Cannes Lions’ new growth councils drive the industry agenda

This is an incredibly exciting year for Lions. Two years ago, when we were forced to press pause on the Cannes Lions Festival, we also halted the much-needed platform for the global creativity community to come together physically.

This year, as we get ready to return in person, the festival will be set against the backdrop of an increasingly turbulent world. As an industry, we face bigger challenges, and must strive for change in business and society, and at a quicker rate than any of us ever predicted.

That’s why it’s time to reshape the Cannes Lions Festival and make driving progress through creativity front and center.

Global growth councils for progress
Our five Global Growth Councils for Progress, an expansion of the CMO Growth Council, will convene for the first time during the festival. With an aim to define commitments on the global stage, this initiative will include representatives from across the community, including creative agencies and brands, unifying the industry behind one collective and urgent agenda.

The councils’ five themes were formed in response to the global issues identified by the industry as being the most pressing to the progress and growth of their businesses and to the impact on the planet: sustainability; diversity, equity and inclusion; talent; data and technology; and brand creativity and effectiveness.

We are delighted that Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G, will head up this initiative. We also thank our partners at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), particularly Executive VP Nick Primola, who has helped lead the CMO Growth Council at the Festival since its inception in 2018, from which the new Global Growth Councils for Progress has evolved.

During Cannes Lions, the councils’ sole objective will be to agree to collective actions that will achieve measurable outcomes and progress across the industry and with its stakeholders. And on the festival’s final day, council chairs will come together on the Lumiere stage to define the agenda and their commitments for the year ahead.

Open call to creative professionals
We want each council to be a platform for a range of voices who can bring new perspectives, insights and cultural context in how to accelerate progress at a much greater scale and create a truly global community. Our open call for council members was made available for 25 visionary creative professionals able to demonstrate entrepreneurship, regardless of specialism or location.

We also invite every festival attendee and Lions member to contribute to the conversation by joining a council community to debate, pledge, create or lead an initiative that supports our collective move forward. Our Cannes Lions app welcomes ideas from professionals across the global community about how to solve the challenges of the councils’ five core themes.

We are also running a networking event and activation space to enable delegates to discover the ambitions of the councils and to encourage them to contribute ideas around resolving the industry’s most urgent issues.

A year-round platform for progress
Together, Lions and the ANA will provide the year-round platform for the industry to convene and track progress, with the councils returning to Cannes Lions in 2023 for an update on the industry’s collective progress.

The recent Lions State of Creativity Study mirrors the key issues we face as an industry. The councils will tackle these issues, identified by thousands of creatives and marketers through what was our largest survey to date, collating views and insights from a diverse set of voices across the creative ecosystem.

It’s exciting that we will convene again in Cannes, to gain inspiration from world-class creativity and, through the new Global Growth Councils for Progress, set the industry agenda for the year ahead. We’re delighted to be able to commit to this as an ongoing, collective movement for the global creative community.

Further information about the festival, including the agenda, awards and the Global Growth Councils for Progress can be found at canneslions.com.