Pre-event buzz: Key Findings

• Ogilvy has comfortably dominated the first week of Cannes thanks in part to a prolific and well-executed social campaign

• #OgilvyCannes and #inspire, both created by Ogilvy, account for 93% of hashtag uses outside of the official Cannes Lions hashtags

• The success of Game of Thrones, and the will to discover more about the storytelling experience, has seen the show’s producer top the buzz around speakers. ‘Storytelling’ was mentioned alongside the TV exec and his successful show, seeing it rise to become the third most popular buzz word after ‘advertising’ and ‘creativity’

• Ogilvy aside, Microsoft is leading the way amongst brands with the #MSFTCannes hashtag proving a useful tool for driving conversation

• Facebook and Instagram’s ‘La Galerie d’ Instagram’ photography competition is also gaining traction pre-event

Cannes Lions 2014 by Volume09.06.14 (1am CET) – 12.06.14 (4pm CET)

Cannes Lions generated 9,617 posts so far this week by 4pm CET Thursday. We can see buzz is slowly building up with the number of posts increasing by 52% compared to the same period last week.

However, since Monday, conversation has remained steady, with the most mentions coming in at midday at the beginning of the week. This was fuelled by Ogilvy’s Cannes preparations, which has driven 3,668 mentions throughout the week so far. It will be interesting to see if the firm can maintain its share of voice when other brands begin to drive their own conversations next week.

Top Brands (by mentions) at Cannes Lions 201409.06.14 (1am CET) – 12.06.14 (4pm CET)

GoogleFacebookInstagram

McDonald'sSamsungLinkedIn

WPPYahoo

Microsoft

0 50 100 150 200 25095

12686

5917

2434

19195

count

Ogilvy’s prolific social campaign, including the prominent #OgilvyCannes hashtag, has been central to the agency dominating brand mentions in the build up to Cannes. If we exclude Ogilvy, as in the above chart, it is evident brands have yet to engage social audiences in the run-up to the festival, which in part may come down to many focusing resource on FIFA World Cup campaigns.

Microsoft leads the way as the ‘best of the rest’ with its #MSFTCannes hashtag driving conversation – much of this has been driven by its own @MSAdvertising account. Facebook generated 125 mentions, which it owes in part to Instagram’s ‘La Galerie d’ Instagram’ photography competition.

Top Buzz Words (by mention) at Cannes Lions 201409.06.14 (1am CET) – 12.06.14 (4pm CET)

Unsurprisingly, ‘advertising’ was the top buzz word in the build up to the event, generating 810 mentions. Its closest rival was ‘creativity’ with 579 mentions. Rivalling these more traditional themes, the growing importance of ‘storytelling’ has also seen significant cut-through with 421 mentions. It will be interesting to see if any other buzz words can spark conversation once the festival kicks-off.

38%

5%27%

5%

20%

4%

Buzzwords

AdvertisingMobileCreativityTVStorytellingDesign

Most Mentioned Celebrities at Cannes Lions 201409.06.14 (1am CET) – 12.06.14 (4pm CET)

Amazingly, Abraham Lincoln has featured as the most mentioned famous figure this week. Ogilvy demonstrated the value of a well-executed social media campaign with a relevant image and quote from the former president. “The best way to predict your future is to create it” tied in with the themes of Cannes and struck a chord with the Twitter-sphere, generating 713 retweets.

When it comes to non-historical figures, Game of Thrones producer David Benioff is sparking conversation ahead of his appearance at the festival. With the likes of Bono, Courtney Love and Jared Leto set to star next week, we’re expecting much more celebrity buzz in the coming days.

Abraham Lincoln David Benioff Bono Sheryl Sandberg0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Abraham LincolnDavid BenioffBonoSheryl Sandberg

Top Hashtags at Cannes Lions 201409.06.14 (1am CET) – 12.06.14 (4pm CET)

Removing the official hashtags (#canneslions, #canneslive), we can see confirmation of Ogilvy’s domination during this first week, with #OgilvyCannes being used 3637 times. #inspire, also created by Ogilvy, is the second most popular hashtag, with 1,756 mentions. Excitement around the appearance of David Benioff and D.B Weiss of Game of Thrones fame has boosted #GoT and #GameOfThrones with 134 and 135 uses respectively.

62%

30%

2% 2% 3%

#OgilvyCannes#inspire#GameOfThrones#GoT#MSFTCannes