Stars’ Cannes-do attitude
CANNES — It’s the print ad that stops you cold while you thumb through a magazine. It’s that movie that keeps you up at night and dominates the conversation with friends for weeks. It’s creative content that moves quickly and seamlessly like a shot of adrenaline through your eyes and ears and gets your motor revving.
It’s magic, perhaps, but it’s what the advertising and related creative fields produce 24/7/365 — and this week the industry’s best and brightest will gather in Cannes, France, to discuss what inspires them to create such wonder.
It is officially known as the 65th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, but really it’s a five-day, rosé-infused mashup of the brightest minds in the advertising, performing arts, media, tech, finance and corporate marketing worlds.
Roughly 16,000 creative types will shoehorn themselves into this beautiful coastal town of 78,000 and, sure, some will park their mega-yachts just off the Boulevard de la Croisette, or host parties at the grand 14th-century Château de la Napoule just to the west of town, but most of the excitement will come at the dozens of sessions and in the cafes.
Intermixed with the exchanging of ideas is a contest that has become known as the Oscars of the advertising world. This year, 40,000 entries from more than 90 countries will compete for a Cannes Lion.
On the top of most peoples’ minds, of course, is how to most effectively train advertising and creative content in the digital world. In this regard, Facebook, Google, Uber and WeWork execs will discuss how to navigate the digital landscape and capitalize on burgeoning tech, such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
Issues to be addressed concern privacy, ad blocking, cashing in on live video and how to effectively use social media.
Put all that in the bucket, plus the need to appeal to a young, mobile-first generation that lives and dies by social media, eschews traditional advertising, and prizes diverse storytelling — and it’s no wonder execs are looking to take a load off before ginning up their marketing budgets.
An eclectic mix of boldface names — including Conan O’Brien, Kevin Costner, Shaquille O’Neal and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki — will be on hand, as will Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who will present on a panel with Tyler Perry during the event.
Thandie Newton, star of HBO’s “Westworld,” will share the stage with British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful to talk about how diversity enhances creative output.