A state of emergency in Cannes: Creative people from all over the world met there for the annual industry get-together on the Croisette. A huge spectacle to network and celebrate, to inspire and also to win one of the coveted lions for the best marketing work of the year.
These awards have been given out since the 1950s. While agencies and film production used to be cozy among themselves, the creativity festival is now dominated by the big tech companies: Google, Meta, TikTok, Twitter, Spotify and many others have huge exhibition stands with beach access, throw exclusive parties, megastars like Dua Lipa fly for concerts and the rosé serving is higher than at other congresses on the Croisette.
All to convince the creative elite of the future of communication. No wonder: advertising money is now mostly flowing into digital channels and thus into the pockets of search engines and social media platforms. In 2021, Google, Facebook and Amazon together combined over 50 percent of the total advertising market in the USA. Strong upward trend.
The dominant topic in Cannes is the future of these portals and how people’s media consumption will behave in the future: Will we be hanging out with our avatars in 3D worlds tomorrow, will we meet friends there, work together with colleagues on a presentation and, above all, will we spend money? Meta, the US company with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in its portfolio, makes this bet with billions in investments. Numerous lectures at the conference revolve around metaverse and other immersive experiences in order to add another dimension to today’s two-dimensional web offering.
However, the festival also deals intensively with the major social and economic issues of our time. Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai received the LionHeart Award for her tireless efforts to improve opportunities for girls and young women. At the beginning, Volodimir Selenskyi addressed the visitors with urgent messages and thus reached multipliers from all over the world.
Greenpeace also understands that the eyes of the world (at least among the creative thought leaders) are on Cannes and are using these platforms for media-heavy protests to draw attention to the exploitation of the planet. The advertising industry does not get good credit here and the criticism is not entirely unjustified when a horde of people flies halfway around the world to take a picture for an advertisement.
What the Oscar is to the film industry, the lion is to the creative scene. Over 25,000 submissions from 87 countries were counted this year. Only a fraction is rewarded with an award. With a lion in their pocket, all doors are open to the proud winners from the agencies for further career steps. Attentive recruiters therefore roam through the relevant bars of the luxury hotels in the evenings and advertise a job change among the proud creative people. These, in turn, are easily recognizable by a golden lion in the hand and signs of sun, joy and rosé consumption on the face.
Many of the winning works revolve around political and social issues or focus on environmental issues. For example, UNESCO has created a technical application to preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage for eternity: 3D models of monuments and historical buildings can be scanned with a smartphone and stored in an online library for life. It deserves the highest award, the Grand Prix. Nice from a German point of view: the film “Der Wunsch” by Penny (Serviceplan agency) was also awarded a Grand Prix. The cinematic masterpiece hit the hearts of parents in particular at Christmas 2021: A mother wishes nothing more than for her son to regain his youth, which the pandemic and lockdown prevented.
One can get the impression that the creative industry is aware of its responsibility: to use the power of good ideas to make the world a slightly better place and to draw attention to the dark side of the present through controversial discussions, effective campaigns and technical applications. If not you, then who!
By Sven Dörrenbächer, Managing Partner of the antoni agency.
