Since 1954, French cultural retailer Fnac has been a supporter of cultural freedom and open-mindedness. But these days, even if we have the feeling we never had so much freedom and cultural choice, in fact, everything we read, watch, discover, like or buy is decided by algorithms (80% of what people watch on Netflix is recommended by the algorithm, according to an internal source).
This bias is locking us up in a cultural bubble from which it is more and more difficult to escape.
In reaction to this growing threat, Publicis Conseil Paris came up with an “#UnrecommendedByAlgorithm campaign for Fnac that looks to offer an alternative where algorithms are not the only ones to decide our cultural choices and humans keep their role as influencers.
Fnac developed digital banners to recommend the opposite of what mathematics formulas would have recommended: cultural items we are less likely to buy.
Based on real data profiles from publisher ad servers, Fnac flipped around the algorithm recommendation mechanism to select and serve content that people had only a 2% chance to like.
The campaign pushed the banners along people’s daily digital journey on news and culture websites. Per the Fnac initiative, a Twitter bot publishes tweets with cultural content at the opposite of what people like and share on the social network.
The idea is to remind us that, most of the time, the unexpected opens us new horizons. This case study film explains the underpinning of the campaign.
“We are living in the age of the algorithms. it’s never been so important to nourish the unexpected, search for serendipity and to escape from the recommendation bubble. it’s a cultural battle, and a human battle after all,” said Marco Venturelli, CEO/CCO of Publicis Conseil, and CCO at Publicis Groupe France.
CreditsClient Fnac Julien Le Bescond, Hรฉlรจne Brosselin, Mรฉlanie Milhau, Christelle Belat, marketing team. Agency Publicis Conseil Marco Venturelli, CEO/chief creative officer, Publicis Conseil, and chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe France; Benedicte Pelletan, Aurelie Breton, creative directors; Julien Colas, Kamel Makhloufi, creative team, digital; Theo Tiret, strategic planning; Pascal Gaveriaux, head of digital; Chloe Ballay, social media manager. Media Agency Havas Media
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brandโs story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled โA New York Minute,โ the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brandโs own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuriโs jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
โWhen I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a โcampaignโ could be,โ said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. โGia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuriโs values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I canโt wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.โ
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