The annual Cannes Lions Creativity Festival is a time for inspiration, education and celebrating pioneers that blur the lines between art and marketing. AListDaily was on hand to witness the full power of the festival this year, where professionals from across the globe came to learn, network and change the industry forever.
Sessions covered topics from problem-solving to exploring new mediums—all the name of marketing inspiration.
“Your job as a marketer is to make something famous,” Niels Schuurmans, CMO of Paramount Network told AListDaily. “Any great brand has to strike [an] emotional core for it to mean something—for you to want it.”
Last year at Cannes, diversity and female empowerment drove conversation, debate and awards. In 2018, that movement not only continued but increased in calls to action.
Unilever used this year’s festival to double down on their Unstereotype Alliance; a coming together of powerful consumer brands who, in their own words, “seek to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes.”
“Cannes is an important point for us to stop, reflect . . . we definitely use this moment to learn and get better,” said Aline Santos, EVP global marketing and head of diversity and inclusion at Unilever.
Cannes Lions is an experience in itself, but brands like Pinterest and Spotify brought installations to help visualize and interact with their platforms. Pinterest erected touchscreen interfaces where delegates could browse Pinterest and a real-life wall of Pins allowed guests to discover and take ideas with them, such as where to eat.
Others, like Google and Twitter, took over entire stretches of French coastline to engage delegates. Spotify, which won Media Brand of the Year sponsored its own beach to host meetings and a concert.
“It’s a great way to build relationships with our partners, hear what’s top of mind for them and really collaborate to find new ways to work together,” said Danielle Lee, global head of partner solutions at Spotify.
Want more? Read all our Cannes Lions coverage here.
