Day 5 Recap for #CannesLions #OgilvyCannes

1. Day5
2015
Cannes
Lions
r e c a p
B y J e r e my K at z ,
W o r l d w i d e E d i t o r i a l D i r e c to r ,
O g i lv y & M at h e r

2. 2015
Cannes
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1The American WayThursday’s draw card session was Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky once
possessed one of the most famous—or should I say infamous—names
in the world. “If you were a brand, what would your brand be?”
she was asked in a job interview some years ago. “Let me tell you, when you’re
Monica Lewinsky, that’s a loaded fucking question.” Her audience ate that one
up as they did the rest of a funny, relatable and affecting speech she gave. Her
story, though interesting, was not the point of her talk. Yes, she returned to
the public spotlight here (and previously at TED and Forbes) to, “reclaim my
narrative,” as she put it. But the real message was to confront the audience with
the dehumanizing impact of technology and to show the living, breathing person
behind the pixels. We are, Lewinsky tells us, in the midst of an empathy crisis on
line. We cut each other no slack. We hunger for humiliation and the shameful
revelation. We click—and click and click again—on the salacious. We need to
heal the digital commons and build a new expectation of compassion online.

3. 2015
Cannes
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2I’dLoveJustOnce
to See YouTechnology distances us from the impact of our words and deeds. Since we
can’t see the people we shame or bully online, we are insulated from the
shock of the wounds we cause. Yet few would argue that technology is a
universally bad thing. Stephen Bayley of the Guardian made an elegant
argument of that fact at debated hosted by Intelligence Squared and ogilvydo, and
while his fellow panelists—Scott Galloway, Daniel Franklin, and Emma Holten—found
it hard to disagree with the idea that the internet has given us tremendous benefit,
far more than the pain it has imposed. However, it’s an open question if we should
or should not have some sort of regulation over the internet. Regulation, as activist
Emma Holten told me, doesn’t necessarily mean government intervention. It means
commercial and social action as well. Holten knows first hand of the perils of an
anarchic web. Her nude pictures were hacked and spread which she sees as a consent
violation. Full stop. Her courageous and masterful response was to share nude pictures
of herself, thus regaining control of her body and asserting her right to consent. Hey,
Denmark: elect this woman to some sort of political office. She’s a force of nature.

4. 2015
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3EmpathyTechnology also builds empathy. Even a cursory spin through BuzzFeed
will point you to some tear-jerking story of online kindness that will
give you all the feels. Individual acts of passionate humanity inspire us
to share…our emotions. That collective acts of brutality inspire a similarly heart-
felt and impotent response is the chief failing of the human race. But technology
also humanizes tiny little interactions, and that may have the biggest impact of all,
turning us back into a species that knows—and therefore cares about—each other.
Consider Uber, as Marc Mathieu urged the audience at a rooftop panel discussion on
data and creativity. We’re in the midst of a crippling taxi strike here in France. The
cabbies are pissed about all the business Uber is taking from them, and while I feel
empathy for their cause, I feel much more connection with every single Uber driver
I’ve ever had. Why? I know their names. They know mine. I see their strangely grim
mugshots on the app when I book and am always surprised by how friendly they end
up being. Technology like Uber enables us to, Mathieu said, “level up empathy.”

5. 2015
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4Don’tStopBelievin’Technology humanizes in less obvious ways as well. Consider, as Mathieu
also pointed out, how the technology enables data that “is de-averaging
marketing.” (Please, can no one every say “de-averaging” again?) Dove’s
data-driven Campaign for Real Beauty often gets cited as an example of
how data can start to personalize marketing. From the big insight that only 4% of
women find themselves beautiful to the individualized, data-driven and socially-
enabled campaigns like Speak Yourself Beautiful and the Ad Makeover, Dove has
long stood out in marketers’ minds as a progressive employer of data. British
Airways used data in a different way, mining it to build the emotional Visit Mum
campaign and the gee-whiz Magic of Flying billboard. But the real potential for data
and technology to bring greater individualization to our lives lies at the intersection
of personal data and 3D printing. Think of 3D printing, Mathieu suggested,
as a local production unit which, in conjunction with data, will revolutionize
manufacturing. Humanization through mass customization seems a stretch at
first, but it’s a high-output version of cozy, cottage-like bespoke manufacturing.