Cannes Lions is still strongly associated with video and AI. What does an audio advertising sales house like NRJ Global come here for?
It’s a fundamental event for us because it’s all about creativity. And creativity is something we care deeply about. We are involved in the Audio Creative Awards with Sup de Pub, and we do a great deal to demonstrate the power of audio. That requires outstanding creativity, which is what brings us here. International reach is also a key factor: NRJ is present in 13 countries, Nostalgie in 9 countries, and we have advertising sales operations throughout Europe. It’s important to be able to exchange ideas with our international partners, particularly our counterparts at EGTA, with whom we regularly benchmark ideas. And, of course, technology is at the heart of our thinking: how can we make buying radio and audio together easier?
Audio is still perceived as the poor relation when it comes to creativity. How do you explain that?
Perhaps it’s because there aren’t enough awards and prizes highlighting the value of the medium. But as you rightly point out, it is a medium that is very much at the heart of French consumers’ daily lives. It’s a companion medium that people encounter through radio, audio streaming and podcasts. It’s an extremely diverse medium. For me, creativity is one of the key foundations. We need to make creatives want to work in radio and audio again, because it is an extremely effective medium. We measured this with CSA Data Consulting: for every €1 invested, you get a €12.70 return on investment. That is a powerful argument that we need to keep repeating to advertisers. But if we want to get them excited about the medium, we also need to show them that we can create beautiful, effective campaigns. And that is precisely one of the foundations of one of the innovations we are launching at Cannes Lions.
You are launching a brand-new offer here. What does it involve?
We have called it Test & Success. When we talk to advertisers who already use radio and audio, their feedback on the medium’s effectiveness is overwhelmingly positive. It drives sales. When we measure it using Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) tools, we get the same €12.70 return on investment. However, when we meet advertisers who don’t yet use radio and audio, they can be hesitant: it means changing media strategies that already work for them, even though those strategies could potentially work even better with radio and audio. So we decided to tell them: come and test our medium, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll refund you.
How does it work in practice?
There are three steps. The first is creative development. An advertiser can either come to us with a creative they have already produced with their agency—in which case we pre-test it to assess its effectiveness beforehand—or they can come without a creative. In that case, we have Spot Machine, which is able to produce an effective advertising creative. The second step is to build the media plan in order to best meet the advertiser’s objectives. The third step is to post-test the campaign. At that stage, we commit to three intention-based criteria: drive-to-store, drive-to-web, or purchase intent. We agree on these criteria together through the pre-test, and there must be a minimum 10-point uplift on at least one of the three KPIs (drive-to-web, drive-to-store, or purchase intent). If there is no 10-point uplift, we refund the media campaign and the test.
Video is also part of your strategy. Do you have any announcements to make in this area?
Here’s an exclusive announcement: we have created a dedicated social room within the NRJ Group, in addition to our audio studios. This will allow us to produce video formats on a much larger scale and at a much faster pace than in the past, with a growing number of short-form video capsules that we will distribute across social media and our own digital assets. We are fortunate to welcome dozens of artists to the group every day, which gives us an incredible wealth of material for creating outstanding content.
Are audio and video really complementary for an advertising sales house like NRJ Global?
They are not opposed to one another at all. Video is an extension of audio. The NRJ Group’s strategy is really about being present wherever our audiences are and working across a diversity of formats, whether audio or video. And we are already a YouTube Partner, which allows us to sell specific formats on the platform. YouTube is a fundamental source of audience, and we need to be there with formats specifically designed for the platform. That’s what we are doing, and we will be significantly stepping this up in the new season.
Do you think the partnership announced between France Télévisions and YouTube is a step in the right direction?
For me, it’s key. It’s an excellent initiative. We really need to embrace these players as full-fledged partners. Working with them on how to monetize and maximize the value of our assets is one of the key priorities.
You are also working on a platform-based approach to audio advertising purchases. Where does that project stand?
It’s a huge undertaking. We are looking at the entire issue of platformization, and we are also exploring AI agents to see how we can interact more directly. This is one of the elements that will make our media as a whole more accessible. Tomorrow, we need to be able to buy radio and audio together, seamlessly and effortlessly, without any friction between the different channels. And there is also the issue of measurement, which ties into this. We are working on it with Médiamétrie and the Alliance de la Radio. We need to be able to calculate the additional reach provided by audio compared with radio, and streaming players need to be incorporated into this measurement framework so that we can have a truly global and comprehensive view of the audience.
