Elon Musk, AI, Culture: #NowTrending at Cannes Lions 2024

By Priyanka Nair , Director - Brand Solutions, GOZOOP Group

When you think of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity , you think of lavish parties, yachts, carafes of rosé, the sprawling Palais, the scenic beachside path - La Croisette, The Gutter Bar and of course the shiny Lions. While some things will always be iconic about the Oscars of advertising, there are some things that keep surprising the audiences.

For instance, Elon Musk. Yep. Musk is going to make an appearance at Cannes Lions this year. He is expected to discuss how AI is shaping creativity, business and society, and the future of X. Musk, who has a complicated relationship with the advertisers, is expected to share some non-polarising opinions and sway them. And, who wouldn’t want to hear a mellow Musk.

Over the years, Cannes Lions has taken the efforts to address pressing issues of the industry; mined trends that shaped the industry; and applauded work that mattered.  

AI-ing Right

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is hands down the marketing buzzword of the decade. While Cannes Lions has been weaving conversations around AI in various capacities in the last few editions of the festival, this year they are going into the depths of it. For instance, they have introduced an AI disclaimer. Agencies/brands have to answer a compulsory question disclosing whether they used AI in their work, and if so, how. This is to help the jury judge the work fairly, with the full picture.

From a conversational lens, we hear that OpenAI's CTO Mira Murati and Accenture Song CEO David Droga will come together for a fireside chat exploring the intersection of tech and human creativity. And, that’s just one of the many chatters around AI that will echo during the festival.

In a twist in the tale move, one of the network companies, plans to take a stand against artificial intelligence ‘BS’ at the Cannes Lions this year. It will be made available exclusively to the network’s clients, who can record audio or input images and text from keynote speeches, meetings, presentations, articles and press releases. They aim to host more than 30 closed door sessions about the bot, for delivering the real deal on AI for its clients.

Appreciating cultural nuances

Indian ad folks, who have judged Cannes Lions work over the years, have time and again highlighted the effort that goes into explaining cultural references to their global counterparts. A lot of times agencies assume that the world has evolved, and people know everything. Well, that’s not the case. A lot of times good work gets lost in translation, literally and figuratively.

Keeping in mind how critical this is for the industry and for the good work from different corners of the world, last year, Cannes Lions introduced a question about cultural context. This effort was taken to help Jurors understand entries from a better lens. The question is to really explain why a work is relevant for the brand, the market, and the timing of it.

Ahmed Aftab Naqvi , Global CEO and Co-Founder, GOZOOP Group says, “Cultural nuances are always appreciated and respected in the jury room, giving more depth to the entries. By adding this layer, Cannes Lions makes it a level playing field for brands across the world.”

Finding new creative stokes

The world we live in surely needs some laughter. The organisers picked that thread and introduced a humour category to the cultural and context sections that sit across the Lions, to celebrate the art of humour in branded communications.

Luxury & Lifestyle Lions has also been introduced to provide a global benchmark for brands in the luxury space, recognising and celebrating the most impactful creative work, experiences and creative business solutions for the sector.

The Social & Influencer Lions category has been revamped, to better recognise and celebrate the pivotal role that content creators play in shaping and amplifying brand messages.

Mobile devices are embedded in work across every channel and discipline, and over the past number of years, device-driven creativity has been expanding into almost every Lion. For many, mobile-first thinking is the norm. To reflect this shift, the organisers closed the Mobile Lions. Categories like Creative Commerce and Creative Business Transformation focus have been taking the centre stage for all the good reasons.

“In a result-driven world, a category like Creative Commerce allows brands to show the ROI of creativity and that's valued,” says Naqvi, who served as a jury member for the Creative Commerce category at Cannes Lions 2023.

These are not only welcoming changes but also much needed solulus, like the GenZ like to call it, for the ad world.

Now, moving on to the week ahead that will fill our timelines with pictures from the French Riviera and work that will inspire us.