For me, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2023 started full of energy early on Monday morning. To blow away the cobwebs from my flight from Hong Kong, and to get a first look at the Croisette, and the multiple media partner and agency beaches, I went on a swift 7km run from the Martinez to the Old Port and back.
The initial impression was of a good presence of media platforms, industry partners, and agency groups. With final touches to the preparation at the Palais, anticipation was high, with the hope of a truly memorable and productive Cannes 2023.
As my first post-pandemic trip to Cannes, I had planned a packed schedule of meetings across the week, taking full advantage of having all the major platforms and partners in one place, as well as having important clients in town.
The morning was a whirlwind of meetings, beginning with LinkedIn, as we look to grow out our B2B capabilities in APAC on the back of rising demand from brands. I had an inspiring session with the team, gathering much food for thought.
Back at the Martinez on the GroupM Rooftop, the programme of activities kicked off with a brilliant opening session exploring key themes for 2023 and a showcase of best-in-class work from across agencies.
On the themes, the first was ‘old brands, new tricks’ featuring stunning work taking the latest technologies to drive growth for famous brands, with my personal favourite being the Sprite ‘Yellow Cards’ campaign from China. The next theme was ‘purpose with commercial purpose’ and here it was hard to look beyond the amazing work in the UK for eBay on pre-loved fashion. Thirdly, the theme of ‘playful products’ was around the feeling that in the post-pandemic era, brands are more able to inject humour into their campaigns, with excellent work such as the ‘Fitchix’ campaign for Honest Eggs Co. in Australia.
It was a terrific way to start, and subsequent panel discussions including EssenceMediacom clients Mars and Bayer were very valuable, with insights from both clients into their plans, priorities, and how to drive change.
Panel discussion on ‘Redefining Measurement for the Next Era of Marketing’ on the GroupM Rooftop
Immediately back into meetings, I had rewarding conversations with a wide range of partners, bringing a whole new level of client-centricity to solutions, and imagining the opportunities to be at the forefront of new developments to deliver genuinely breakthrough work for brands. One key thread from these sessions was imperative to enable our people and build capabilities through a relentless focus on learning and development.
Client conversations and meetings took the rest of the 48 hours, and it was indeed fulfilling to have these conversations in person, with a small glass of wine in the evening.
The EssenceMediacom friends and family get-together at the WPP Beach
A special highlight over these two days was the EssenceMediacom event at the WPP Beach. It was wonderful to see many of our people (whom we call Essentials) and our clients come together to celebrate. It has only been a few months since we launched our new agency and we have already achieved so much, and after only 48 hours in Cannes, we have plenty of ideas for what is coming next!
At the event, I also had the pleasure to meet Akshat Raj, one of our Essentials from India who came to Cannes this year as part of the team who won an internal creativity festival competition to develop creative solutions for a major global client – it was really heartening to spend time with young talent from the APAC region.
With one of our Essentials Akshat Raj from India
So, it has been an exciting week so far with several eventful happenings, but this will probably not be my most unforgettable Cannes experience - that one has to be Cannes Lions 2003 when I first met my wife!
The author is CEO, APAC, EssenceMediacom