As the official Aotearoa representative for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Commercial Communications Council takes us behind the scenes of this year’s event for coverage that promises to deliver captivating stories straight from the heart of the happenings. James Wotton brings us the highlights.
Day two felt different – perhaps due to the wind. Now that I had my bearings, I knew exactly what to expect for the day ahead. Armed with a baguette and an orange juice to help cleanse my palate from last night’s rosé, I set out to catch as many speakers as possible.
The first session of the day for me was Kevin Hart, named Entertainment Person of the Year for 2023. Hart spoke about his new initiative, HARTBEST, an innovative and inclusive comedy storytelling company. It was fascinating to hear how he has leveraged his stardom to build a business that creates more opportunities for him to take center stage.
Next, I headed over to the insights stage to hear from some of the juries on the Health & Wellness category. They discussed the diverse range of campaigns within the category and delved into the awarded campaigns for this year. One standout campaign that received the Gold was “Diversitree” by Energy BBDO and Claritin. The campaign aimed to plant more female trees, which absorb pollen, as opposed to their male counterparts that produce it. You can find more winning campaigns on thework.com. However, the category’s big winner, beating out over 1300 competitors, was “Last Performance” by Special and Partners Life. The judges repeatedly praised the simplicity and effectiveness of the creative idea.
Afterward, Goodby Silverstein & Partners presented with OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, discussing how OpenAI has amazed the world in the past year with generative AI tools like DALL·E and ChatGPT, offering millions of people their first experience with AI. Lightcap addressed the concerns about AI replacing jobs in the creative industries, emphasizing that revolutionary technologies have transformed the way we work before, and AI is no different. It’s a tool that provides opportunities for new job creation, so there’s no need to worry for now.
After a quick lunch break, I headed up to the terrace stage to catch Latasha Gillespie’s interview with Keke Palmer on the next generation of streaming content. Like Hart earlier, Palmer is diversifying her income streams through new streaming content, including a podcast, a new album, and various film and TV projects. The desire for entertainers to build sustainable long term brands, rather than relying on their next role, was evident.
This theme carried through to Will.I.am’s later talk on the new era of collaboration, where he unveiled his new app-based product, an AI-generated project software called FYI. Think of it as a combination of ChatGPT, Slack, and Messenger.
The Media Young Lions representatives (sponsored by Stuff), Loren and Amber from MBM, received their brief and have started working on their response with the 24-hour deadline looming.
However, the biggest reason to celebrate again tonight was the awards, with New Zealand making its mark on the stage. Colenso BBDO won a Gold Lion in Industry Craft for Skinny. Special added a Bronze Lion to its haul, scoring in the Entertainment Lion category. And FCB New Zealand was also recognized with two Bronze Lions on the Film Craft category, celebrating onscreen artistry.
It was another fantastic day here in Cannes – let the awards keep coming.
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