Designer | Art director | Creative
DAY 4
How Adidas Never Finishes Reinventing Itself
Host: Johannes Leonardo
Speakers: Alexander Wang (Chief Executive, Chairman, Designer for Alexander Wang), Stan Smith (Former World #1 American Tennis Player and two-time Grand Slam singles champion, Namesake of best-selling sneaker of all time), Paul Gaudio (GCD of Adidas), Ferdinando Verderi (Founding Partner, CD of Johannes Leonardo)
Adidas thinks of itself as a creator. According to Alexander Wang, we focus on culture inside the brand, thereby creating space for people to chase their dreams. Adidas goal is not to provide all the answers for everyone.
Alexander Wang spoke about his new collaboration with Adidas. The collaboration started with his love for the brand but desire to contribute. He spoke about how working with Adidas had been an incredible journey and that he had never been in a conversation that was been so open to ideas.
The Alexander Wang x Adidas logo came to be by a hoodie Wang saw on the floor. It communicated the message that things aren't perfect, and that success can always come out of a happy accident. Verderi concludes that Adidas are an extremely courageous brand. The 3 stripes crossing through 'superstar' symbolizes how bold and fearless their stamp is. It became iconic.
Originality: you've been taught that originality comes from nothing but it's not true. It's a constant evolution.
Stan Smith's are worn by mothers, older people, younger people, teenage boys, people in different cultures...a lot of people think it's a new brand but it has been around for almost 70 years. It began as a performance shoe but it soon became a fashion shoe. It is simple but it always people to make it their own.
Sport and creativity are closing intertwined. For most people, sport is about passion and self-expression, especially for kids who are building their identity. It is an act of creativity. This is fundamental to the culture of sport. It is a relationship Adidas is constantly seizing. Collaborations with people like Pharrell, Kanye, and Alexander Wang give the brand it's iconic personality.
"Don't be afraid to ask questions. As you're looking for a job, encourage yourself to look how things can be done differently. Good ideas don't always come from the top."
- Alexander Wang
MEET-up with Stan Smith
Creating Authenticity
Host: ZEFR
Speakers: Shaun "Shanduras" McBride (Social Media Influencer), Chris Neel (Group Manager - Media for The Clorox Company), Trygye Jensen (VP, GM, Influencers, ZEFR)
Tips on Creating Authenticity
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Find influencers who naturally do the things that relate to the lifestyle of your brand
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To authentically present a product you must naturally make it a part of your life
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Find ways to relate it to your audience
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Commit to the brand/product long term and do it often
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Don't do anything scripted or made up
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Make the brand the hero, hype it up
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Create content you can't create without the brand
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Allow the brand to enable you and things you want to do
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Don't worry about creating the brand message
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The call to action needs to be natural in order to keep them engaged
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Learn about the product as you go
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Have points drawn out that you want to try to aline your points with, give suggestions on what you think will help, communicate your whole experience to your followers
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Your story needs to be wholistic and relatable
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Things that happen spontaneously turn out better than picture perfect plans, it's called BEING A HUMAN
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Look at comments on a post: comments like "follow me"/"love me" is bad but real brand engagement comments is what you want
Disruption By Design
Host: R/GA
Speakers: Bob Greenberg (Chairman, Founder, and CEO of R/GA), Nick Law (Vice Chairman, GCCO of R/GA), Barry Wacksman (Chief Strategy Officer of R/GA), Saneel Radia (SVP, Consulting at R/GA)
With the disruption of the internet, Bob Greenberg had to find a way to keep R/GA relevant.
Data is currency and fuel: people who lack it will lose, you use it to shape customer experience
Playbook - 6 things
1. Inspiring brand purpose
2. Use innovation for brand purpose
3. Values connect to an ecosystem
4. Habits in interfaces
5. Data transforming customer experience
6. Live in culture
New Model
1. Ventures: help clients innovate via startups, financial capital and creative capital, client relationships
BOTBOT
2. Consulting: helping the C-Suite innovate (business transformation, brand consulting, technology consulting, organization design
3. Media Business
4. Prototype
5. Agency Business: helping clients grow with emerging behaviors and disruptive technology
Example: Bradesco
Not a digital bank but a bank for digital natives. Their business model needed to change, so they introduced and integrated technology. "Bank For Your Life" is built with behavior and it grows with you.
How to make shit happen:
1. Don't wait for change
2. Change from the bottom-up: structure THEN people, process gets sorted out. Process kills creativity
Build and connect with a company: To get started, get competent, connect and innovate and never give up!
"COMPLICATED THINGS CAN BECOME UNDERSTANDABLE THROUGH DESIGN"
A$AP Rocky and Viacom: A Fait Accompli
Host: Viacom
Speakers: A$AP Rocky (Enterainer, CD for AWGE), Niels Schuurmans (Viacom)
The host (Niels) is A$AP's biggest fan and definitely acted like it throughout the entire interview.
"Everybody in this industry just wants to be you, they want to connect with the youth like you do. They want that authentic connection" -Niels
The internet helped transform Rakim to Rocky. He came into this industry in 2011. "The stuff we do organically is what the big agencies are paying big bucks for." -A$AP
No compromising, at all. There is no point in doing business.
Guess was predominant in Hip Hop in the late 80s, lots of rappers cited it in their work. So A$AP took the tradition and gave it a new energy to it. He then thanked Guess for the opportunity because most of the time it is scheming to get deals to work, but A$AP wants his work to speak for itself.
Things that are most enticing come with a story. Stories actually build product or build up success. If you have a struggle story that usually helps too. Rocky's perception of art is that it's incredibly broad, you should take every advantage of every facet of it - ART IS LIFE. If you stick to being a true artiste you can't go wrong.
If you're going to be inspired by someone, make sure it's not a fellow contemporary, or make sure he's dead. Otherwise it's just stealing something off of someone else.
Future Lions 2017: Beyond
Host: AKQA
Speakers: Sam Kelly (Managing Director at AKQA), Ian Wharton (Group CD at AKQA)
A big reason why I came to Cannes this summer was because Alicia (my copywriter) and I submitted a video to Future Lions and it got Shortlisted! Which is a big deal!!
Here is our video: Audibraille for Amazon
The 5 Winners