Cannes Lions 2022: Sixty nine with Rakesh and Amit

This Cannes Lion is going to be arguably the sexiest and most pleasurable Lions festival ever, only fitting as it’s the 69th year. To start with many of us have been denied the pleasure for a couple of years, if not more, hence everybody’s looking forward to making the most of it.

 

It certainly had a satisfying beginning. With the legendary Gary Kasparov. His session was as aggressive as his chess game. While explaining what Ukraine is going through as a country; 13 million people displaced, 5 million people immigrated, he explained the connection between brands and the Ukraine issue. Brands that have left the country experience a 31% increase in trust. He explained that brands had to stand up, because they enjoy twice the amount of trust Governments do. And he urged the community at Cannes to help build support for Ukraine through their creativity.

 

He left us with gems like, 'Chess is black and white, politics is all grey.' Or, 'Dictators lie about what they have done, but reveal the truth about what they are going to do.'

 

 

The next few sessions were equally pleasurable. The speakers at the Mc Donalds and Fast Company session, were honest to the point of being brutal. Neal Arthur the creative head spoke about the client thinking the agency just doesn’t get it. In keeping with the 69 theme, this session was all about an old brand getting sexy again. And if a 69 is about two parties contributing, the speakers spoke about how celebrities and brands worked ‘together’ as one team, with both owning the brand equally.

 

This Cannes is going to be about coming together with people after a long time. And it was great to see an ex-colleague, Per Pedersen, speaking as part of the ‘Renegades – Welcome to the Fearless, Post-Covid World of creativity’ session.  He and his fellow speakers explained how Covid has created a new world of fearless creative. They urged us to do work that’s ‘bold’ and ‘sexy’.

 

 

The Nike session, of course, held its usual dose of inspiration and orgasmic work. 

 

The ‘heat’ didn’t just show in the work, it’s in the weather too. This is probably the hottest Cannes ever. Hopefully the work will match up. Especially work from the Indian contingent. At the time of going to press, our hopes seem to be coming true.

 

This week, the two of us will be bringing alive the 69th Cannes Festival with our column. We predict that we are going to see some orgasmic work, enjoy some pleasurable meals and wine, hear some sexy speakers, see some hot work and meet some exciting people. Join us in the 69.