The 2020 Cannes Lions has been cancelled with the next edition scheduled for 21-25 June 2021. “Our difficult decision follows in-depth consultations with our partners and customers and reflects the unprecedented societal, health and economic challenges currently facing the world,” stated the organisation.
The news is in finally. Cannes Lions has cancelled its annual Festival of Creativity for 2020 notwithstanding an earlier announcement of a postponement to October in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The next edition of the Festival will be held from 21-25 June 2021, the organisation announced on its website.
“As the impact from COVID-19 continues to be felt across the world on consumers and our customers across the marketing, creative and media industries, it has become clear to us our customers’ priorities have shifted to the need to protect people, to serve consumers with essential items and to focus on preserving companies, society and economies.
“Our difficult decision follows in-depth consultations with our partners and customers and reflects the unprecedented societal, health and economic challenges currently facing the world, as well as our desire to remove any uncertainty about the running of the awards and event for our partners and customers,” the statement read.
Philip Thomas, Chairman, Cannes Lions, said this was by way of providing the industry “total clarity”: “Cannes Lions at its core has always been about creativity and the Lions,” adding, “we realize that the creative community has other challenges to face, and simply isn’t in a position to put forward the work that will set the benchmark. The marketing and creative industries, in common with so many others, are currently in turmoil, and it’s clear that we can play our small part by removing all speculation about the Festival this year. We have tried to make our decisions as early as possible to give the industry total clarity on the situation, and that is why we are announcing this move today.”
Simon Cook, Managing Director, Cannes Lions, added: “We all look ahead to a more positive time — right now, Cannes Lions will continue to bring the global creative community together and provide inspiration where we can find it. Our recent call for inspirational creative stories from around the world has already garnered hundreds of accounts of our community uniting and showing progress in this crisis.”
Assuring the creative community of picking up where the festival would have left this year, Cook added, “we believe firmly that the Lions continue to offer valuable recognition to that community and we look forward to celebrating and honouring the work in 2021, when the world will hopefully feel more stable, and our community can give their work the focus it deserves.”
