Cannes Launches Creative Business Transformation Lions For 2020 Fest
Flags unfurled for the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Initial plans for the 2020 fest have been unveiled.
  • LONDON
  • --

Plans for the 2020 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity include the launch of the Creative Business Transformation Lions, formed in response to the digital disruption that is affecting the way brands and businesses operate. 

Work that wins in this festival competition will demonstrate how creative change has been achieved across core business functions, delivering business impact and creating better customer outcomes. This award covers the breadth of new creative approaches that are used to create value and drive competitive advantage, alongside traditional brand communications. This includes the creation of new products and services, the use of technology and business design, and the reinvention of operations and customer experiences, in order to drive transformative change.

Susie Walker, head of awards, Cannes Lions, “We’re expecting entries to come from across in-house and agency teams that provide creative services, consultancy, experience or service design, new product development, innovation and digital transformation, in order to drive transformational change. We continually evolve the Awards, in line with the industry and the new Creative Business Transformation Lions celebrate creativity that can drive tangible business change.”

The Cannes Fest has also refreshed the PR Lions for 2020 to ensure the award accurately represents the current PR industry. Cannes Lions undertook research with PR specialists globally to better understand their unique challenges and perspectives to ensure the PR Lions focus on the areas of creative work that the industry wants to be recognized for today.

All updates to Award categories will be available on the Cannes Lions website in November 2019. Entries to the Lions Awards open on January 16, 2020. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity runs from Monday, June 22, through Friday, June 26, 2020.

Content themes
Cannes Lions has also set its Content Agenda for 2020, gathering feedback from over 1,500 customers and conducting 100 in-depth interviews with industry-leading chief marketing officers, chief creative officers, brand leaders, strategists and CEOs to inform the agenda’s eight themes. Each theme is shaped around the most business-critical areas of branded marketing and communications and the fest now invites the industry to apply to speak on stage and enter their content submissions.

Simon Cook, managing director, Cannes Lions, said, “In response to industry need, the 2020 Cannes Lions content themes will set the global agenda for the industry and help us all navigate the year ahead. We look forward to seeing a hugely diverse set of expert speakers from across the breadth of creative and cultural disciplines. Our community attends the festival to learn from best practice, make valuable connections, and take away tools and techniques that will accelerate business and personal performance and unlock creative potential.”

The 2020 content themes are:

• Creativity is the Business Growth Engine – explores the role of marketers to define how creativity can support both short-term activities and long-term brand equity to have a better level of influence in the boardroom.

• Creative Disruption in Commerce – trailblazers from brands and retailers will introduce pioneering forms of commerce (cashless, omnichannel, immersive) to promote better buying experiences.

• Post-Purpose: Brand Accountability and Activism - the world’s biggest brands and agencies will discuss how they’re tackling critical global issues, from climate change to inequality.

• Your Brand is my Experience – brand and experience are now interlinked. Brands will discuss how they experiment with customer experience and improve the entire customer journey through seamless interactions.

• Looking to 2030: Making your Business Future-fit – in an era where we constantly learn, experiment and create the future, explore the new skillsets required and how to acquire and retain the world’s best creative and tech talent.

• Applied Creativity: When Data, Tech and Ideas Collide – experts will share examples of how to apply data and tech to enthral audiences, and brands will demonstrate how they harness tech to create lasting emotional connections.

• Storytelling at Scale – speakers will explore new creative dimensions in storytelling, across a range of platforms and formats, to gain attention and engage in the issues that matter, putting cultural relevancy at the forefront.

• Let’s Get Back to Brand – delves in to how creativity can help to curb the current obsession with clicks and impressions and focus instead on brand-building and long-term brand health.

Charlotte Williams, VP-content, Cannes Lions, said: “We spoke to more than a hundred of the most brilliant minds in the industry to uncover the real business challenges they face. The eight themes explore the key concerns and opportunities for branded marketing and communications, and we look forward to welcoming world-class industry leaders to share their perspectives on the Festival stages next June.”

Content submissions to speak on the Cannes Lions stages are now open and will close on January 10, 2020.

Category: 

MySHOOT Company Profiles