The Art of Curation – Cannes Lions
One of the most interesting live sessions I experienced at this year’s Cannes Lions was The Art of Curation. The session was lead by The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta, with Mike McCue, co-founder/CEO of Flipboard and Adam Weinberg, the Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. According to the speakers, in an age where information is ubiquitous, we have come to rely on the curation of content to manage and augment our knowledge, taste and activity. Sometimes the curator is an editor, sometimes it’s people we ‘follow’ and sometimes it’s a platform that we curate ourselves. Increasingly the curator is an algorithm that parses content to be reflective of past choices, friends and ‘people like us.’
The discussion was spot on. If you create the right mix of content you will gain attention and trust. People trust content from Netflix. They’ll watch 6 episodes of House of Cards back to back and happily pay for the service. On the flip side, without having to select content ourselves, we’re becoming passive recipients of information. How do we get people to be more discerning about what they’re viewing? Viewers should have an opinion. If you see something you dislike, that’s good. If you see something you hate, that’s even better. If the content becomes memories that find a place in your life experience, they can change your opinion and influence your actions. The same goes for advertising. Think about the TAC & Quit ads. They show horrific images, but they change your behaviour, because they cause the viewer to have a reaction.
The Director of the Whitely Museum discussed putting on shows he thought wouldn’t be popular, but often were a hit. Seeing new things we don’t expect to see opens our minds and influences a change in opinion. If we keep experiencing the same thing over and over again, how do we know what else we may like? Essentially, we become very narrow minded because we lack life experience.
Today, as algorithms attempt to refine our content choices, we risk losing the magical moments of discovery. We’re being delivered content that is suited to us, but not challenging us. Flip Board is aware of this. As they curate the stories we see, they actively challenge their viewer by avoiding showing things they know will be popular. On Flipbook, you’re more likely to see Katie Couric interview the US Vice-President than Kim Kardashian. This is why the audience subscribe to the brand and enjoy its broadcast.
As consumers, we’re also guilty of this. On social media, we are curating what we put in front of our friends to tell a story about who we are, but how much of what we put up is accurate? Retouching apps allow image conscious consumers to broadcast highly retouched images. We have a desire to make people think we’re successful and good-looking, but it’s creating a false sense of who we are. Life isn’t supposed to be perfect. We need to be challenged and challenge others.
In summary, in a more curated world, where technology is feeding us content through algorithms, there’s a greater need to challenge ourselves and step outside our comfort zone. Flipboard’s main objective is to influence people and change the world through great stories that change opinion and attitudes. For advertising content this means challenging the viewer to drive a change in behaviour. People may not ‘like’ the ad, but if it’s different and challenging it will grab the attention of the viewer and make them think.
Andrew Begg