Business

The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see.

It’s tempting to begin where we are.

But it’s more useful to begin where they are.

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Disney theme parks created more than 20 billion dollars in revenue last year.

Coney Island, not so much.

Coney Island is dozens of small honky tonk vendors and attractions, an ecosystem, not a corporation.

Independent local stores got hammered by the more organized stores in the mall and then by the centrally controlled Wal-mart and other box stores. And then the big box stores got hammered in turn by Amazon, a rigidly controlled system that puts the little guys at its mercy.

RSS and blogs were a federation of independent voices. It didn’t take much for them to be co-opted by a few tech giants.

We’d like to believe that we prefer to walk down the picturesque street, visiting one merchant after another, buying directly from the creator or her gallery. We’d like to think that the centralized antiseptic option isn’t for us…

And yet, when the supermarche opens in rural France, it does very well.

It turns out that we respond well to large entities that pretend that they’re simply a conglomeration of independent voices and visions, but when masses of people are given a choice, they’re drawn to the big guy, not the real thing.

The long tail is real, but we’ve been trained to prefer it if the tail is contained within a centrally-controlled system run by a corporation.

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“The customer is always right” has been a saying since the dawn of retail. Fast-forward to now, and businesses are leaning into algorithms that help consumers find what they want–whether it’s the best deals on jeans, artists who should be on their radar and shows to stream. The challenge: marketing the services and offerings that…Read More

The way we watch television and televised ads is changing, and an ADWEEK House session on Wednesday reminded the Cannes Lions crowds that few industries are impacted by connected TV as acutely as sports marketing. In an invitation-only Group Chat, presenting sponsor Innovid’s CMO Dani Cushion opened up the discussion with Paramount Advertising chief operating…Read More

Publicis Conseil, the 98-year-old French agency that would morph into the $28 billion colossus Publicis Groupe, has taken the Agency of the Year honor at the 2024 Cannes Lions. In all, Publicis Conseil took home 18 Lions this year: two Grand Prix, along with six silver and six bronze awards. “Our dream was to make…Read More

CANNES, France–French telco Orange’s ad challenging gender bias in soccer and Sydney Opera House’s jubilant ode to creativity each won a Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. Film Lions is one of the few categories at Cannes allowed to award two Grand Prix. This year’s top winners represented a cultural moment in women’s sports marketing…Read More

After making Super Bowl history with an epic sweepstakes, DoorDash’s ambitious campaign has won one of the ad industry’s most prestigious awards: the Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. “DoorDash-All-The-Ads,” by agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland, promised one winner every item advertised during Super Bowl 58 if they could piece together an overly elaborate promo…Read More

While the 2024 Cannes Lions festival has had its share of drama–Elon Musk’s apology tour and Michael Kassan’s new venture both made headlines–the vibes along the Croisette and inside the parties were more earnest, reflective and purposeful, ADWEEK execs and editors reported. In the second installment of our three-part Cannes Dispatch podcast series, ADWEEK CEO…Read More

CANNES, France–For the second year running, generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) was the hottest topic among the 15,000 delegates at Cannes Lions. However, in jury rooms, judges remained underwhelmed by the creative application of the technology. When asked during a press conference just how much discussion around AI had taken place in the jury room…Read More

Publisher frustration is mounting at AI search startup Perplexity, which is backed by Jeff Bezos and other tech titans, for circumventing attempts to block its crawlers from accessing and serving up media content, potentially cutting publishers out of billions in ad revenue. The New York Times, The Guardian, Conde Nast and Forbes are among those…Read More