System1

Agency True Publishes Free B2B Creative Scale

True, a B2B creative agency, has published the True B2B Creative Scale — an open, eight-level framework (Damaging to Iconic) for judging creative work during production. The scale includes diagnostic questions, audience impact descriptions and gut-check quotes; True says it has used the framework internally for years to raise creative scores and now offers it free to the industry. System1 data cited in the article shows 76% of scored B2B ads register a one-star effectiveness rating, indicating many campaigns contribute little to market-share growth. True’s founders argue a shared creative standard can improve briefs, increase creative ambition across agencies and clients, and help B2B work move beyond stereotypical and routine executions.

Goodbye Cannes, Hello CreatorFest

Hello Partner's Influencer Insider newsletter recaps Cannes Lions activity and previews CreatorFest. The edition highlights an interview with OpenAI's Head of B2B Marketing EMEA Leila Woodington, who discussed OpenAI's Cannes sessions, creator-AI intersections and shared early insights on OpenAI's newly launched ads platform. CreatorFest's app is live ahead of the event and the Creator Craft Awards 2026 shortlist has been published with public voting open for two categories; winners will be announced on stage at CreatorFest on 2026-07-14. The newsletter also flags several industry items from Cannes including System1’s Andrew Tindall launching a Creator Effectiveness Playbook with WPP and TikTok, Disrupt Marketing's Genuine Influence Index, a Will Ferrell x Skims campaign tied to a Netflix show, and LinkedIn testing a topic-focused suggested feed.

Ritson and Sharp Find Common Ground at Cannes

At Cannes Lions, Mark Ritson and Byron Sharp presented a joint session stressing mental availability and the role of distinctive brand assets in brand growth. Ritson publicly announced he is retiring his own term 'brand codes', credited Jenni Romaniuk for the definitive book on the topic, and urged industry consolidation around the Ehrenberg‑Bass term 'distinctive brand assets' rather than synonyms like 'fluent assets' or 'well‑branded'. The pair outlined five points of agreement—mental availability, distinctive assets, mass marketing, consistency, and skepticism about brand purpose—and highlighted practical implications: WARC data (David Tiltman) shows average campaign lengths for large brands are 30–40 days, while Sharp noted half of an FMCG’s annual sales come from buyers who last purchased more than 12 months earlier. The session reinforced existing research rather than introducing new theory, but offered a public call for a shared vocabulary to reduce operational confusion across brands and agencies.