Platform13

A global gathering of great opportunities. That’s what Cannes Lions means to Platform13 Founder and cultural specialist Leila Fataar, who comes to the Festival to keep her finger on the industry’s pulse. Her advice? See as much you can and listen hard to the industry experts. Here’s her experience in 100 photos 📸 Want to find those gold nuggets of creativity for yourself? Pick your Cannes Lions 2025 pass today. We’ll see you in June | https://lnkd.in/gFAb9Dsp

A second commentary around Trump 2.0, CMOs and Big Tech for Digiday came out a few days ago, but the context for my quotes is important as we go into this new era. As someone who has working in communications (and I mean that in the broadest sense from ATL to experiential, PR to social, and everything in between) for a looong time, I was asked to comment on how power had shifted for CMOs since Big Tech took over all our lives. Back in the day it was definitely the case of CMOs and marketers creating narratives and stories to distribute across digital and social platforms, driving audience engagement that mattered. Through my first company Spin (fashion and youth culture, in a very guerilla style and very very early across and integrating PR, events, online and social channels) and when I was global director of PR / Social for adidas Originals (the first time these 2 channels were brought together and included sneaker lover engagement and events), I have hands on deep deep experience in doing this successfully. Using this non FMCG way of working as the creator and Head of the Culture & Entertainment department at Diageo my job was to embed their portfolio of brands credibly in the cultures of fashion, music and art. I learned a lot about big media (and eventually big digital media) buys here. We did many amazing things by marrying these two worlds together. Today, it feels like marketers have become the customers of Big Tech, their role reduced to a reactive, often transactional ‘buy’ in the digital advertising ecosystem, impacted by algorithms, closed ecosystems and changeable policies that are hard to keep up with. The outcome is that technology and data are used to define creativity, cultural resonance, and brand-building, resulting in a sea of sameness as all our lives become influenced by controlled algorithms. As brand people, we need to drive cultural relevance (and no, that does not mean a famous person in your ad or jumping onto a viral ‘trending topic’) to succeed, and CMOs need to find ways to credibly engage fans and consumers' attention beyond the traditional digital media buy. At Platform13 we create and maintain #culturalrelevance for our clients by doubling down on the thing that makes your brand unique (I call this a cultural positioning), driving deep audience resonance through compelling brand storytelling across multiple channels, ensuring that the work is delivered in the places, spaces and formats of the audience. Have a look at our #platform13_ 6 country project for Under Armour a few years ago: https://lnkd.in/e4NtJujB

I love product storytelling. And I love to find a way to ensure it adds to both brand building and the communities and cultures that brand is part of, respectfully and credibly. A nice memory popped up today. My last project when I was at adidas Originals was all the global product comms for the relaunch of Superstar. One part was this special book. Will be sharing more from my 30 year archive in the run up to the launch of my book, #CultureLedBrands in June 🎉

🥁 The Annual List of Agencies on my Radar for 2025 🔥 20 Talented Teams. When they do things, I pay attention.... and so should you. 👇🏻  ------------------------------------ ✨ Breakthrough Creative Campaigns ✨  ------------------------------------ 1. Frosty / J.D. Ostrow 2. Forth+Back® / Tanner Woodbury 3. Transport New York / Andy Gray 4. One Thirty-Eight Productions / Hye Young Shim 5. AP Studio, Inc / Alexis Nicolas Piqueras 6. Superdigital / Assaf Swissa 7. 20(SOMETHING) / Will Thacker 8. Little Minx / Rhea Scott ------------------------------------ ✨ Retail & Experiential ✨  ------------------------------------ 9. RINGO STUDIO / Madelynn Ringo 10. PRODJECT, LLC / Keith Baptista ------------------------------------ ✨ Culture & Entertainment ✨  ------------------------------------ 11. Adolescent / Ramaa Mosley 12. Platform13 / Leila Fataar 13. OBB Media / Adam Stotsky 14. TRIPTK / Maggie Carr ------------------------------------ ✨ Design & Branding ✨  ------------------------------------ 15. Yung Studio / Melody Yung 16. Date Of Birth / Ollie Mann 17.40S Creative / Jarren Simmons 18. AUGE Design / Federica Ariagno 19. Type & Lettering Rockstars Alec Tear / Design & Lettering Artist Fermin Guerrero / Fuerte Type 20. Motion Templates from Communities of Artists ena supply + SAVEE As a reminder, I "try" not to repeat partners I've highlighted in past years. Those links are below in the comments. Follow these partners, get to know them.. and celebrate the work our industry is privileged to create. I am grateful to all the partners who have been exceptional to collaborate with for my clients' communications this year ( Highdive, Spcshp, Lucky Generals, The Working Assembly, Redscout, Invisible North .. to name just a few! Linkedin won't let me tag anyone else 🤗 ) As always to all firms... thank you for always taking my calls/texts/DM's, being real, and bringing such great energy in all moments ... :) xx LS #agencies #marketing #business #creative #production #advertising