The annual Ciclope Festival was held in Berlin Germany, October 7th – October 9th. As part of the confab, Matt Miller, President and CEO of AICP, participated in a panel discussion entitled “Preserving Competition: Brands & Independents Forging Direct Relations,” and a subsequent workshop called “Defining the Rules of Engagement.”
The panel, moderated by Jillian Gibbs, Founder/Global CEO of APR, additionally featured Florence Jacob, Managing Executive Producer/Partner at Caviar Paris, and President of the EPA; Clarisse Lacarrau, Creative Strategist with Fix the Future; and Steve Davies, Chief Executive of the APA in the U.K. The conversation centered on production and post production companies shifting the model to work directly with marketers, rather than advertising agencies, as the holding company production/post entities proliferate.
During the discussion, Miller noted that according to a recent survey of AICP members, over the past 12 months, companies report an uptick in work done directly for marketers (meaning no advertising agency involvement) and will continue to do so. Davies and Jacob reported similar stats from their regions.
Miller noted that educating marketers and demystifying the production and post process is key to engagement, more easily allowing brands to work closely with independent companies to create marketing messaging. Miller was quick to emphasize that there are many smaller, independently owned advertising agencies doing great and creative work with AICP members, and that it’s the holding companies and their entities that are homogenizing creative product and not necessarily providing an even playing field when engaging in the bidding process with independently owned production and post companies.
The workshop, held just after the panel discussion, was again moderated by Gibbs and featured Miller, Davies and Jacob. Building off the Universal Principles of Engagement – first developed at the 2013 Cannes World Producers Summit by AICP, the APA and the EPA’s precursor CFP-E, and revised in 2023 – Gibbs led a conversation about crafting best practices for engaging directly with marketers. In addition to insights from the panel, many in the audience shared ideas and opinions about working relationships with brands and agencies.
Video of both sessions will be available on the Ciclope site in the coming weeks.