The Cannes Lions Festival is coming to a close on Thursday, and trust me, attendees will be ready for some rest and cool weather. During my quick visit, I heard the question “What day is it?!” Attendees wandered around the Croisette more than once during this year’s festival.
And no, it’s not just that Aperol Spritz and Rosé flow freely during the festival known as a meeting place for brand marketers. This is also due to the countless keynotes, panels, appearances and “activities” in the Palais des Festivals and outside, as well as the barrage of parties, evenings and special events that keep people entertained until the morning hours.
Beyond the exchange of ideas, business presentations and social affairs, people are likely to leave Cannes Lions with all kinds of ideas. If you missed it – or are no longer sure if you’ve actually heard or seen it due to lack of sleep, here it is Hollywood ReporterA look at the key takeaways and experiences from this year’s Cannes Lions Festival.
The name is more appropriate than ever
It is true that the annual gathering has transformed from an advertising event, dominated by agencies and media giants, into a somewhat amorphous “international festival of creativity.” As one first-time attendee pointed out early in the week, the huge wave of events, people and businesses taking over the French port city for a few days sounds scary. “I’m worried I’m going to miss five big things or speakers that I don’t know about yet,” said one attendee THR.
But on the positive side, the sheer number of people and brands on the Croisette during Cannes Lions opens up opportunities for dialogue and potential collaboration across traditional silos. The Cannes Film Festival is clearly dedicated to film. MIPCOM is for TV lovers. But Cannes Lions is for everyone and anyone, really.
I remember the bad old days of the ill-fated AOL-Time Warner merger, when suddenly the industry was abuzz with talk of the “convergence” of media and technology. Well, Cannes Lions is the coming together of people and brands from the worlds of film, traditional and digital media, music, comedy, fashion, sports, technology and all kinds of other industries. And many people THR Our meeting this week highlighted how powerful your time on Earth can be because you can meet so many people you may never be able to meet in such a short time frame.
Financial efficiency is a different matter, and cost seems to be no real concern for many here, just look at the massive structures, endless VIP guest lists and the money they bring onto the Croisette for just a few days. For most of us, the bottom line may not be something that can be measured. But the bottom line is that Cannes Lions is an apt name, perhaps more so than ever before. After all, today the event looks like the king of the Cannes jungle.
The definition of fame has changed
If you’re middle-aged like this writer, you might think that the biggest star to visit the Croisette at Cannes Lions this year was Oprah Winfrey, this year’s Cannes LionHeart winner. Or Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, this year’s entertainment personality, who took the stage with Jerry Bruckheimer. Or maybe Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably been drawn to events featuring the likes of Jaylen Brown, Lindsey Vonn, A-Rod, Shaun White, or Shaquille O’Neal.
But content creators are also part of the A-list at Cannes Lions and beyond these days. So, Stephen Bartlett, the twin sisters behind the fast-rising sleepwear brand Phe Phe, Bran Flakes, Mel Robbins, Jay Shetty and other creatives, are generating buzz and excitement at the Croisette.
THR They even witnessed an unknown couple suddenly turning their heads on the Croisette and enthusiastically chasing after a young man to ask him for a selfie, which he obliged. The incident led a group of people to ask each other about the young man’s identity. None of them knew, but it didn’t matter – because it mattered to this couple. He may not be as widely known as Tom Cruise (yet?), but he seems to be making an impact nonetheless.
Artificial intelligence talk is everywhere
Just like in the real world, you simply can’t escape talking about AI in the Cannes Lions bubble. OpenAI executives appeared at keynote talks, panels were questioned about AI, and chats over iced coffee or wine mentioned planned AI IPOs. Especially “agent AI,” which was a recurring theme. An example of this is the press release Adobe released on opening day, which was titled “Adobe accelerates AI adoption through new agencies and technology partnerships.”
What is agentic AI, you ask? Well, many people are currently using AI-based chatbots to do various tasks. In the looming “Agent AI Age,” AI systems operate autonomously, autonomously setting goals, making plans, and executing tasks to achieve goals without the need for, if not desirable, constant human guidance. Some will find this exciting, while others will find it intimidating.
This week, Amazon unveiled Alexa+ Agentic Ads, “the first ad format that takes a customer from seeing an ad to completing a purchase entirely within a conversation, without ever leaving the ad.” “Order food, buy concert tickets, and complete a task — all through a natural conversation with Alexa+,” the company said. “Alexa+ Agentic Ads bridge the gap between intent and action – a customer can go from curiosity to completed purchase in a single conversation,” said Charlotte Maines, VP of Content and Advertising at Alexa. “This is a simple, meaningful experience for customers and a great opportunity for advertisers to drive engagement and instant purchase.”
Dennis Dresser, chief revenue officer at OpenAI, said in a keynote that the company celebrated its debut at Cannes Lions this year and that AI was a tool for an era that had moved “from consciousness to the intelligence economy.” She offered that AI is a major “societal change.”
Meanwhile, the media world’s “cartographer” Evan Shapiro has highlighted smaller dramas and the general rise of vertical content on mobile as streaming companies like Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock and others add vertical feeds.
“You’ll see more and more brands talking about this topic. I think vertical will be one of the most used phrases this week. Hopefully, it will overtake AI,” Shapiro said.
Death scroll note
At least one session during the Cannes Lions festival focused on the dangers of social media, artificial intelligence and other technologies, describing the destructive passing of misinformation and disinformation as global challenges at a time when different countries are exploring or introducing social media bans for children.
“About a year ago, the UN released our first global risk report,” said Charlotte Scaddan, Senior Advisor for Information Integrity at UN Global Communications. “What did he find? The report confirms what we have known for a long time: that misinformation and disinformation is a major global vulnerability, one for which the international community was not adequately prepared.
Robin Desai, Chief Marketing Officer at Una Terra, also had choice words with a focus on social media. “We are no longer in the attention economy,” he said. “We are actually in an addiction economy.”
He expressed concern not about AI itself, but about who controls it and its future, which he suggested would be the same small group of tech bros who are already the richest and most powerful people on the planet.
The best huts, stunts and activations
The Cannes Lions hand out a ton of their own trophies, so there’s no need for us to do the same. but THR She will share her views on some of the notable attendees of the Croisette.
Of course, there were popular mega centers like Meta Beach, Amazon Port, UTA Beach, YouTube Drive-In, and Spotify Beach.
But one particularly central and popular hub of activation – right next to the Palace – was the Reddit Community Deli. Some people came for business meetings; Others simply wanted to see what the attention-grabbing building had to offer. Many came for the free iced coffee and dessert or to relax a bit next to one of the big fans outside the venue. All of this made Reddit, which calls itself “the heart of the Internet,” one of the hearts of the Croisette during the Cannes Lions Festival.
Streaming service Tubi is set to get a company in the form of The Roku Channel once Fox’s recently revealed acquisition of Roku closes. Just days later on the Croisette, Toby’s presence caught attention, especially with the design feature in the form of hands raising the curtain.
I didn’t have LGBTQ+ networking and dating platform Grndr on my branding bingo card to have a loud and proud presence next to the palace. But her team brought energy and fun every day. Not only is the app’s primary target audience visible, they can be seen spinning the wheel for prizes, taking a look inside the party bus and taking photos. The fun and frolic definitely outweighed the grind here.
