Thomas explicó que hay un dilema sobre cómo se percibe la publicidad
Chris Thomas is the CEO at BBDO in the U.S., President of Proximity Worldwide, and President of I&S BBDO in Japan, in the context of his talk Why Advertising Works -presented at the recent edition of the Festival Cartagena Inspira- covered the necessary “marriage” between creativity and effectiveness. He explained that there is a dilemma regarding how advertising is perceived and how society blames it for almost all of humankind’s ills: male chauvinism, consumerism, beauty stereotypes. In this regard, he exhorted advertisers and creatives to talk more about the work that is done and mentioned examples of winning campaigns in the past edition of Cannes Lions, such as Fearless Girl and Meet Graham. “Advertising, when it gives it its all, can be a force for good” said Thomas, highlighting that, in fact, at the Cannes Lions Festival there was a sort of anxiety caused by changes in the creative industry, such as disruption of consulting firms in the advertising industry, increasing stardom of technology or ‘death’ of creativity. He added that the industry has three allies: 1. Data, that feeds everything advertisers do with information. 2. Connectivity in real time, that inevitably adds immediacy to advertising. 3. The way we possess and buy things. People don’t buy things anymore, they share them, assures Thomas.To end, he stated that to survive in the advertising industry, and in general in every industry, people must be sure to have four abilities: code, critical analysis, collaboration, creativity and constant learning.“Advertising might have problems, but it has a reality, a great future ahead of it. A future in which it won’t be ‘the bad guy’ in the film. Advertising is not that villain some people say it is (and will be)” he sentenced.
