Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was the busiest and most productive we have ever attended and this was not by chance. More than any year we saw more private parties and more activations outside the main ticketed event.
Rather than this being an elitist approach and an issue for ticket holders, Cannes activations this year seemed to focus on ‘making it your own’ and doing things your way.
This meant there were closed lists and private parties everywhere and not just limited to the Croisette. If you do not know or have contacts with the various brands, platforms, media channels or agencies then you were unlikely to be able to get in.
What does this mean for people who don’t have deep contacts in the industry? Well, its an industry event, brands running activations are inviting their customers, partners and clients, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you have no contacts in the marketing industry and are going to investigate for the first time, then a Cannes Lions ticket would be a great way to get to meet those brands and next year be invited to those activations and private parties. So rather than ticketed events and private parties moving apart from each other, they are actually all part of the ecosystem of Cannes Lions.
Diversity of thought.
One of the best sessions at Cannes this year was the Diversity session with Clear Channel’s Louise Stubbings, Karmarama’s Dan Rutherford, Spotify’s Kerry Steib, Spark Media’s Sandra Alvarez, Geoffrey Hantson from Happiness and moderated by Little Black Book’sLaura Swinton. My main take away was that diversity needs to go beyond just gender, ethnic background, age, etc., and into how different people think and even diverse economic and educational backgrounds, this is where you get the most diverse thinking and the best creative output for your customers. It’s a deep issue that’s important for every business, whether you’re a start-up or an enterprise.
Our favourite campaigns.
River Island #LabelsAreForClothes
Ocean Outdoor – WCRS – #TankFree
Best interview, for sure was Sir Martin Sorrel at The DRUM Arms – S4 is about to take on the holding companies with a new model that with the right acquisitions will be hard to beat. I guess no one in the world knows how best to build out a new holding company, and with all the lessons Sir Martin has learnt over the years, the big six will be watching deeply to spy his every move. Best take away from his interview – India and China will be a force to reckon with in future years and anyone ignoring that will be the ones who fail.
Everyone deciding to #CHOOSELOVE Much of our activity was introducing our Help Refugees client to as many media and brand people as possible, this went super well – our highlight was at the Telegraph Party – in the first five minutes the chairman of Karmarama asked if he could donate and get a T-Shirt, which was super well received and he wore the #CHOOSELOVE T-shirt to all the proceeding VIP parties that night – showing that making some small decisions can make a great impact in getting people’s attention to the plight of displaced people around the world.
2019 is already being planned and with more partners than ever. How will things be for the holding company’s is yet to be seen? With even Facebook now turning to physical print to engage people – next year is already looking at more possible pivots.
User Generated Content Agency 