Cannes Lions hightlights 2013

 

Return over an exceptional year.

 

Some 11 000 delegates responded in 2012, from advertising professionals and designers to digital innovators and brand marketers, all looking to learn, to inspire and be inspired, to celebrate and  network…and to have a good time together!

 

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity  features

 

 

1- Keynote speakers representing the best in the world:

 

• President Bill Clinton, urging delegates to “think about how you can do well and do good”
• Edward de Bono of ‘Creative thinking’ fame, with his provocative “E B N E – Excellent , But Not Enough”
• Linus Karlsson, McCann Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, asking “Is Data Killing Creativity?”

and a host of other top personalities and business leaders, facing the issues, in fifty or more thought-provoking seminars, master classes and workshops.

 

 

2- The Lion awards, coveted, reputed - there are now more than 20 categories, covering the whole of the creative spectrum.

In 2011 WPP won a major award and their Worldwide Creative Director commented “If you’re N°1 in Cannes, you’ve done it the hard way, the proper way, the only way”.

In 2012, the Grand Prix for Good, rewarding ad campaigns that truly change people’s lives, went to Droga5 for its “Help! I want to save a life”, linking bandages for simple cuts with the bone-marrow donor register, producing revolutionary growth for both.

For 2013, Coca Cola is Creative Marketer of the Year. Jonathan Mildenhall, Coke’s VP for Creative Excellence said “If Cannes has taught me one thing, it is that creativity drives effectiveness”.
 

3- Cannes Chimera, a group of 14 previous Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners

, linking up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the challenge “Change the world on two sides of a piece of paper”.
Candidates must submit 2 pages detailing a creative contribution to solving a major global social problem spotlighted annually by the Gates Foundation.

 

 

The first challenge, “Aid is working. Tell the World”, attracted 914 entries. A jury selected 10 finalists to spend two days with the ‘Chimera’ in Seattle.

The winning team will be presented at the 2013 Festival, getting the opportunity to apply to the Gates Foundation for $1 000 000 to implement their idea.

 

4- The Young Lions Competition

– open to professionals up to 28 years old, in teams of two, in one of four categories:
Print or Cyber - 24 hours to create a print or on-line ad;
Film or Media - 48 hours to create a 30-second commercial or develop an innovative media strategy costing under $1,000,000.
 

 

WPP founder & CEO Sir Martin Sorrell joked in 2012 “we come to get away a little from the hurly-burly, and have fun”. The creative industry knows it’s that and a whole lot more!

 

SEE YOU THERE NEXT YEAR!