Cannes 2023 wrap: The top sessions, brand activations, and award winners

by Greg Graham

Posted on 26 June 2023

Plus: The coolest standout moments of the festival

Inspiration Overload

It is incredibly challenging to summarise five days of Cannes Lions inspiration, learning, networking, outstanding brand activations, and experiencing the best campaigns the world has to offer in marketing/advertising. With the economic headwinds, I anticipated that the festival attendance may have been subdued, I was wrong – maybe from Australia with our high airfare costs and euro exchange rate, however, the rest of the world embraced the festival. I think the CMO global community is back big time. In the past it may have been the FMCG marketing community, however this year I engaged with many global CMO/marketers from categories such as big pharma, retail, finance, etc.

Happy 70th birthday Cannes Lions, I am not an ageist however you are getting even better with experience.

cannes

Cannes Lions Awards:

Congrats to all the winners as coming home with some Cannes Lions metal – either gold, silver or bronze is a major global achievement, and a Grand Prix or Titanium is truly outstanding.

Very proud of all the purple people that work for Mindshare the Global Media Network of the year, plus Mark Green and the world class talent at The Monkeys.

Also a shout out to CHEP, AKQA, The Aussie Young Lions, Howatson+Company, and The Special Group NZ for their accolades.

The major takeouts:

• The AI conversation took over Cannes this year on practically every stage in/outside the Palais and sprinkled into every presentation and discussion.

• The vital element not to be underestimated is the power of creativity and humans! How we make people feel, touch their hearts, and inspire them to take action.

• Sustainability is also squarely on the agenda, for the first time ever all the Award entries had to estimate their carbon footprint and sustainable impact.

cannes lions awards

• Purpose was still a factor and the global CMO at Unilever/Dove reinforced its long-term ROI and brand growth. Many of the awarded work again was for charities or purpose-driven issues.

• Back to brilliant basics, this really resonated with me as we work with AI and more sophisticated data, we always must remember to get the basics right and not overcomplicate our approach.

Favourite sessions:

• AB InBev: The opening session kicked off the festival by addressing their own brand issues plus three incredible case studies (World Cup pivot for Budweiser, China Lime production for Corona, and Brahma when the alcohol logos were banned on sweaters – they used haircuts to recreate the unique beer froth)

Bud Light Cannes

• Creativity Inside with Faye McLeod: Louis Vuitton was incredibly inspiring with outstanding work that was quite mind-blowing, it really showed how a luxury brand can turn their landmark retail buildings/windows into works of art that enhance brand and sales results.

Cannes Louis Vuitton

Star power works:

• Halle Berry for Bayer and Mullen Lowe

Halle Berry

• Eva Longoria for L’Oréal and McCanns

Eva Longoria

• Ogilvy with Mike White the mastermind behind The White Lotus

Mike White and Liz Taylor, Ogilvy global chief creative officer

Best brand activations:

• Snapchat celebrating 100 years of Disney – one word: Magical

snapchat disney

• Pinterest – engaging and fun

Mediaweek’s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham at Pinterest in Cannes

• Tik Tok – Creator workshops and involvement

tiktok

That’s cool:

• Macca’s McFlurrys caravan

maccas cannes

• Sprite – Heat personalisation cans and unlimited Sprite

Mediaweek’s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham at the Sprite activation

• Hope – Dentsu water refillable station (saving plastic water bottles)

cannes water

The parties:

On the beach, we had pulsating party vibes and buzzing crazy crowds at both TikTok and Yahoo – Deadmau5 plus a very stylish and exclusive soiree for LinkedIn on the Cannes rooftop.

Deadmau5

Guess what:

This year I avoided the famous Gutter Bar and, fortunately, my most precious memories are of the incredible work showcased at the Media Category awards night and the compelling creative case studies shared, debated, and deconstructed up and down the Croisette.