WOW! What happened this year at Cannes Lions?

First I will confess that I have never attended the Cannes Festival but I know a lot of people in the industry who do and I am always fascinated by the talk and the media coverage the festival gets. Of course the social media messaging is simply positive and why would it be anything else? With warm weather, inspiring creative, oceans of rose and plenty of prestige events paid by sponsors.

But the Cannes Lions also has its detractors, with Mark Ritson again sharing on LinkedIn his article from 2016 being his comprehensive guide to what marketers will learn at Cannes

But rather than the rose-tinted glasses of the social sharing of the attendees, or the opinion pieces from various delegates, or the nationalistic reporting on the number of Lions won by each country, what caught my attention was the perhaps more cynical sharing of the industry media hacks on their annual junket to the Cote d’Azur for what many believe is the highlight of the annual international awards calendar.

AWARDS BIAS FOR SHORT-TERM WORK CAUSING 'CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS CRISIS', IPA WARNS

There is a "crisis in creative effectiveness" warned the IPA upon the release of its report into the effectiveness of short-term campaigns. It raised a concern that awards shows like Cannes Lions are increasingly inspiring bad practice, which must be a concern for anyone interested in advertising driving growth.

GARY VAYNERCHUK QUESTIONS THE RELEVANCE OF CANNES LIONS AND WORK THAT ‘NO HUMAN EVER SEES’

Then Gary Vee stuck the boot into Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity. Taking aim at questionable work winning awards at Cannes, he said at the event: “We’re about to clap and award a lot of people for a lot of work that no human has ever really actually seen.”

ARE CANNES LIONS GRAND PRIX-WINNING ADS EFFECTIVE? A STUDY SAYS NO, UNLESS IT’S A TIDE AD

Well congratulations to everyone who won a Grand Prix this year. But is it as effective with consumers as it is with an esteemed panel of creative superstars? A study gauging the effectiveness of Cannes Lions winners may temper the elation of those taking home the biggest prize out there—the Grand Prix—but Gold winners make an impact with consumers.

EXTINCTION REBELLION DISRUPTS CANNES LIONS

Climate-change protestors disrupted the entrance to the Palais des Festivals on the third day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. A group who are part of Extinction Rebellion staged a sit-in protest on the steps of the venue, calling on the advertising industry and brands to wake up to the urgency of climate change.

But its mission has turned sour after scrapes with security during a peaceful protest at the festival. It appears you can win accolades and awards for advertising environmental issues - just don’t ask the industry to take responsibility for their contribution.

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA FOUNDER BACKS OUT OF CANNES PANEL AMID PROTEST

Alexander Nix, founder and CEO of the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica, backed out from a panel slated to run Thursday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity following protest from various privacy activists and industry leaders. Interesting that an industry that champions free speech in the face of government regulation does not allow free speech at their most famous creative festival.

GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDIA LAUNCHES TO FIGHT FOR DIGITAL SAFETY

Some of the world’s biggest advertisers and agency groups are coming together with Google, Facebook and other media owners to launch an "unprecedented" alliance to improve the digital media environment.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media said its members want to use their "collective power to significantly improve the health of the media eco-system" and "to identify specific collaborative actions, processes and protocols for protecting consumers and brands from safety issues" in the wake of a series of scandals.

The most disturbing part of this is in the first line, with Google, Facebook and Twitter all helping to fight for the problem many say they created or at least have done little to address.

HOW MUCH DO AD AGENCIES SPEND ON AWARDS SHOWS EVERY YEAR, EXACTLY?

It is reported that the big agency networks can easily shell out $1M-plus for Cannes alone. When you add in the hundreds of other agency award shows (creative and otherwise) it adds up to a significant investment and overhead cost for the agencies. Which goes some of the way to explaining the next article that caught my attention too.

FORMER CANNES LIONS HEAD TERRY SAVAGE: DON'T ENTER SO MANY AWARDS SHOWS

The former chairman of Cannes Lions argues that the industry should support only those awards shows that prove their value by publishing entry-to-win ratios. Terry has always been a champion of creativity as a business growth tool but I would have thought the real measure of the award is not the entry-to-win ratio but the correlation to effectiveness and performance, which takes us back to the first article from the IPA.

A FRENCH WOMEN’S RIGHTS GROUP IS HOLDING A CANNES OF THEIR OWN TO RALLY AGAINST INDUSTRY SEXISM

As thousands of agency folk descend on Cannes for the International Festival of Creativity, a French nonprofit called Les Lionnes held a separate event to draw attention to the rampant sexism and harassment that continues to plague the industry.

But on the issue of gender one launch that was not reported was Bec Brideson’s launch of #womenwithagency highlighting agencies owned by women. Join in the research here.

IS ACCESSIBILITY JUST THE ‘CAUSE DU JOUR’ AT THIS YEAR’S CANNES LIONS, OR IS REAL CHANGE AHEAD?

Perhaps the biggest discernible trend at this year’s Cannes Lions is accessibility. Take a look at the short list for this year’s Innovation award and you’ll see that nearly half (12, to be exact) of the 25 campaigns in the category address the issue in some capacity. But while advertisers are doing more than ever to address the disabled community, there’s a long way to go.

THE CANNES PALAIS GETS EVEN MORE CROWDED AS CONSULTANCIES ASSERT THEIR INFLUENCE IN 2019

Great news for the owners of the Cannes Lions and their shareholders with the news that “[Consultancies] send more people every year,” said Philip Thomas, president of the festival’s parent company Ascential. He downplayed the growing influence of these companies, which are several times larger than the biggest holding group, saying they are “still very minor players compared to holding company networks and ad agencies.”

CANNES AND THE MARKETING ECHO CHAMBER

The final word goes to the Marketoonist, Tom Fishburne, who wrote “anytime marketers like us get together, we’re in danger of breathing our own exhaust. As inspiring as these festivals are, they potentially make us even more out of touch”. He even includes a copy of Mark Ritson’s Marketing Week article, so check it out.

As I said, like Bob Hoffman, I have not attended Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity, but I am interested in the topics that arise for the industry from this annual get-together. I trust you found this as interesting as I did. If this has piqued your curiosity or raised concerns for you or you simply want to discuss the implications and opportunities let me know.

Cheers

Darren