Cannes Lions Festival forms global councils for industry progress

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is forming six global councils focused on industry progress in an initiative to be chaired by Procter & Gamble’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard as it returns to being an in-person event in 2022.

The councils, made up of 25-30 people each ranging from senior leadership such as CEOs and CMOs to younger industry representatives, will be focused on DEI; sustainability; talent; business transformation; data, tech and innovation, and the evolving role of creative effectiveness. They will meet at Cannes this year with a brief to come up with a set of commitments for the industry. At the end of the week, Pritchard will take to the main stage to share the findings, and in 2023 they will return to update delegates on the commitments.

"After two years of not having the festival, we want this festival to be about action," said Simon Cook, CEO of Cannes Lions, speaking at an event at London's BAFTA headquarters last night held to publicize this year’s Lions. "We have canvassed the global industry and asked, 'What are the biggest challenges in our industry right now?'”

Cook added that Cannes Lions would be putting creativity “front and center” this year. “We’ll be hearing more from our jurors and winners, and that will trickle right down into the visuals that you’ll see at the festival,” he said. “When you land in Cannes, the Croisette, city of Cannes and Palais the will be a live gallery for game-changing work from the last 70 years. The whole of the city will be lit up with work that has paved the way for work that will win at the festival.”

Another focus will be sustainability; Cook also said that 2022 will also be its “most sustainable” festival ever, with all partners asked to use a sustainable build. And, although it will be held in-person, there will also be a hybrid element to the festival, with delegates allowed to attend digital sessions. 

The new announcements came as Cannes has also announced its jury members for 2022, with a line-up that sees brand marketers play a more prominent role than ever.  First-time brands whose marketers are joining the juries include Ford, Frito-Lay, Peloton, Riot Games, Kansas City Chiefs, Salesforce and WeTransfer.

There will also be marketers from the likes of AB InBev, Adobe, Apple, Disney, Doconomy, GSK, Mars Wrigley, Mastercard, Pepsico, Red Bull, The New York Times and Unilever, while tech platforms and entertainment companies represented include Amazon, Google, Google Zoo, Pinterest, Snap, Spotify, TikTok, Netflix and Meta.

The Cannes jury presidents, who were announced earlier this year, include clients such as Marcel Marcondes, global president at AB InBev, who will head Entertainment Lions for Sport; Caitlin Ryan, vice president, EMEA Creative Shop, Meta, who will chair the Social & Influencer Lions; Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing & communications officer, Mastercard, heading the Creative Effectiveness Lions and Patricia Corsi, global chief marketing and digital officer, Bayer Consumer Health, chairing Health and Wellness Lions.

Earlier this week, Cannes Lions also announced its list of speakers, who will include the likes of Ryan Reynolds alongside WPP CEO Mark Read, Accenture Song CEO and Creative Chairman David Droga, Dentsu International CEO Wendy Clark, VaynerX and VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk and Ogilvy Global Chief Creative Officer Liz Taylor.