Here's What You Missed During The 2017 Cannes Lions Festival

Advertising executives, celebrities, their handlers, media titans, tech disruptors and journalists from all around the globe recently descended upon the chic city of Cannes in the south of France at the Cannes Lions Festival for a full week to discuss and deal-make all in the name of one of the biggest industries on earth: advertising. Here is the inside scoop, ICYMI.

Not as much of a household name as the Cannes Film Festival, though held in the exact same location, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is a true power center all on its own. Formerly known as the International Advertising Festival, Cannes Lions is a global event and considered the most prestigious one of its kind for those working in the creative communications, advertising and related fields. Each June thousands and thousands of professionals from around the world come to the Festival to vie for the best of creativity in brand communication, discuss industry issues and network with each other. Inspired originally by the Cannes Film Festival, the Lions Festival was created, legend says, by a group of advertising contractors belonging to the Screen Advertising World Association that felt that the work that they and their colleagues were doing was at the same level as flmmakers, though presented within a shorter time frame, so that the best in class should compete within the advertising realm and have their own dedicated festival, too. Thus, this original group of professionals started what was then called the International Advertising Film Festival. The first one was held in 1954. The following year, they decided to hold the Festival in Monte Carlo. Then, somehow, it migrated to then Cannes and then alternated between France and Italy until 1984 where it has remained since that time but gets bigger and more frenzied each year.

It’s an important event because it reflects cultural trends and sentiment and, to a certain extent, provides the platform for collective minds to discuss various topics that will, then, impact future cultural trends. The festival takes place inside the Palais Des Festival which is massive. The conference space basically serves to anchors the Festival where tons of people wander through the maze of booths in the exhibitor hall while other attendees listen to various important and educational panels where such people as Grammy-winner and 2017 Lions Juror Wyclef Jean, Shazam’s Greg Glenday, advertising agency FCB Global Chief Creative Officer Susan Credle and Heads Music CEO Madeline Nelson speak regarding the future intersection of music, technology and advertising to Oscar-winner Halle Berry on stage with executives from McCann Worldwide. But this is far from the sole part of the scene.

While such activities are taking place inside the Palais, outside tons of attendees are zipping up and down the Croisette (translation: main drag) where boutiques from every major luxury brand in the world such as Dior, Saint Laurent gleam on one side, while chic beach restaurants and a sea filled with yachts line the other. Where are these people going? To various insider events, meetings, lunches and more that are held in conjunction with the official Festival itself. Those in-the-know and on-the-list might find themselves invited to Atelier Samsung, for example. Nestled on one such “rue,” Samsung took over a couple of floors of a stylish French building to both show off its VR and drone capabilities but also to provide respite from the frenzy of the Festival via a calm, open air portion where appetizers and various beverages where served all day long. Or other attendees might find themselves under a chic cabana taking meetings or conducting interviews on a portion of portion of the beach where leading agencies such as Dentsu Aegis hold court for entire week. In fact the entire stretch of beach from the Palais to the end is a pure power strip of prime private beach installations featuring name after name from Twitter Beach, YouTube beach and more.

There are a number of invitation-only parties that appear to be a true mecca.

In fact, Pinterest took over a pier for its party. Spotify did it up right with a party and performances by recording artists Solange and Phoenix.

And you better have your badge readily at hand, be on the list and get their early or will have to hear about the latest ad insider chatter via the Fishbowl app that serves as a complete virtual counterpart for exchange that runs 24 hours a day bringing together everyone’s views and snarks behind-the-scenes. There is everything from heads up to where badges are encountering tech issues to sarcastic comments about the Snap pop-up Ferris wheel and what agency just won what award.

Supermodels like Naomi Campbell were on-hand to co-host a screening of HBO’s “The Defiant Ones” documentary on Dr. Dre. Other powerati took over suites at the luxe Carlton hotel for hush-hush meetings. Other companies simply seize a yacht and invite special guests for cocktail parties, full-blown parties and/or panels on a number of a yachts lined in an impeccable row just to the right of the Palais in the harbor. Now, that’s how you do it!

Once the official activities are completed for that day inside the Palais, the parties begin! It’s all about too much champagne and too little sleep, but that’s how it goes. For example, one evening advertising agencies such DigitasLBi. Goody, Silverstein & Partners, and McCann Worldwide threw parties either along beach or in a hotel. And all this activity gives one the feeling of a high-powered insider exchange-meets-well-controlled-highly-funded circus.

But back to the the yachts because this is where you want to be. In fact, “The Wall Street Journal’s” Panthalassa was a particularly hot ticket because it held exclusive panels with executives by day, and high-impact parties at night complete with parting gifts such as a high-end sleep mask with the words “rest easy” printed on it designed to reinforce advertiser confidence when they choose them to buy space in the print or digital versions.

Such is the state that celebrates this $75 billion industry (and that is only U.S. revenue). This is about selling, buying, creatively controlling how companies, quite frankly, are going to sell to you across every device you own now and in the future. There are chief creative officers to digital medicine leaders, a host of experts examine the intersection of various parts of the industry. But one of the main areas of interest at the Festival is the awards that are named in various categories each day. Select, accomplished professionals in their fields work together as jurors with other peers to judge work in their specific area of expertise. The Festival seeks to honor the best work in advertising that is currently being createdover. And if you’re agency is fortunate enough to win some gold awards, you line them up, as BBH did, on your yacht, which looks great during a cocktail event!

This is about being best in class. Agencies such as BBH, known for work trying to get to you buy Playstation to Nike, are key in the overall retail eco-system. Another stand-out for such work you may have seen on your own TV or tech device is the Google “Home of The Whopper” ad which took home a gold Cannes Lions in the Mobile category. The full list of winners is located here.

Last, but certainly not least, diversity was high on the panel discussion list. However, the whole advertising industry is currently so non-diverse (in terms of race overall, and certainly in terms of women when looking at senior and creative executives), that the discussion and attendance at the Festival was merely dotted by those who are the precise subjects of the conversations. This means that there is great opportunity for expansion next year by those who are part of these demographics to come and expand the narrative.

So next time you see an advertisement pop up, you will now know just a bit more about the most exclusive annual event for the players behind that 30 or 60 second spot. One can only imagine what next year’s Festival will be like.