It was a packed house already as the week dedicated to creativity kicked off in Cannes. After the second day of mild showers and some gloom, the sun was shining on the beaches of Cannes that are now lined up with tech biggies, advertising behemoths and global marketers - all opening up their beach shack doors to delegates from the event.
The likes of Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube are spending a week of sessions, workshops and a lot of fun planned on the beach while media companies such as Daily Mail have taken yachts to host delegates and power sessions. Meeting rooms, board rooms, terrace and penthouse suites are all blocked again for media agencies, associations, consultancy firms and the likes to network with global teams, clients and journalists all week long.
Global holding company CEOs have all arrived, meeting their teams and moving from one event commitment to another. For all, the week would demand sizeable portions of caffeine ingestion or whatever trick works to ensure 21-hour days. Because the biggest challenge in Cannes is working out what to choose from, and dealing with all that will be missed out.
A key theme that is seen across the Palais de Festival this year, the venue that is home to all Cannes madness, is around exploring the dark side, the art of seduction in advertising and the embracing of technology from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Virtual Reality (VR) and the role this plays in connecting with consumers. Words and phrases such as storytelling, innovation, creativity and data have now become the norm. They find their way in every conversation but do not standout or are the highlight. The creative language, in that sense, has evolved substantially in the year, and industry leaders caution that it can be ignored at one's own peril.
The rest of the week would see creative minds discussing further on how this demanded change in mindset and new age solutions will work towards providing marketing solutions that resonate with the new consumer.
