Being on the ground at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, here’s my initial dispatch: In 2010, Cannes Lions dropped the word “advertising.” It made sense at the time because there were starting to be so many new forms of advertising that didn’t fit the old mold. Branding-wise, I believe it was a great positioning move. Since then, the festival has grown tremendously. It now attracts so many people from so many different job functions and companies, not just agencies and production companies. So many new categories have been added also. Naturally, I thought there would be way more creative work entered into the show. Not so. Almost 40% less creative work. Does that mean this industry is now less about the work and creativity? Creatives used to own the word creativity. That may have been true in the context of advertising. However, in a borderless, always-on world where anyone can create, creativity no longer belongs to creatives only. I made this point to a strategist friend of mine near the Croisette today. He said candidly. It never did. #CannesLions #creativity #advertising
As a counter point Sundance, Berlinale and TriBeCa Film Festivals had record years of submissions in 2024. TriBeCa had 13.856 entries and only 118 films made the festival, out of those, only 40 feature films.
Marc Shillum
2mo
My interjection, creativity always belonged to creative people - but creative people were never limited to agencies. But the maxim that creativity is everywhere is just plain rubbish — creativity is a craft skill, it belongs to those who perfect the craft.
Nicole Ingra
2mo
It never did, and awards (everywhere) try to give the illusion that it does. Maybe the entries being so much lower is result of a wider industry trend of budgets being slashed. Less effectively creative work as a result & less money to try their luck in awards where usually the same companies win over and over. But maybe also an opportunity to see value elsewhere. Yes, awards will be always a booster, especially long established and coveted ones. But what else could be a good sign, if not measure, of abundant creativity?
Joos Khor
2mo
Indeed. The late Sir Ken Robinson put it aptly - children are born creative geniuses, the problem is we educate them out of creativity. Pablo Picasso said the same thing. I don't know when creatives started seeing themselves as some Shaolin monks who are the elite few in the world who have read the secret book 🤷🏻♂️
Emily Bloukou
2mo
Joining!
Creative Director & Filmmaker - Omnivore Series on APPLE TV // Neymar:The Perfect Chaos on Netflix // Tribeca Award Winner Gay Chorus Deep South on Paramount+ // Represented by @unitedtalentagency
2moHonestly I think it’s because agencies are the ones that care most about Cannes and they now have way lower budgets to invest in shows like this as retainer clients and high paying projects lessen year over year. I also think that now that brands have taken most of the top tier talent in-house they have a more business minded and product building view of creativity where awards matter way less than a successful launch. For me it’s a sign of both economic tightening and maturity of the market. But what do I know I’m an outsider now :)