The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity descended upon the south of France in person last week, after a three-year hiatus, to honor some of the marketing and advertising industry’s most outstanding work. While touring the mega beach activations and chatting with marketing executives, we noticed a key through line: It’s back to business, folks—but it’s also time to celebrate.
We noticed more open floor plans conducive to creative discussions and cutting deals, more top-notch entertainment than in years’ prior, as well as some newcomers, like Reddit, showing up strong for brand creatives for the first time. As Keyana Kashfi, Spotify’s global experiential content & production lead, put it, “2019 was very focused on sales meetings. The biggest structures you saw here [in our footprint] were three closed-door meeting rooms. It was a decision to make sure we had spaces to meet and have conversations, but really focus on the celebration of being back.”
From the Cannes Archives:
- Interactive Feature: Our Full Report on Brand Experiences at Cannes Lions 2019
- Coverage from Cannes Lions: Five Brands Activating Experiences for Creatives
“It has been a heavy time, and it still is a heavy time, but at least we could be together and celebrate the good things—and talk out some of the more uncomfortable things,” she continued. “We wanted to have more open spaces to congregate…and use this time to celebrate being back, being out and to celebrate creativity.” Check out this photo tour of some of the brand activations at Cannes 2022—and stay tuned for a full field report on what we experienced along the Croisette.
