Cannes Lions 2022, making up for lost years!
After a two-year absence, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is back and bigger than ever! From 20-24 June, the Croisette will bustle with the world’s top creative thinkers, trendsetters and famous celebrities!
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is the largest festival of its kind in the world and after organisers cancelled the physical festival for the last two years to err on the side of health and safety, the festival is back on and making up for lost time. The city of Cannes has been buzzing with excitement as the Croisette has been transformed into snazzy corporate bungalows.
Starting last Friday, the streets were jammed and blocked by large lorries, all filled with equipment and materials to build stunning structures on the beach, where big brands have privatised ALL of the beachfront restaurants for the week (sorry, tourists). Twitter Beach, Spotify Beach, Google Beach… It’s a week-long brand change on the Croisette and these highly private locales will be hosting a series of talks and performances by top musicians.
For those unfamiliar with Cannes Lions, it is like the Oscars for advertising and marketing, including design, production, inclusivity, innovation, disruptive brand strategy… basically everything that makes the brands you recognize, memorable. Except, ‘Lions’ isn’t just a dinner and award show… it’s a week-long festival of learning, inspiration, talks from top experts, sharing of ideas and, of course, partying. The biggest festival in the world for these industries, Cannes Lions surges the city with about 60,000 extra people, filling all the hotels, apartments, Air B’n’Bs and whatever shoebox someone tries to pass off as a luxury apartment. The city has an enormous influx of business (read: money) which is very welcome after the past two years of cancelled events.
But despite the traffic jams, the closed beaches and packed restaurants, locals love the Cannes Lions Festival and the excitement it brings to the city. It is especially appreciated this year after two years of a quiet June. Plus, a stroll along the Croisette at any time day or night could let you enjoy the music of amazing performers blasting from the beach parties.
A-List musicians to perform
Spotify certainly leads the pack with A-list performers, including Dua Lipa, Post Malone, The Black Keys, Kendrik Lamar and more. Just across the street at the Malmaison Art Centre, Vogue is teaming up with Snapchat to host a very VIP dinner with Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, Eva Longoria and other celebs. LCD Soundsystem will be playing at Amazon and Google has booked Kylie Mynogue, who was just here a few weeks ago performing at the party for the premiere of Bas Lurman’s new film, “Elvis”.
The parties and the performances are legendary, but for those in the industry, the best part is the incredible line-up of speakers from start-ups to global corporations. Leaders in business, marketing, brand strategy, user experience and more; artists, creators and sports figures give talks about the latest trends, their own path, their expectations of the future and so on. Attendees really get a full and fascinating week.
Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, said: “We’re delighted to relaunch the global platform and bring together the world’s most creative minds to solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges and the world’s most urgent problems. This year’s agenda is focused around the key themes that the industry has told us are the most pressing. CEOs, CMOs, activists and world leaders will convene to collectively address them, take action, find solutions and drive progress through creativity.”
Confirmed speakers this year include Gary Vaynerchuk (VaynerMedia), Liz Taylor (Ogilvy), Bobby Murphy (Founder Snapchat), Megan Thee Stallion (musician), David Droga (Accenture Song), Sir Patrick Stewart (actor), Ryan Roslansky (CEO LinkedIn), Issa Rae and Ryan Reynolds (actor), and many more.
For a full line-up of speakers, visit the Cannes Lions website.
Can't make it to the festival?
If you want to be updated on the daily events or are just curious to see what Cannes Lions does during the day, stay updated daily with a live wrap-up each morning at 10 am on LinkedIn. They show highlights from the day, the winning work and interviews with attendees and winners.
The festival culminates with the awards ceremony where hundreds of finalists hope to take home one of the many coveted Lions.
If you want to feel the experience of Cannes Lions in person, and witness the amazing concerts happening, get to the Croisette from 20 – 24 June!
-Nicole Ruskell