Creation MUST be effective

The Serviceplan Group will be travelling to the Cannes Lions on the Côte d’Azur on June 19 as ‘Independent Network of the Year’. This year, the creative festival plans to focus more on the effectiveness of communication. Alexander Schill, CCO of the Serviceplan Group, is delighted with this development and answers three questions about the International Festival of Creativity on the Croisette.

Best Trends: What is the Serviceplan Group planning for this year in Cannes?

Alex Schill: We are focusing on our ‘Sparks ÜberCreative Experience Program’, a group-wide development programme for young talents. In addition to the creative exchange – which is immensely important – the young colleagues can be inspired by great presentations and get to know each other in a laid-back atmosphere. And all this on an international level, across all our locations. In general, I think that we do far too little for the coming generation in our industry. We want to change all that. In principle, not only creative people are invited to the programme, but also a wide range of talents from all areas and locations of the Serviceplan Group.

Best Trends: Three members of the Serviceplan Group are also on the jury. Can you tell us who they are?

Alex Schill: We are incredibly proud to be in Cannes with three jurors. Aisha Blackwell is Executive Producer at Serviceplan Make and judges the work in the category ‘Film Craft’. The General Manager of our Web3-Unit Serviceplan DCNTRL, Nina Matzat, looks at the ‘Digital Craft’ submissions as part of the jury. With Max Schöngen, our Global Creative Lead at the Mediaplus Group, we have a proven creative media expert on the ‘Media’ Lions jury.

Best Trends: Let’s move on to the submissions: Mainly in the metaverse? Can a submission win just by being in the metaverse?

Alex Schill: We will naturally see a lot of entries that are focused on Web3 this year. And we’ll also see the enormous differences between the wheat and the chaff. These days, simply doing something in the metaverse or with NFTs and then thinking it will win you an award is nowhere near enough. The quality spectrum is incredibly broad. For me, it’s less about the channel, but more about how the people are picked up. I believe that communication that moves in realms isolated from social relevance will just fizzle out. There’s just too much going on out there. People are concerned. And that’s something you can’t ignore. It’s also the only way we can make advertising relevant and effective.