As the ad community gathers in Cannes this week to celebrate their institutionalized mediocrity, let's counterprogram a bit with a brand that insists on not taking itself too seriously. There are only a handful of spirits ads that consistently rise above the usual tropes. With its novel "spokescart" concept and "The Good Gets Great" tagline Tito's Handmade Vodka always gets us to stop and take notice.

Culture is the dominant theme in marketing for now. Drafting off of, plugging into, photobombing pop culture trends and social memes has become a hedge against the white noise of media clutter. As with all marketing trends, this smart move casts off a lot of social crapvertising and gratuitous meme surfing that drips inauthenticity. So DOVE men's care's recent campaign caught my eye as a way to do culture adjacent work in a way that actually speaks to the brand. Unilever plugged into an unlikely social media trend - men posting images of their dirty sneakers and complaining about the …

Change is the hardest thing about marketing. Our entire job is focused on changing human behavior when inherently, people just don't like change. We're creatures of habit. We settle in a routine that fits our lifestyle. We stick with products that we know are going to work for us. We eat the same food that we already know we're going to like.