The Cannes Lions is well and truly back post-Covid for its 70th edition. The Croisette and Palais are buzzing with crowds checking out the Beach Clubs, an incredible selection of world-class inspiration, hot marketing issues, and engaging content along and around the beachfront. It appears more global clients are making the sojourner to the Cannes Lions – one global well-known agency brand is hosting 120+ clients and the feedback is similar from other big agency groups/Holdcos. Global CMOs are here in Cannes big time and thriving on learning, connecting, and inspiration.
Plus, we saw some fine art indeed.
Who has a presence?
WPP Beach House, GroupM Rooftop at The Martinez, Yahoo Beach Club, Dentsu Beach Club, Havas Café, Stagwell Sports Beach, Omnicom Cove, IPG/MB Villa, Havas Café, etc Plus LinkedIn at the Carlton Rooftop, Microsoft Beach House, Spotify Beach, Snap with Disney, TikTok at the Carlton Hotel, Amazon Port, Google, etc.
See Also: Brett Armstrong: How creativity on TikTok is “driving the success of commerce” on the app
Some of the big tech companies appear to have scaled back their activations such as Meta, and no Twitter activities. Others have definitely scaled up their presence: a very stylish Wall Street Journal House at the end of the Yacht port, a super cool Pinterest at the Carlton Pier, etc.
Cannes Lions awards Entries are up
Overall, there is an increase of 6% from last year with 26,992 entries, the Awards have seen an 18% increase in the number of entries directly by consumer product brand companies, likely contributing to their increased attendance this year.
Content overload & I need AI help
In the Palais (the Lumiere main stage), Debussy, the terrace stage, and Palais Two it was a jam-packed official first day. The creative Marketer of the Year for two years running, AB InBev (global CMO) Marcel Marcondes, inspired with a brilliant session to kick off the festival. Marcel addressed the elephant in the room – the recent US Bud Light controversy – and reassured the audience they had learned valuable lessons and were moving forward in a humble and thoughtful manner. His World Cup case study after four years of planning and a major global pivot within 48 hours was outstanding. Multiple sessions on AI including a capacity crowd on the Terrace highlighted the topic on everyone’s minds.
Another stand-out session on the Gen AI revolution was introduced by the legend David Droga CEO of Accenture Song, joined by Nick Law and Lan Guan. Nick nailed it with five simple and powerful takeaways about the intersection of creativity, story, design, tech, and why humans will triumph: 1. Care 2. Audacity 3. Play 4. Intent, and most importantly, 5. Taste.
The Brandtech Groups session with the Global Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, Faye Mcleod focussed on incredible creativity and excellent human traits: inspiration, fun, and joy.
One of the final sessions of the day was with the pharma giant Bayer and the incredible Halle Berry – telling the crowd that tackling taboos can unleash incredible creativity that drives brand recognition and sales growth.
Halle Berry
From AI to AR with Snapchat
Snapchat took over the La Malmaison and partnered with Disney to celebrate their 100 years of storytelling through an immersive AR exhibition that brought the magic of Disney stories to life.
With the power of Snapchat’s Augmented Reality (AR) technology, guests could engage with these stories in this immersive exhibit that captured the wonder and magic of Disney.
Mediaweek’s Trent Thomas at the Cannes Snapchat exhibition
Visitors were offered the chance to blast off through space with the Guardians of the Galaxy, meet the characters of Pixar’s latest movie Elemental, travel to the majestic oceans of Pandora inspired by Avatar: The Way of Water, exit Hyperspace on a desert planet from The Mandalorian, and discover how wishes are granted in Disney’s upcoming film Wish.
Snap also hosted an exclusive press lunch where members of Snapchat’s Executive team talked through how Snapchat is the home for real relationships. This lunch featured:
Ronan Harris, President of EMEA
Rob Wilk, President of the Americas
Ty Ahmad-Taylor, VP, Organic Growth & Product Marketing
Colleen DeCourcy, Head of Marketing
Activation of the day
The impact and quality of some of the Cannes Lion partnerships and their brilliant brand activations are quite simply incredible. So many to experience and engage with during the festival, so more to come in the following days. The one that captured my imagination today was Reddit with its multi-story – so on-brand in every respect and, of course, engaging content.
Mediaweek’s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham visits Reddit
The takeout of the day
From AB InBev: Even in times of crisis after four years of intensive Word Cup planning, with creativity and incredible agency partners, you can pivot within 48 hours and achieve outstanding creativity that captures the world’s attention and drives brand growth.
–
Top Image: Mediaweek’s Trent Thomas and Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham at Cannes Lions