Global Marketers at Cannes Lions talk growth while Sorrell says clients buying Omnicom, Publicis and WPP.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) launched of the CMO Growth Council in partnership with the ANA’s CMO Masters Circle.

Chaired by Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer for the world’s biggest advertiser, Procter & Gamble and Chairman of the ANA, the CMO Growth Council represents the collective agenda and voice of a unified community of marketing’s leaders.
As a side bar, before we continue, Sir Martin Sorrell ex boss of WPP told Cannes last Friday: “There will be a huge fragmentation of the ad boys from 6 down to 3. He’s predicting Omnicom, Publicis and WPP to be bought over by clients.”
Marc Pritchard (pictured) said, “CMOs all over the world are facing similar growth challenges and opportunities. The CMO Growth Council offers an important platform for marketing leaders from around the world to discuss, collaborate and take actions to help drive the entire industry forward.”
Speaking on the formation of the council, Ascential Events CEO and Chairman-Elect of Cannes Lions Philip Thomas, commented, “Cannes Lions champions the clear correlation between creativity and business success, and for nearly two decades the world’s biggest marketers have used the Festival as an opportunity to see what great creative looks like, and learn more about the people behind the greatest work in the world. We are delighted to be partnering with the ANA to unleash the power of creativity to drive growth.”
“Even if the marketers only move the needle one percent, the result could be $500 billion in incremental revenue over a three-year period,” said president and CEO of the ANA Bob Bodice. “About half of the companies listed on Fortune 500 have declining revenues or declining after-tax profits. That’s a reflection on marketing as an industry, a reflection and a call to action that we have to do substantially better.”
The CMOs focused on key areas like technology and data, talent, brand building and innovation, customer centricity, social responsibility and environmental sustainability during their first brainstorm in Cannes last Wednesday.

Today, five CMOs including P&G’s Marc Pritchard, LVMH’s Mathilde Delhoume, Tencent’s Seng Yee Lau, Deloitte’s Alicia Hatch and HP’s Antonio Lucio, gave a sense of how the marketers will work together on the global growth agenda and, as Lucio put it, “get swagger back into the marketing function.”
“It’s very tempting to focus on short-term growth, but if you only focus on short-term growth you will wake up with a bad hangover and no brand left,” said Delhoume. “Brands need to ‘put back the human at the centre, even if you do B-2-B there is a human. In a world that is becoming more and more digital the human being is critical.”
He added, “Reinvent retail and make the product an experience. Experience is not just about solving pain points but about reigniting desire for our brands. Create delight. Create desire.”
Tencent Advertising’s Seng Yee Lau (who is a Malaysian, if I may add), said that the companies “have not done a good enough job between linking brand building and growth,” and that’s something they are aiming to resolve.
Antonio Lucio, Global chief marketing and communications officer for HP shared, “We’re moving into the experience age. No matter what category you’re talking about consumers are expecting you to create curated hyper-relevant experiences—as long as they consent and as long as you provide a sense of wonder.”
Alicia Hatch, CMO, Deloitte Digital commented, “It is crucial for brands to update the way they work and tear down silos in companies to use data and insights that marketers have to help drive brands in other areas like product design.
Marc Pritchard explained from his perspective at P&G, “Marketers got too excited by the shiny objects like technology and platforms, and relinquished too much control of their brands.”
He is aiming to fix that by taking back control and ‘not outsourcing things we can do’, the company is changing its agency model to bring a lot more in-house.
The CMO Growth Council comprises of:
– Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer, P&G, ANA and CMO Growth Council Chair
– Mathilde Delhoume, Global Brand Officer, LVMH
– Seng Yee Lau, senior evp, chairman of Tencent Advertising, chairman of group marketing and global branding
– Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer, Unilever
– Fiona Carter, chief brand officer, AT&T
– Kristin Lemkau, CMO, JP Morgan Chase
– Roxanne Taylor, CMO, Accenture
– Elizabeth Rutledge, CMO, American Express
– Fernando Machado, CMO, Burger King
– Michelle Peluso, CMO, IBM
– Antonio Lucio, global chief marketing and communications officer, HP
– Alison Lewis, CMO, Johnson & Johnson
– Alicia Hatch, CMO, Deloitte Digital
– Syl Saller, chief marketing and innovation officer, Diageo
– Zaid Al-Qassab, chief brand and marketing officer, BT
– Diego Scotti, CMO, Verizon
– Marcel Marcondes, CMO, AB InBev
– Julia Goldin, CMO, Lego
– Young Hee Lee, global CMO, Samsung
– Rick Gomez, CMO, Target
– Andrew Clarke, CMO, Mars, Inc.
– Suzy Deering, CMO, eBay
– Dean Aragon, CEO, Shell Brands International and global vp brand, Shell
– Deborah Wahl, global CMO, Cadillac
– Karen Walker, CMO, Cisco
– Raja Rajamannar, global chief marketing and communications officer, MasterCard
We leave the last word to Sorrell: He fired a defiant “It’s not true” to claims he bullied staff and used company cash for prostitution.
Poor guy was grilled on stage every which way, but took it on the chin.
Many say he’ll be the best broker in the world if agency groups are selling out to big marketers the likes of P&G, Nestlé…

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