At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, top agencies and brands compete for prices and crowds to close deals. While this year’s event is expiring, Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder shares the Insider-Buzz-of the continuous rise of content-led content to how brands navigate to get the right kind of attention in a polarized market.
This is a short transcript of an interview from Quick responseOrganized by Robert Safian, former editor -in -chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale Podcast, Rapid Response offers candid conversations with the best managers of today through real -time challenges. Subscribe to a quick response where you get your podcasts to ensure that you never miss an episode.
What do you hear people about this at the festival?
There is a lot going on. There is a recurring theme. I think. . . Everyone tries to find out, how can I cut through without cutting out? How can I cut through without alienating a core area from my audience? Because we live in such a polarized time, where there are few things that people can lines on. And so there is really that, but we also have a attention recession, where it is so difficult to get attention and get attention is not enough, because you have to convert that attention into intention, right? To allow people to actually discover, consider and ultimately buy.
So it not only gets attention, but the attention in the way your brand fits.
Precisely. Getting attention in a way that is good for your brand and stimulates action drives involvement. And now there is just so much that attracts people’s attention, so attracting attention is not enough. It actually converts attention to the intention of the buyer.
Are there any rules, or is it that every brand has to do it in its own way?
I think there are some themes that we see about how brands in general do this, in all industries, B2B, B2C, health care, technology, beauty, retail. We see some recurring themes. And I think one of the big themes leans to makers and community because people show up for people. They may not necessarily appear for brands in the same way as we have seen in the past. So there are many brands leaning [that]. I mean, makers are everywhere. Makers and athletes. Because makers and athletes are supplied with a more dedicated and a more involved and a lake, I am going to use the word rabid, a little, fan base.
Yes, real fans.
Real fans, instead of just celebrities you see.
I mean, we have spoken about influencers for a few years and how that changed the market. It sounds a bit like we were broken with it to a new layer?
We have certainly broken through to a new layer. And in fact they don’t want to be called influencers. They want to be called makers. Because they say, “Hey, I am not here to just influence. I am here to create with you to stimulate a certain result.” So we see that more happen now.
And does that change that the relationship that a brand like yours has with a traditional advertising company? Are you going to makers in a different way?
It definitely changes, because makers, I think, have much more control and much more power, and they take a larger space at the table. So, the days disappear, I think, where you are just a maker, you tell them exactly what you want to do. If you really try to generate real results and you want their fans to show up, they take a public-first approach. So first of all you have to find that maker that matches your values.
So you have to know that they agree with you or they are that way Simpatico before they start.
There must be trust. . . . And confidence goes both sides. You must trust that they are tailored to your brand values, they are tailored to your customer base, because remember that you want to break through, you want to break through, but you do not try to cut out a large part of your customer base. So you have to make sure that you have that yes, they are tailored to your brand values, they are tailored to your goal, they are tailored to the results, but then you also have to trust them to give them the space to do what they do. Because it cannot happen to an advertisement. It must happen as a little more organic, something that they would really like to do alone, because that is when their audience pops up, and that is what the result determines.
Are you, in your conversations with your colleagues, with other CMOs, you hear them recognize them privately if: “Oh, we didn’t do that quite well? We have alienated a group that we did not want.”
One hundred percent, especially in today’s world. . . . Because we have these private -cmo rounds, we all share, this is what went wrong, this is what went well, here is what I have learned. And much of it is normal, the error margin is much slimmer than ever before. There is a very thin line between cutting and cutting. It is like walking in high heels on a small small thread. There is no margin margin. And so. . . Many CMOs think of, how do I do this and how do I do this well? . . . And I think one of the things that are really important is to ensure that you have a broad attraction at the table while these decisions are made, and that you are also able to turn quickly and adjust quickly.
I mean, you spoke with me before about this idea of Opine with a spine, right?
Yes.
The idea that you have to break through, you have to say something sharp, but you also say that the risk is higher than ever, but you have to take that risk. There is no way out of this binding.
There is no way out. Let me tell you. We must give CMOs and marketers, we must give all marketers at all levels, [them] A break. It is a tough world outside of it. And so, yes, you have to be with a spine, but you have to be careful what you come from. So you have to choose the thing that is really useful for your brand and company. You can’t be anything. If you talk about everything, you talk about nothing. And if you finally talk about things that you have not earned the right to talk about, you do not have the credibility to talk about, you could end up in a really hot water that you don’t want to be on. Not the good kind of bath, the burning kind of bath. So there is really that thoughtfulness that has to go in.
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