The Feed Q2 in Cannes: VML, Spotify, Omnicom and VaynerX Discuss Social Metrics, Engagement and Long-Term Equity
The second edition of The Feed, which showcases the best work from social, took place last night on the LBB and Friends Beach at happy hour during Cannes Lions. Co-hosted by Little Black Book and Omnicom Production, the event presents a curated selection of groundbreaking, social-first campaigns, handpicked by The Feed’s world-class Creative Council, with social representation from TikTok, Meta, Reddit, Snap, Spotify and more.
The focal point of the afternoon was a quick-fire panel discussion hosted by Little Black BookCEO and founder, Matt Cooper, who was joined on stage by Omnicom Production’s chief executive Jo Cotton, VML’s chief social officer EMEA Christina Miller, Spotify’s head of global creative lab Kay Hsuand at VaynerX’s global head of production Andrea Ogunbadejoto discuss how audience attention spans are shifting and why social-first is vital for brand survival.
Opening the floor on what metrics truly move the needle for modern clients, the panel discussed what metrics are most important when measuring social traction. Andrea highlighted organic views as VaynerX’s North Star.
"Views means people enjoyed it," she explained. "We really see it as the great equaliser... Did it connect with people in social? Did people like it? If it got views essentially, then it did what you wanted it to do."
While for Christina, VML considered the combination of emotional resonance and tangible results as the holy grail of social.
"I've seen so many brands recently move into actually really tracking business impact and how do you connect that to something more tangible?" she said. "When you can bring those things together, does it resonate? Are people viewing it, sharing it, liking it, engaging? And then is it moving the needle for your business? That is the holy grail of social."
For Jo, engagement is a powerful metric as it signals a new way that social users are behaving in the space.
"Something we're increasingly looking at and tracking is saves and shares," Jo said. "If you save, it really captures something... it signals that it has a purpose in your life. Going back to slightly more old-school days of advertising like 'member get member', really that shows up now in the form of shares."
While in agreement with the other panelists, Kay shared that social metrics should align with a brand’s different life cycles: "Everybody's right. It just really depends on what you're trying to do for the brand at that moment,” she said. “Sometimes it's equity building... sometimes it is commerce and driving those click-to-actions, and other times it is about deep engagement."
All of the panelists spoke to keeping up with the relentlessly fast-paced and reactive content space and questioned how to create long-term equity.
"To have deep cultural relevance, you have to be very topical and be able to move very quickly,” said Kay. “If you're doing it consistently and in context, it builds brand equity, which is long-term."
Andrea on the other hand stressed the importance of consistency while brand-building, cautioning that brands must understand that audiences are not a monolith.
"Organic social is a long game,” she said. “It's not like, 'Okay, we want to do this one thing and let's see what people think.' It's a consistent thing in the way that you show up... as long as you're staying really true to that and authentic to it and you aren't just jumping on anything that comes up, brands will have success."
Christina encouraged brands to tune into a three-question framework for brands navigating social: asking is it authentic to the brand story? Is it relevant to the audience? Are you actually able to create value and impact off the back of it?
"Sometimes passing on a trend is actually the most impactful thing that a brand can do," she said. "Jumping on every fleeting moment means that brands actually just dilute themselves rather than putting out a really pointed point of view that people want to follow."
Jo agreed with the disciplined approach, warning against the urge to over-participate or participate solely for participation’s sake.
"I often say to brands, sometimes less is more because it's so saturated out there,” said Jo. “If you try and jump on every single trend, you look absolutely mad. Frankly, you just don't feel real... The minute you lose someone, it's hard to get them back. Dial it down, pare it back."
"Sometimes the brands are in the comments where something is really not in the realm of the brand at all and you're like, 'Huh, very interesting. Yes, this toilet bowl cleaner brand has really jumped onto the Olympics,'” added Kay. “So it's not just the feed, also the comments. Sometimes less is more."
"What I loved about the work that made it through was it shows that not everything in social has to look and feel the same,” said Andrea of her experience judging The Feed. “Brands can show up in a way that is unhinged on social, or they can be really meaningful, educational, or entertaining. It doesn't need to be one thing."
