A spur-of-the-moment idea is like an octopus whose tentacles have lost their purpose.

It's been a month since the new fiscal year began. For those whose workplace environment has changed significantly, how are you all doing? Getting used to a new environment usually takes about three months, right? By the time three months pass, it will be July – the season of "Hangeshō," a traditional Japanese seasonal marker signaling the end of the rainy season. Speaking of Hangeshō, it's "octopus" season. In the Kansai region, there's a custom of eating octopus during this season because it's rich in taurine, which helps recover from fatigue. It's a good time to focus on maintaining health. Now, while I personally eat octopus dishes year-round at izakayas, let's expand on the octopus theme for this discussion.

The Octopus Pot of Ideas: Insights from Young PR Professionals' Actions

Recently, I had the opportunity to serve on the preliminary judging panel for the domestic selection of entries for Young Cannes, the young professionals competition at Cannes Lions, which reaches its peak in June. Compared to other categories like Film, Print, and Media, the PR category received a particularly high number of submissions—152 entries. Hmm, it's truly heartening to see such strong interest in the PR category. Of course, these are also potential rivals, so I can't afford to be complacent.

Amidst this, one thing caught my attention: a significant proportion of entries were solely focused on the idea itself. Furthermore, there was a noticeable "idea siloing" phenomenon, where entries tended to cluster around similar concepts. While Cannes Lions, originating as an advertising award, might be perceived as primarily evaluating "ideas," the PR category places significant emphasis on "strategy" as the entry point and "results" as the ultimate outcome. The "execution" and "ideas" that bring these to life follow. This ratio remains consistent year after year: "Strategy 30%," "Execution 20%," "Idea 20%," "Results 30%." Compared to other major categories, the PR category is perhaps a bit unique in its emphasis on the "entry point and exit point." That said, this distinctiveness is also a key focus for PR professionals during judging.

In the PR department, cases of success achieved by chance or whim are dismissed outright as "lacking reproducibility." Similarly, if an analysis of the current situation fails to reveal a "derived strategy," the evaluation plummets. In other words, as stated in the evaluation criteria, it is the preceding "strategy development" that is considered the true skill and expertise PR professionals should be evaluated on. Following that comes the "execution" and the "ideas" to further enhance it. The "results" achieved upon successful completion are, in fact, almost inevitable. However, after this year's judging, I strongly sensed that many pairs neglected this "strategy development" and entered entries focused solely on ideas. This was deeply disappointing to me.

Cannes' Judging Criteria Also Shifts from "Ideas" to Strategy

According to a recent PRWeek article, Cannes Lions spent the past six months redefining its evaluation criteria for the PR category. This discussion appears to have been sparked by the fact that last year's winning entries largely concentrated on so-called "creative agency-driven, visually impressive" work, rather than what should be evaluated as true PR activities – work that might appear "down-to-earth" in nature.

Of course, solid content is essential, but the concern was that judging itself inevitably gets pulled toward "appearance and presentation," no matter how much attention is paid to substance. It's also true that the quality of an entry video often drastically alters the impression of the submission. Following these discussions, the new evaluation criteria for the PR category were announced as follows:

"This category recognizes creative activities that skillfully build trust and relationships with third parties, primarily using earned media tactics or channels that influence public dialogue, ultimately changing perceptions and driving behavioral change. It also honors efforts that protect and strengthen the reputation and business of the organization or brand within its target audience."

While the term "creative" is included, it serves as a modifier for the activity as a whole. It can be understood as asking: "Was the activity itself, as a whole, innovative and full of ingenuity, offering a new perspective?" It's not about how the activity is presented or the ideas behind individual tactics. The deliberate inclusion of "results" as a keyword—achieved through earned media utilization as a tactic, creating opportunities for consumer-to-consumer conversations, and leveraging third parties—to evaluate shifts in awareness, attitude change (behavioral change), and ultimately the strengthening of brand reputation and business, reveals a stance that also evaluates fundamental activities. Furthermore, I interpret the deliberate omission of the word "strategy" here as a strong declaration: "A consistent underlying strategy is a fundamental prerequisite."

Understanding the award criteria and applying them to daily operations is crucial

Returning to the Young Cannes judging, I strongly felt this year that many entries started with seemingly impressive ideas (what we might call a single image in PR terms...), first deciding on the main initiative, and then often filling in the gaps before and after that idea, sometimes rather artificially. Because they weren't derived from the fundamental analysis of "this measure is necessary and effective for changing this target's awareness and attitude," many lacked any real cohesion or consistency. And that "strategy" part was often just a copy-paste of the challenge and goals from the brief. These were proposals lacking a thought process; reading them, you couldn't feel any resonance or gain any sense of conviction. In fact, entries that seemed to have predetermined their ideas were intuitively obvious. As a result, they were immediately excluded from consideration.

This perfectly exemplifies the "siloed nature of ideas." This time, nearly 20 submitted proposals featured duplicated ideas. Furthermore, these ideas had been entered numerous times in the Cannes Lions festival itself, intensifying the sense of déjà vu. In truth, we were evaluating applicants' logical thinking abilities and the consistency demonstrated through their "strategies" and "ideas" with a strong focus, separate from their pure idea generation capability. Entries meeting these expectations seemed drastically reduced this year. While we were pleased by the high interest in the PR category, we also felt uneasy that many participants might have entered merely as a "shot in the dark." It's no exaggeration to say the judges' true sentiment was that we wanted entries to be crafted with a much stronger awareness of the "evaluation criteria" unique to the PR category awards.

So, to wrap things up. I mentioned "octopuses" in the introduction, and I'll conclude with another "octopus" story. No matter how splendid or eye-catching a kite may be as it dances in the sky, if you have no sense of control and don't even know where it will land, there's no meaning or fun in flying it. The true meaning and enjoyment of kite-flying lies in pulling the kite string yourself, paying close attention to the "wind" conditions overhead, and controlling the kite according to your "intent." This should be paramount in real PR activities as well. "Even a powerful idea only matters if you can control it." In other words, a visually impressive kite only holds meaning when it's connected by the string of strategy. This is something we should firmly keep in mind. Well, it might be old news to you all...