Cannes Decoded

Yesterday afternoon, we headed to Vue West End for the Cannes Lions decoded event, held together with WARC and Cannes Lions.

Our Events Director, Suzanne Costello,  was in charge of kicking off the event. She talked us through the role of the AA in LIONS: from running the Young Lions competition to helping select the Cannes Jurors. She also talked about our sustainable initiatives at Cannes, which include enacting the values of Ad Net Zero and encouraging travelling  to the South of France by train.

Then we heard from Simon Cook, CEO, of Cannes Lions,  about insights from the festival. He talked about the keys to any marketing campaign, highlighting tactical topicality. He also gave us some recommendations, showing examples of winning LIONS campaigns. Key topics ranged from the importance of bringing emotion and empathy to metacommerce. He finished off with a video from Cannes attendees on why creativity matters.

Next up the stage we heard from a panel discussion comprising Paulette Long OBE, Music Consultant & Board Director, David Dearlove, Director, Blink and Richard Nott, Creative Director, House 337. The conversation centred around the creative process of making the successful campaign Kiyan Prince: Long Live The Prince, the winner of the Titanium Grand Prix of this year’s Cannes Lions .  This campaign was created to raise awareness of knife crime and it follows what the life of Kiyan Prince – murdered in 2008, when he was only 15 – would have been like, following his football career and joining FIFA.  When talking about what are the key takeaways from this campaign, Paulette – who was one of the Cannes jurors – said: “The heart of the campaign is about being true to yourself, being true to your brand. People are looking for something that impacts culture in a positive way”.

We lastly heard from Chiara Manco, Commissioning Editor, Case Studies, WARC, on “Lessons in creative effectiveness”. She walked us through case-studies (from McDonalds to Google) and highlighted the successful factor behind each of them. Her key takeaways were:

1. Tapping into fandoms – Fans’ insights can unlock a brand’s voice.
2. Ecosystems for change – Relinquishing creative control boosts engagement.
3. AI-driven creativity – Shared equity trumps borrowed equity.

Chiara closed the event with a round-up on the best tips and takeaways that had been shared on the different discussions.

We want to give a big thank you to the speakers and attendees for this inspiring afternoon. And a huge thanks to our Cannes Lions partners APA, Clear Channel, Channel 4, DIT, Framestore, M&C Saatchi, Pinterest and PWC. We look forward to seeing all of you soon!

You can check out some photos from the event below.