Cannes Lions 2024 has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean that we’re ready to stop thinking or talking about it. While advertising and marketing are industries that are ever evolving, Cannes Lions is a once a year festival that allows giants within the industry to come together and declare what changes truly matter and what changes don’t. 

Cannes Lions 2024 Takeaways 

According to Axios, around 15,000 people attended the Cannes Lions 2024 Festival of Creativity. With that much creativity and innovation in one event space, it’s a lot to miss out on, however, here are the key takeaways from the festival. 

1. Creators for Creative Freedom 

CaptainPuffy aka Cara, a Twitch streamer since she was 13-years-old with 1.5M followers on Twitch, told Vogue that, “A lot of brands, their marketing director is a 70-year-old man who doesn’t know how anything works. When I accept brand deals I want creative freedom. If they give you a boring briefing or not natural verbiage, that’s not going to perform well.” 

Something that was exceptionally different about Cannes Lions 2024 was the amount of well known faces in the crowd. Content creators, celebrities, and athletes all appeared at the festival, signaling the power shift happening right now. 

In order to work well with creators, brands need to relinquish control in favor of building a trusting relationship with creators. 

2. Anyone and Everyone is a Creator

According to Vogue, ‘creators’ was a buzzword of sorts at Cannes Lions this year. When it comes to brands, if you have a platform or a creative output, you’re a creator; specifically because you can make that brand money. The title ‘creator’ now encompasses athletes, celebrities, and influencers. 

3. Creators and AI 

Speaking of creators, because brands are leaning more into purpose marketing, as Axios notes, their focus has shifted to wanting to partner with creators to authentically target customers. The Drum also notes that brands are leaning towards working with AI to entice customers as well.

4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Now more than ever, the advertising and marketing industry is interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Not only is this something to discuss in front of the camera but behind the camera as well. Consumers want to know that they’re supporting brands that are as inclusive as they portray themselves to be in their ads. As stated by Smarts, “It’s about moving beyond tokenism and ensuring that diverse voices are genuinely represented and heard.”

Source: Smarts

Closing Thoughts

Cannes Lions is a festival that represents the advertising and marketing industries but what other industries represent the human experience than those industries do? What has come out of Cannes Lions 2024 is hardly surprising, and given the difficult times some are in, should be exciting! We’re happy to see another year of innovation and creativity embraced and excited to see what comes out of Cannes Lions next year!