Paul Yole’s Cannes Lions retrospective: A pivotal time for the world’s greatest festival

Paul Yole on the importance of Cannes Lions.

It’s been suggested by some more important and better credentialed people than me that it may be the right time to reconsider the relevance of the Cannes Lions.

When one of those voices belongs to Sir Martin Sorrell, one of Cannes’ biggest backers and arguably the most influential person in world advertising, we all need to listen.

But we don’t have to agree. After all, we work in advertising so disagreement is a fundamental part of our DNA.

Campaign Brief co-publisher Michael Lynch told me last week, “Don’t bother sending any stories after Monday. It’s all over so nobody cares.”

Sorry Lynchy but I have to disagree. If a Festival that pulls in 43,000 entries and attracts up to 20,000 visitors does not endure past the Closing Gala, then what are we all doing?

To sum up the argument so far:

1.     Too much scam (hot news, you heard it here first)

2.     Dodgy judging (block voting)

3.     All about the past, not the future (unlike SXSW, is the claim)

4.     Over indulgent (parties, huge expense accounts, drinking – heaven forbid, imagine that at an advertising festival)

5.     Loss of relevance (too many celebrities, not enough about new tech)

6.     Only trying to impress our peers

7.     Too costly

8.     And so on…….

I think we need some perspective here.

The ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments have been well put by others, so I won’t attempt to regurgitate them. But for a balanced and interesting point of view you should read Damon Stapleton’s beautifully written piece on Campaign Brief.

But I will say this. Cannes is, and should continue to be, a critical part of the industry’s standard-setting and education. No matter what anyone tells you this is still the award that is the most widely recognised and emotionally satisfying. Even if it is only because it’s Cannes and if you win, your Mum will think you’ve won at the Film festival.

I will not get into the “why awards are important” argument either, but I do think we have too many shows around the world. That is really where the problem lies, not the best and most relevant shows.

It is a truism that an award show is about the past but believe me there is also plenty of forward looking stuff at Cannes. You’ve just got to find it, which is not difficult if you try. The Lions does not compete with SXWS, nor should it. The two shows serve different purposes.

I said to Terry Savage at the start of this year’s festival that walking around the Palais was almost like my first time, such was the extent of the refresh. The organisers know that they need to keep refreshing it and for the most part they do it well. The infrastructure required to run such an enormous event is breathtaking, and they do a bloody good job.

It’s true that Cannes is very self-indulgent and almost obscene. But most people who attend are coming off 70 hour weeks and face unbelievable pressure to perform throughout the year. A little responsible letting down of the hair is OK in moderation. The only problem I had with the parties this year is not getting into many.

Major festivals should inspire us, motivate us to lift our game and force us to do what we can to be socially responsible. Cannes has all of this in spades, but you need to find meaning for yourself.

I will finish with two final and contrasting examples of what I mean from the final days of this year’s Festival.

We learned from Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer for Proctor & Gamble, how P&G is striving to “lift the creative bar”. Which of course is a key role for a show like this.

P&G now talk about each of its brands having a clearly defined creative canvas, which sets out to inform, educate and provide cultural comment. I was pleased to hear Marc also talk about elevating the craft and embracing creativity as a human endeavor.

For me, P&G’s new framework is very robust and simple, which I like. I do wonder though whether there is a bit too much box ticking because this year’s crop of work from this client was not as inspiring as some from the recent past.

The last session I went to was the kind that Cannes does best – a talk from a creative artist who does not work in advertising. This forces us to look outside of our small world to seek relevance and meaning.

This time it was Mark Ronson and Spotify. (Any talk that starts with Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds gets my attention right away.) Ronson talked about his own creative process, which led to two take-outs for me and, I hope, others in our business:

–       Failure (such as a creative block) can open up another lane, so push through it

–       Our (music) heroes used the best technology available to them at the time, but they were always seeking to move things forward

“Moving things forward” is what the very best in our business, or any business, continue to do. Which is why you need to know and understand who those heroes are and learn from what they’re doing.

And that is why Cannes is still important.