Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity: a gold mine of inspiration?
The Cannes Lions Festival is an annual event where ‘brand marketers, tech innovators and content makers’[1]are celebrated, and their works exhibited. The five-day festival comprises of panels, exhibitions and awards shows sharing the successes and strategies of existing brands. Exploring themes such as ‘creativity for good’, the festival seeks to educate brands and other organisations on the effective use of media to ‘make the world a better place’. Educating attendees about ‘the economics of brand purpose, the creative industry as a force for good, socially conscious consumers, and the commercial impact of activism’ I believe the festival would be valuable for those seeking to create their own activist material, to gain inspiration from existing, successful campaigns. Business meetings taking place within the festival allow for the cultivation of relationships with advertising specialists, who can collaborate on projects to make campaigns appealing to a consumer. Recognising works on a global scale, the festival provides unexperienced activists with access to many diverse campaigns, increasing the likelihood that some will possess transferable ideas for their own projects. Whilst I believe the festival is an incredibly valuable resource, my only concern lies in admissions prices, which could problematise accessibility for organisations with lesser budgets.
[1]All quotations in this reflection are taken from: Ascential Events (Europe) Limited, ‘What’s On’ , Canneslions.com, https://www.canneslions.com/attend/whats-on[accessed 25.11.18]