Croisette versus Wall Street: How to value creativity more financially | Analysis

Of course, many different variables affect share prices, but shouldn’t winning the ‘big win’ be a wave of buoyancy for everyone, at least for a few weeks? More customer interest, more staff pride and confidence, more talent wanting to join us, more existing customers wanting their own Lions next year… these are the things that drive our industry forward – and yet the City doesn’t seem to recognise this. It was the same last year when the winners again had no significant use on Wall Street.

I admit that a win in Cannes brings less immediate and direct benefits than a football team winning the Champions League. It is harder for a holding company to generate immediate revenue than it is for a Real Madrid jersey shop. But share prices are based on future earnings, not just short-term price spikes, and I am convinced that a big win in Cannes increases that future potential.

When we were at Adam & Eve/DDB, we were twice named Global Agency of the Year at Cannes. Did the phone ring non-stop the next day with new business calls? No, it didn’t. In fact, we couldn’t directly attribute a single new client to those wins. But they definitely increased the agency’s fame and reputation. There’s a reason the Adam & Eve name continues to spread throughout the DDB network. Winning the top prize at Cannes undoubtedly brought glamour and attraction that, over time, translated into more opportunities with new and existing clients.

It therefore seems unusually short-sighted of the City not to recognise the power of agencies that are achieving great success on the world stage.

So what is their problem? Well, there seems to be a feeling in the film industry that award winners have reached their peak and after that it is usually downhill. But that is a very odd attitude. It is like suggesting that every film poster that says “from the people who brought you Oppenheimer…“ signals that it’s going to suck because they’ve already had their big moment. This is obviously nonsense because we all know that big movie studios and big agencies can do it again and again.

There seems to be a profound disconnect here that is damaging the creative industries. Creativity is what separates us from consultants and, for a little while, from machines. Creativity is our superpower. Time and time again, we prove that it delivers extraordinary returns in low-growth environments. Creativity is our Nadal, our Hamilton, and our Messi. And when creativity is competing, celebrated, and awarded on the biggest global stage, that should be a sign to investors that something fundamentally good is happening here, regardless of the current company fundamentals on which share prices are loosely based.

After all, the red car’s share price rose 10% when Lewis Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari earlier this year. The City saw him as the Scuderia’s new creative superpower and his potential to take the company forward in a variety of ways in the long term. It’s time they did the same for our multiple world champions.

David Golding is co-founder of New Commercial Arts.