Nick Law: "Creatives need to step up"

Nick Law, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe and president of Publicis Communications was the first speaker on stage Monday at Cannes Lions 2019, marking the network's return to the Festival after last year's 'pause'. 

His self-described ‘rant’ was about putting creatives back in control, by making sure they’re mastering the media they use and being product people, not idea people. “We’ve got to stop doing stunts and start building capabilities,” he said.

Instead of hiding behind the ‘big idea,’ creatives need to be mastering the media and not relying on the social media platforms to tell agencies what best practices are, Law said.

In the above video, Law begins by explaining why creatives need to take more control of business product decisions. He tells Campaign “creatives need to step up” to prove their value as business partners.

Law also explained how the Publicis Groupe work that it can bring to Cannes is changing, whether through storytelling or through service-based work through the likes of Sapient.  Law explains in the video below what sets great storytelling apart and says he hopes to see more of the latter service-type work entered in future. 

Campaign Asia editors will be reporting on news from Cannes Lions all week. Follow our feed here and keep up with all the latest awards news here.