Congratulations to all the winners at Cannes especially those within the TBWA\GLOBAL network. So far, the Cannes Lions have been very good to our network with more than a few significant wins including two Grand Prix in promo and PR for Gatorade ‘Replay’, which is the great campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day.
But where are the PR shops in the PR Lions? Apparently, they’re not at Cannes and they’re not winning their share of awards says Brian Morrissey in this interesting Adweek article. Perhaps it’s too early to pass final judgment about how many awards “that redheaded stepchild, growing up into a critical part of the marketing world,” should win. Regardless, Mr Morrissey has thrown down the proverbial gauntlet, challenging PR agencies and pros.
TBWA certainly understands the importance of earned media, or PR and social media as it’s more commonly known. Gatorade ‘Replay’ and the Nissan Sentra SE-R Project are earned media successes. Additionally, my roles as Director of Earned Media demonstrates TBWA\TORONTO’s commitment to integrating PR and social into the paid, owned and created media mix.
As more agencies see the advantage of understanding how brands behave across all mediums, we’ll see more agencies such as TBWA with in-house digital, PR, social, mass and creative expertise. These firms started as ad agencies or PR shops or digital boutiques, but they’re emerging as communications powerhouses capable of servicing clients’ many marketing needs.
And as the next generation of firms continue to win at Cannes, it might be time to realize that the various and critical elements of the marketing world will be created and delivered by agencies that look and act differently. So maybe there are the right amount of PR shops in the PR Lions; they just sorta look like ad agencies.
