Meera Sharath Chandra, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Creative Officer of Tigress Tigress, writes exclusively for MediaBrief from Cannes Lions 2023
Unpacking all that creativity: Cannes Lions 2023
For those of us who see it as an annual pilgrimage to the palais of creativity, the 70th year of Cannes Lions brought a packed calendar of insights, ideas, innovations, tech and networking opportunities. This year, we had a problem of plenty when it came to sessions and discussions – more venues, more debates, more specialisations. But this only helped sharpen the focus on the direction to take – as professionals and business owners. In my 18th year of attending, I do believe I made every day count, with a carefully curated list of topics and speakers.
Here’s what I cherry-picked for each day…
Day One – Calibration
Marketer of the Year, ABInBev, shared their new marketing structure and creative spectrum that provided the springboard for showcase work. SAWA proved cinema is the “daddy of media”, creating the “hero’s journey of the brand”. David Droga spoke of “the shape of talent, technology and human ingenuity”. Raja Rajamannar and Sachin Mehra encouraged the creation of “happy tension in the CMO and CFO partnership” for marketing success. Sir Martin Sorrell trendspotted “what’s now, near and next” before the 2024 lift off. Pfizer and Arianna Huffington talked about local, personal, relevant and emotional storytelling as part of creative transformation. Halle Berry with Bayer explored uncomfortable truths and culturally charged issues. Walt Disney championed and spotlighted women in sport.
Day Two – Immersion
AI and more AI! Attending a whole-day deep-dive thanks to OpenAI was the high point of the week. Exploring the possibilities, absorbing the case studies, learning the tools, finding the mentors and watching the demos, opened up a whole new world of experiential brand engagement opportunities. (Even at all other sessions, AI seemed to merrily disrupt conversations and cheerfully hijack debates. It was clearly the most-used acronym at the festival.)
Kalle Hellzen’s AI-powered comedy, a panel on AI bias and impact of DEI, a session on brand building in the era of AI, an amazing example of hypnotic, generative AI images in audiobooks (by my good friend and many-time jury chair P J Pereira), the future of creativity by the makers of Critterz, multi-modal ways of exploring new worlds with Paul Trillo, a real-time demo (by friend and AI mentor Vince Lynch with singer-celeb Poppy), fuelling hyper-unique ideas for hyper-relevant creativity with Don Allen III … it was heady and refreshing. Quite like the rosé with The Network One on the beach at an exclusive event for independent agencies.
Day Three – Deliberation
The morning started with Unilever on the beauty of long-lasting brands. Then came Mike White of White Lotus with some brilliant insights on creativity driving culture, hilariously explained. Eva Longoria and L’Oreal represented “stories of worth” emblematic of the iconic tagline. Coca-Cola turned music into magic for Gen Z. Google highlighted the bold and responsible creative possibilities with AI. Edelman underscored the relationship between sustainability and sales.
Day Four – Inspiration
The much-awaited Saatchi & Saatchi new creators’ showreel 2023 kicked off proceedings. Then BBDO reminded us why we need to make people laugh. Heineken proved that socialising was an important necessity. Apple unboxed the agency-client relationship for greater work. Kantar showed that sustainability marketing still needed to go a long way. On the beach, down the Croisette, it was end of day’s play with a fabulous panel discussion by Saudi Research and Marketing Group on the power of community in building iconic brands.
Day Five – Celebration
Spike Lee, Creative Maker of the Year, took us down memory lane with his classic television commercials. A rewind of Cannes Lions across 70 years followed. We got to know more about Susan Hoffman, recipient of the Lion of St Mark. Cannes LionHeart Yvon Chouinard’s mission for Patagonia was next in focus. And it all ended for me with Rory Sutherland’s rip-roaring behavioural economics session on being precisely wrong vs vaguely right – replete with consumer, creative and agency insights (and laughs), as always.
Some themes and gems linger on after the festival.
Nick Law’s summation: “I am not worried about machines becoming human; I am worried about humans becoming machines.” Paul Trillo’s definition of the role of AI: “AI is the human sandwich – it starts with a human and ends with a human and AI is in the middle.” Unilever’s trifecta: “Get real, do good, be unmissable.” Mike White’s truth: “You are the ambassador of your work.” L’Oréal’s articulation: “Opportunity isn’t there equally, but talent is.” Hellmann’s mantra: “To explain the what and the so what.” Rory Sutherland’s insights: “The average is the enemy of the marketer. You can quantify cost, but you can never quantify opportunity cost.” And some of Apple’s finest: “Design can be the idea. Take the brief no one wants. Find the magic in the product. Media is art. Reinvent the demo. Be brutally objective about what worked. The world will tell you.”
A week at Cannes Lions keeps me juiced up and ahead of the curve for a whole year. Time to raise a glass then, to all those invaluable insights and amazing inspirations. Santé!
Meera Sharath Chandra, Founder, CEO & CCO of Tigress Tigress, is a frequent winner and jury member at leading global award festivals including the Cannes Lions jury multiple times. She is the eponymous author of The Me Era – a book on the new consumer-brand dynamic.