France: Overview

... French fancy

Paris has been criticised for shying away from digital, but now – thanks to broadening horizons and changing attitudes – its European and US counterparts better watch out. And the City of Lights is brimming with creative ideas – the foundation of any good ad project, online or otherwise, writes Isobel Roberts.

It’s been 12 months since shots last peeked behind the scenes to investigate the inner workings of the Parisian ad scene, and in that time some standout pieces of French work have reached dizzying international heights. The Wardrobe for Canal+ by BETC Euro RSCG continued to sweep the board at awards – in fact it topped the table of Most Awarded Film in the Gunn Report for 2010 – while Buzzman’s interactive YouTube experiment, Hunter Shoots a Bear for Tipp-Ex, set the online world ablaze.

But while there have no doubt been some creative highlights, the general mood coming from the local industry is that Paris is not yet creatively alight. Instead, it seems, 2010 was a year for strategic thinking. Criticised for being slow to embrace the digital revolution and adjust to the new modes of communication, the cogs are now set in motion for a new future – although some are progressing faster than others.

“It is as if there are two worlds coexisting,” says Stéphane Xiberras, president and executive creative director of BETC Euro RSCG. “We continue to see a lot of classic formats that continue on the traditional path of advertising. This model is faltering and it’s worrying to see how the French are increasingly wary towards advertising; they reject it and move away. There are some [agencies] who try to open new channels – but there are not enough of them – to reach consumers in new ways by inventing a different relationship to the brand. But I do not think this phenomenon is only French.”

Last year proved to be a vintage year for BETC, which came top of the Parisian pile as the most awarded French agency at Cannes this summer and also picked up second place in the Gunn Report’s Most Awarded Agency poll. It’s not just traditional projects that have been winning the agency attention either; online campaigns such as Kill a Friend for TV channel 13th Street have proved a hit too.

But of course BETC isn’t the only one who has been experimenting. Since rehiring digital expert and founder of Duke Matthieu de Lesseux at the end of 2009, DDB Paris has been focusing on integrating digital thinking into its method of working.

Target practice

They are adopting a similar point of view over at Paris’s largest network too, explains Publicis Worldwide CCO and Publicis Conseil executive creative director and co-chairman Olivier Altmann: “We are moving from campaigns to platforms and we need to keep a permanent discussion between the brand and the people. We need to stay alert of the latest technologies but not lose sight of the real needs and desires of our targets. All of this requires new ways of working and more time.”

Broadening creative scope and enhancing consumer engagement is the order of the day over at CLM BBDO too. “We have to get out of ‘creativity’, a controlled exercise in style designed to produce ideas for conventional vehicles, and move into ‘inventiveness’, a more comprehensive stance with consumers, media and brands all interweaving,” say creative directors Jean- Francois Sacco and Gilles Fichteberg. “With the emergence of new technologies, new channels and mobile media, agency creativity is being reinvented. Today, there are so many creative opportunities to be seized. We have to dive into the very structure of this pool of resources to reach consumers that are increasingly playing hide and seek with brands.”

So while change is in the air, Paris has lagged behind some of its other European counterparts and the US. Altmann mentions the tendency of the French to beat themselves up and look at Anglo-Saxon work with an inferiority complex as an issue, while Fred & Farid’s co-founder Farid Mokart hopes that, now those high up in the agencies are travelling more, they have opened their eyes to new ways of working.

DDB Paris executive creative director Alexandre Hervé highlights an influx of foreign creative talent to Paris as a catalyst for change, while Ogilvy’s executive creative director Chris Garbutt points out the effect of the economic issues. “I think the biggest effect of the crisis has been that there has been a shift towards finding ways of getting more bang for the budgets,” he says. “So there’s been more emphasis on unpaid media, content and digital. This is a great step for France, because we have some catching up to do with the States, and the UK, and this has forced the industry and clients to put more urgency and investment in this area. This is, of course, hugely exciting for creativity, and for Ogilvy, because we can go much deeper into brand experiences and find new exciting ways of engagement.”

Following in the agency footsteps, and sometimes even leading the way, production companies have been diversifying content and exploring new territories too, with more branded content and digital projects coming through the door. “Web-based projects are growing,” says head of Les Producers and president of the cfp-e Francois Chilot, pointing to the inaugural Cannes Films Craft winner from Philips as a prime example of this happening on a global scale, “and it’s exciting to tell these longer format stories, but let’s hope we will still have the budgets too.”

Tipping point

Although clients have loosened the purse strings, budgets are still a sore point, and the production industry has also been under pressure from the agencies’ own in-house production arms – a more common and well-developed phenomenon in France. However, the consensus is that the threat posed by these internal divisions has reached a tipping point – and it’s all down to their creative capabilities. “What we are here to do is provide added creative value,” says La Pac founder and president Alain Bernard, “and you have that everywhere from the production values, to the director, to the DP, to the stylist.”

Back over on the agency side of the fence, the Parisian scene has been dominated by big-name brands, with major networks such as Frenchowned Publicis and Havas ruling the roost. Smaller start-ups haven’t mushroomed in the same way as across the channel, but with the atmosphere changing, power lines are shifting and in the past few years several small shops have sprung up offering new approaches. These new players are now winning success with bigger clients, as clients also adjust their mindsets.

Changing market

“Two years ago, it would have been impossible for some of these smaller agencies to start up with such big accounts,” reiterates Fred & Farid’s Mokart, “but the market is changing and brands are asking for more.” Although relatively established in comparison with newer joints, Fred & Farid has grown its portfolio with top brands including Audi and Société Générale and is planning on opening up a series of smaller satellite agencies with fresh ideas.

But while the future of advertising has been debated and dissected in boardrooms across Paris, one message is coming through loud and clear: however the rules develop, in this game it’s still all about ideas. “We don't know where we are going, but we had better try to adapt rather than to resist,” says Altmann, “and those who are able to find great ideas will always be of great use in the future, no matter what the latest trend or widget will be.”

“An idea is an idea,” agrees DDB’s Hervé, “and it can be very powerful in a newspaper or in a very complicated Facebook strategy. It’s important that people have ideas and know how to express them in print, film, website, social media – whichever way.”

So however Paris’s creative talent does manifest itself, the future is at least looking bright for the City of Lights. “There’s still a lot of work to be done in France,” concludes BETC’s Xiberrass, “but we are at a crossroads, and it’s super exciting.”