Where Tom Beckman Sees PR’s “Significant Potential for Improvement”

Serving as this year’s Cannes Lions PR jury president is Tom Beckman, Weber Shandwick’s global chief creative officer.

Since kickstarting his career in Sweden, Tom has become known as an international PR expert, heading up juries ranging from the London International Awards and Eurobest to Dubai Lynx and winning everything from a Cannes Grand Prix and Clio to personal awards like top industry innovator. It’s no surprise that his time at Weber Shandwick has seen it ranked the most creative PR network in the world at Cannes Lions and PRovoke Global Creative Index – more times than any other network.

Ahead of the international festival creativity later this month, LBB’s Zara Naseer caught up with Tom to hear his expectations for the PR category, his all-time favourites, and why he describes the jury experience as a masterclass.

LBB> What is it about the PR category that really interests you?

Tom> PR is still defined by blue skies. I left advertising 20 years ago because I was bored with channel activations. A PR brief is always open-ended in terms of how you bring an idea to life. Now, after years of media fragmentation, earned ideas and earning your place in culture are at the top of the agenda for most brands. All the stars are aligned, yet both the advertising and PR industries still have significant potential for improvement. They need to focus on designing ideas that can survive in the jungle, creating concepts that thrive in the real world without artificial life support.

LBB> What have we learned from last year's Grand Prix winner in PR – Specsavers' ‘The Misheard Version’ – and how have expectations towards the category since changed?

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LBB> What are the current big debates within the PR category – or more generally across the industry – that you expect to see come through in the jury room?

Tom> When the PR category was introduced in Cannes in 2009, the definition of 'earned' was to PR the advertising. Today, earned is the holy grail in marketing, the centerpiece most CMOs are asking for. The definition has shifted: now 'earned' means to advertise the PR. In short, most brands are striving to develop earned ideas that they then amplify through paid social media.

LBB> How do you expect AI to impact the PR category?

Tom> So far, the most relevant impact of AI on our industry has been at the early stages of the project process (insights, data, objectives, direction), as well as at the later stages (production, targeting, converting and evaluating). In the middle of the process sits strategy and ideation, which remain relatively intact. While AI is already disrupting our industry and others, most applications are still focused on production. The significant shift that has occurred is, of course, consumers using AI as a production tool, rather than brands.

LBB> What's your all-time favourite PR campaign for a brand?

Tom> I have many. I love ‘Pee in The Shower’. I love ‘Gatorade Replay’. I love ‘Like a Girl’. I love ‘Epic Split’. I love ‘Dream Crazy’. I love ‘Buy Back The Block for Checkers’. But given the horrors of war, the work ‘Blood Relations’ from 2011 has a special place in my heart.

LBB> You’ve served on a whole host of industry juries – what keeps you coming back to them?

Tom> Being on the jury is usually a masterclass. You always walk away with new perspectives on the work, and it keeps you up to date with best practices in the industry, obviously. I always document my experiences and share them with colleagues and clients. When approached correctly, the awards scene is a critical business tool for professional service firms. When approached incorrectly, it becomes a very expensive vanity spectacle.

LBB> Drawing from all that experience, how have they shaped you as a jury president, and what criteria will you be encouraging your jury to look at when evaluating work?

Tom> The job of the jury is to be curators, carefully selecting pieces that not only outshine the rest in terms of strategy, creativity, execution and results, but also represent our time. I encourage jury members to study award history so they can better relate to the level of quality and recognise typical ways of addressing challenges in different categories. In the end, the shortlisted work should represent a benchmark for the PR category, demonstrating the way forward. Therefore, being aware of which ideas have been highlighted as benchmarks in the past is critical. A carefully curated body of work provides essential inspiration for the industry, while a poorly curated one can slow down industry evolution.

LBB> Outside of the jury room, what are you really looking forward to at this year’s Cannes Lions?

Tom> I don’t anticipate having much free time outside of the jury room. However, I do have an hour or two open on Thursday, and that’s about it. Weber Shandwick has three teams competing in the Young Lions competition and I'm excited to follow their work.

Read more interviews with this year's Cannes Lions jury presidents here.