ability to deliver on “the big idea.”

• Our industry has a major impact on business and society around the globe today, but we must continue rapidly evolving to meet the needs of organizations in an increasingly complex environment.

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What wins? We frequently discussed as a jury what makes a winning entry, debating criteria such as:

We often reviewed similar entries -- one

resonated, another didn’t. How important is an entry’s ability to tell the story?

How critical is originality? Of concept? Of execution? Are there any original ideas left?

How much does scale matter? Is bigger and broader reach necessarily better?

Does length of impact matter? Being bold in an instant vs sustainable campaigns?

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What wins? Creativity is key. But how do you define creativity? Not surprisingly, there were as many points of view as there were jurors. My stance is this: something is creative if it…

• Has a fresh take, and puts things in a new light.

• Causes me to stop and rethink how I have previously looked at something.

• Is bold, breaking through the clutter and the mundane.

• Surprises and delights by connecting the dots between two otherwise unrelated things.

• Resonates and is relevant.

• Evokes an emotional response of some kind, maybe even a visceral reaction.

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In addition to creativity, we expected to see measurable results. All entries were required to provide at least two tiers of results:

• Output/Awareness: Change in consumer awareness and attitude, overall impressions, target audience impressions, article counts/placements, content views.

• Knowledge/Consideration: Key message penetration, prominence, tone, changes in NPS (Net Promoter Score)/ likelihood to recommend, purchase intent.

• Action/Business Impact: Sales, donations, joining – increase in friends and followers, content response-retweets, shares, link-backs, likes, click-through rates, site traffic, page views, time on site.

What wins? Results matter.

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What wins? Results matter.

Our jury was mindful of the PR industry’s universal professional measurement standards, The Barcelona Principles.

While not officially required, it would be ideal for winning entries to demonstrate as many of these standards as possible.

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The Power of Public Relations This year’s portfolio of PR Lions winners showcases the breadth and depth of what our industry can do with creativity at the core. Several themes emerged that illustrate the power of public relations today and underscore our best opportunities as an industry to lead large engagements:

• Effecting social change

• Leveraging influencers – particularly sports heroes

• Compelling storytelling

• Local matters

• How earned media can be the driving force behind integrated campaigns

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The Power of Public Relations Theme #1: Effecting social change

• Doing social good is now an expected business practice. More companies are taking an active part in addressing pressing social issues that resonate with the passions and interests of consumers.

• PR has always played a lead role in this space, and our jury saw numerous entries focused on many social and environmental topics.

• Among the hot-button issues: gender equality, at-risk children, animal rights, diversity/discrimination, and economic empowerment. On the cause front, cancer prevention and support of cancer patients was a prominent focus.

• This year’s winning campaigns found clever ways to leverage technology and unique partnerships to raise awareness and yield results.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/sweetie http://www.unwomen.org/lo/digital-library/videos?videoid=IkNlGuW-0g8 http://vimeo.com/95049372

Effecting social change

Incomplete Bios Sweetie Campaign The Autocomplete Truth

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqX8cY

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Effecting social change

http://www.baldcartoons.com/#!/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKzliSgq

0Yg

Tattoo Skin Cancer Check Bald Cartoons Animal Strike

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The Power of Public Relations Theme #2: Leveraging influencers – particularly sports heroes

• Popular sports figures have only become more valuable to communicators as the power and reach of influencer marketing expands.

• Thanks to the Sochi Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, the industry has seen a surge in sports-themed initiatives over the past year. This trend will continue beyond these events as social media provides the perfect channel for distributing content about and creating one-on-one engagement between fans and idols.

• Some of the most memorable award-winning campaigns used sports figures to engage with and inspire audiences around real-life challenges.

• Beyond the power of the personal connection, sports celebrities continue to show why they are among the most persuasive ambassadors for driving product awareness and purchase.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2HD57z4F8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXJEcPQQ0SU

Leveraging influencers – particularly sports heroes

D Rose Jump Store Trust Your Power

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAQRYFkkGR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn5zytfm9No

Leveraging influencers – particularly sports heroes

Give Blood Give Power Football on Your Phone

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The Power of Public Relations Theme #3: Compelling storytelling

• The business of content is rapidly growing and changing. Consumers want quality material that is relevant, resonates and inspires. And when discovered, it becomes highly shareable, or “liquid.”

• Who creates content is shifting. Platforms such as SnapChat and GoPro have allowed consumers to be a part of the story AND help create it. The democratization of creativity enables this, and technology now allows everyone to be an artist, musician, photographer, videographer, writer or designer.

• Many brands have embraced the shift from one-way storytelling (from the organization outward) to dynamic storytelling (inviting consumers to help create the story), and this increases content appeal and the opportunities for amplification of a message.

• Public relations is uniquely positioned to lead in the content space by helping brands find and tell compelling stories -- we know a great story when we see it due to our extensive knowledge of and relationship with consumers as well as our journalistic mindset. We also understand the importance of relevance as well as authenticity to give content credibility and distinguish it from overly commercial or heavily branded material.

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Compelling Storytelling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE http://vimeopro.com/youngrubicamgrp/inspire/video/99567908

Scarecrow Movies That Change Lives

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE http://vimeo.com/91530322

Compelling Storytelling

Google Reunion Kombi’s Last Wishes

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The Power of Public Relations Theme #4: Local matters

• Globalization is a driving force today, largely because of a desire for efficiency and consistency. Scale is also a tipping point for brands as they learn to deal with the challenges of an always-on presence.

• As reputation architects, our work is often done on a mass or brand-wide scale. But if we focus only on thinking globally, we risk losing touch with the front line. The power of local is still very real – and even more valuable in light of globalization.

• The PR Lions winners’ list includes many campaigns with a locally focused strategy, underscoring that the best work isn’t always done on a global scale.

• Great ideas can come from anywhere, and this year they came from places like a small village in Northern Japan and an economically depressed neighborhood in Guatemala City.

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http://vimeo.com/96680024

Local Matters

http://vimeo.com/99136598

Samsung Maestros Academy Rice Code

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYWTnbnEWlU

Local Matters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpAR5gH-kzg

Polish Diacritics Embassy of the 18th Zone

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The Power of Public Relations Theme #5: How earned media can be the driving force behind integrated campaigns

• Convergence is one of the most powerful forces at work in the marketing communications industry today. As the acceleration to the middle increases, many campaigns reflect a more integrated strategy blending earned, owned and paid media to achieve the goal.

• Our jury took this subject up with great vigor as we debated how to evaluate entries in the PR-led integrated campaign category. Does “the big idea” have to be fundamentally a PR concept? How much of the overall media mix should be earned or owned vs. paid?

• Earned media (both traditional and social) truly shines in an integrated strategy as a powerful driver not just for credibility and brand awareness, but also for sales, engagement and shareability – as a closer look at these three winning campaigns reveals.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn-_PswwpJI

http://www.adforum.com/agency/4799/creative-work/34498966/2014-taco-bell-breakfast-launch-ronald-mcdonald-launch/taco-bell-taco-bell

Earned media as an integrated campaign driver

http://vimeo.com/99042474

Volvo Trucks’ Live Test Series Taco Bell Breakfast Launch Barbie #Unapologetic

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Thank you.

Elise S. Mitchell, APR Fellow PRSA

CEO, Mitchell Communications Group

CEO, Dentsu Aegis Public Relations Network

@elisemitch