Entertain or Die.

Peter Mountstevens – Chief Creative Officer Taylor Herring
First published in Shots Magazine, May 2016

As we gear up for this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, 5,000 miles away, Donald Trump is closing in on the Republican nomination — a prospect that would’ve seemed unthinkable just a year ago.

He’s not winning with budget.
He’s winning with attention.

In February alone, Trump generated $2 billion in earned media — letting the press do the work while he delivers controversy on tap.

Love him or loathe him, Trump understands something crucial:
Entertainment cuts through.
Storytelling wins.
Outrage is shareable.

And many of the same themes — earned media, creative storytelling, brand-as-broadcaster are set to dominate the conversation in Cannes this week.

Because here’s the truth: The marketing world is at a crossroads.
Mobile networks are selling ad-free browsing.
Viewers are skipping TV ads with a tap.
The golden days of “pay-to-play” attention?

Gone.That beautiful Cannes sunset?

A perfect metaphor for the old model.
But this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of something new.

In an ad-blockable world, brands have two choices:
Entertain. Or die.

Sound dramatic? Maybe. But not wrong.

A recent Havas report found that 74% of brands could disappear tomorrow — and most people wouldn’t care.

The ones we’d miss?
They’re the ones we enjoy spending time with.
The “firms of endearment,” as Hayman and Giles put it in Mission.

And what do those brands have in common?
They entertain.

Look at Uber, making delivery delightful — ice cream drops, kitten cuddles, mariachi bands.
Look at Airbnb, turning listings into dream-fuel — from igloos to shark tanks.

The age of forced, interruptive messaging is over.
The next era belongs to brands that earn attention
Of course, this isn’t new.
It’s marketing 101.

As Dale Carnegie wrote back in 1936: “Merely stating a truth isn’t enough. The truth has to be made vivid, interesting, and dramatic… You have to use showmanship. The movies do it. Television does it. And you will have to do it if you want attention.”

Still true.
Now more than ever.
Entertain. Or die.