Rob Reilly: “The Need for a Big Idea Is Bigger than Ever”
WPP concluded Cannes Lions 2024 by being named Creative Company of the Year. One of its key agency brands, Ogilvy, took home Creative Network of the Year.
In total, WPP agencies picked up 160 Lions, including a Titanium, six Grands Prix, 27 Gold, 43 Silver and 83 Bronze, with winners across 41 different countries.
What's more, The Coca-Cola Company, whose global marketing partner is WPP Open X, which sees different WPP agency brands lead different creative campaigns, was named Creative Brand of the Year for the first time in its history. In May, it was also announced that Unilever, one of WPP’s biggest clients, was named Creative Marketer of the Year for 2024.
“Creative excellence comes down to three things – people, process and passion," said Rob Reilly, chief creative officer of WPP, about the network's achievements at Cannes Lions. "But to do it at scale takes an unwavering partnership between our brilliant agencies and our brave brand partners. Thank you all for believing in the transformational power of creativity.”
To delve a little deeper into the transformational power of our industry's, and the world's, greatest power, LBB's Addison Capper caught up with Rob for a chat.
LBB> In the fragmented world of 2024, with so many platforms and channels to consider and the push to personalise to the nth degree, is the big idea still relevant?
Rob> With more platforms and AI, you're going to see a lot more content put out into the world. Because of that, the need to stand out is going to be great. That's why we bet on human creativity, enhanced by things like AI. It's really about figuring out how to pop in culture, and how to get people to talk about your brand, love your brand, and spread your brand. That's the trick.
I think due to the fact that we have so many platforms and so much technology and things like AI, the need for a big idea is bigger than ever. Those who say maybe it's not needed, I don't think their brands are probably popping in culture like they need to. Young people, especially, really want to see a brand that's got big ideas, but also stands for something. Young people will cancel you if you're not really doing the right thing, so I think it's a combination of doing it by a big idea but also doing the right thing by society. That's the combination.
LBB> Do you think clients agree with what you just said overall?
Rob> When you see the clients that are at Cannes, they come for different reasons, but I think mostly they are there because they believe in creativity. They believe in the big idea. That's what that festival is good at reminding people. The things that are winning, they're all pretty giant ideas. That's why the festival is so great. You really start seeing the cream of the crop ideas rise to the top.
But I do think the effectiveness awards are really important. You see these ideas that are big a year later and the impact they had on culture and sales and growth. That's the easiest way to sell more big ideas – show the end result a year later.
LBB> How is AI really impacting creativity day to day in your network?
Rob> Our AI platform, WPP Open, has 50,000 people out of around 100,000 people on it already. We're using it day to day to work. But for creative people especially, I think it's bringing back the two things that have been lost, which is experimentation and the ability to fail quickly. The things that have been pulled out are time and money. So, how do you get that back? AI has allowed creatives to experiment and try things, whether it's design or art direction or concepts, phrases. It's the greatest tool, I think, in the last 20 years since maybe digital photography and the computer before that. It's the latest tool in helping creative people experiment and solve things faster.
LBB> With that in mind, in a world that’s so focused on martech, including AI, how do we keep focused on creativity and the value it brings?
Rob> You've got to show the results. Again, the easiest way to sell to new clients or an existing client who may be struggling is to show them a brand that has bet on creativity – combined with technology – and has amazing results. Coca-Cola is a perfect example of a brand that has fully bet on creativity in every channel across every brand. It uses technology, it uses AI – and look at their results. They're staggering. That case study is an easy thing to show other clients who have the same ambition – it's all done through creativity.
LBB> We see in survey after survey that creative thinking is one of the skills most valued by business leaders and yet there’s so much pressure on budgets, constant drives for efficiency and I’m not sure that creativity, in reality, is always as valued as it should be. Where do you think the mismatch is?
Rob> It's not just a Hollywood word or an art word or something for an award show. Creativity is the world's most valuable asset. It's a thing needed to solve major, major issues. We were able to attend Cannes because someone four years ago figured out how to sell the government on a product that didn't exist... Which governments never do – they never buy something that doesn't exist. Well, they did with the covid-19 vaccine. The creativity needed to sell governments on buying a product that didn't exist was immense.
The more practical examples that we can show where creativity was used to solve a major issue, the more gravitas we give creativity in the world. It's got to come outside the advertising world. I imagine, if you use AI to scrape the internet to find out which CEOs mentioned creativity or creative thinking as in the top five reasons why they hire somebody, it's there. CEOs are talking about creativity, not just creative directors. When you start seeing CEOs outside the advertising industry talking about creativity as the most valuable or one of the most valuable assets to have in your toolkit, then you see that it's got momentum. CEOs drive everything.
Mark [Read, WPP CEO,] saying, 'I want to be the most creative company in the world' is air cover for me. Any time I have an issue, I know my boss believes in it. Mark comes from a digital background, so he can talk the talk or demo our AI products. He's a very unique CEO in that sense. He understands creativity. He understands technology. And he's passionate about both. That's what you need. CEOs make it rain.
LBB> Outside of advertising, looking out to what’s happening in culture, what’s inspiring you right now?
Rob> What people are doing with commerce is really interesting. My favourite recent example is the Drake x Shopify collaboration where you could buy all the products in Drake's home. The more you see these top artists collaborating with shopping platforms, that's the future. I call it 'super dope, hyper mixing' where this level of collaboration is so deep. Whether it's Drake and Shopify or the MLS and Apple and adidas all figuring out how to combine their forces to get Messi to play in the US instead of Saudi Arabia. That to me is hyper collaboration and hyper mixing that I think you're going to see more of.
I think everybody's willing to collaborate because they see the end results. Year after year, the amount of companies that collaborate to win Lions is growing. Coca Cola loosening up to allow its logo to be hand painted and turning it into the cans and it appearing on trucks, that wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. [LBB wrote in detail about that campaign here.] Whether it's brands collaborating, shopping platforms collaborating with celebrities, or a brand literally collaborating with people around the world to create their design, I think it is the trend going forward. And what an awesome trend to be a part of.
