When Procter & Gamble was named Advertiser of the Year at Cannes in 2008, TBWA chairman Jean-Marie Dru celebrated with a speech about why it’s great to be big. Here’s the first of two abridged extracts.

Cannes is a place where creativity is celebrated unlike anywhere else. But the source of that creativity does not remain the same. In 2007, something happened in Cannes – something extraordinary. Both Procter & Gamble and Unilever – two giant FMCG companies – were awarded the print and TV Grand Prix.

For decades, neither of these companies had much of a reputation for winning creative awards. In fact, it’s fair to say that some of us had gotten used to making fun of these big, unwieldy clients with their big, traditional agencies. But here’s the reality: A lot of great work comes out of big clients and large agencies. At TBWA, global clients generate 85% of our awards.

The fact that both P&G and Unilever were awarded a Grand Prix the same year was no coincidence. It was a historic turning point for our industry. Bigger is better.

For one thing, big companies have large budgets. And they are using them more effectively. Some of them used to think that, with all their advertising dollars, they could simply repeat the same film over and over until the message got through. That era has passed. As you all know, audiences can now watch whatever they want, whenever they want. Mediocre advertising gets zapped. It’s the beginning of the end for repetitive advertising.   

Mars is one of the companies that have realized this. Five years ago, nobody would have imagined that Mars would make films as edgy as the Skittles “Touch” and Combos “Fever” ads we made for them in New York.

So the question is: why has Mars adopted this edgier style of advertising? Obviously, they saw the writing on the wall. There’s no getting away from the fact that, today, creativity is vital to every sector, without exception. More than ever, big ideas matter. Big has become beautiful.

Read the second abridged abstract tomorrow on www.mad-blog.com.