Google: ‘Experimentation should be at the forefront of marketing’

Cannes Lions: Brands should put innovation and experimentation with new technologies and advertising platforms at the forefront of their marketing strategy and not just treat it as a side project to their everyday activity, according to Google product marketing manager Aman Govil.

Burberry-HKKisses-460
Google says its partnership with Burberry on the Kisses project is an example of a brand putting experimentation at the core of its activity.

Speaking to Marketing Week at Google’s Creative Sandbox in Cannes, Govil said: “There is value in creative experimentation. A lot of brands want to do creative experiments, but the definition of experimentation has to be changed from side projects to be put front and centre.”

The tech firm is at Cannes to discuss its “Art, Copy, Code” project which aims to explore the developments that are changing the way brands tell stories. Five years ago, says Govil, creativity focused on art and copy, but now there is a new dimension of technology and coders at the core of creativity.

“Art, copy and code is about asking ourselves [and brands] what industry is going to look like five years from now – exploring what we can do today. We’re trying to throw our hat in the ring and see what we can experiment with today that helps us and the industry figure out what great creative will look like but also how it’s going to be made.”

He cites the recent Burberry Kisses project as an example of a brand putting experimentation at the core of its activity.

“It’s an experiment….and it’s done at scale. [Brands should] test in front of people. The more we can creatively experiment at scale, the more value there is.”

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