CANNES LIONS LAUNCHES DIGITAL EDUCATION

The Festival of Creativity is curating a live digital platform called ‘Lions Live’, a digital education, inspiration, and networking experience that will run through the month of June under the theme ‘Creativity Matters’. The platform will be the busiest during the original dates of the festival of 22-26 June.

The Lions Live that is being launched today will have masterclasses and hangouts with some of the top minds of the creative industry, lectures from multi-disciplinary experts, talks from speakers earlier confirmed for the Festival, and a curation of some the most influential professional classes and learning modules from the world of creativity, effectiveness, and marketing.

The online platform will also showcase ‘Future Gazers’ — a crystal ball of sorts — which will host a collection of industry experts who will assess and evaluate how Covid-19 has changed the way the industry will need to handle the themes that Cannes Lions’ 2020 had already announced.

Future Gazers will also present the best of the hundreds of creative responses to the ongoing crisis from the global creative community — the works are being shared on the newly-launched platform called ‘Creativity Moves us Forward’. Access to ‘Lions Live: Creativity Matters’ will be free.

‘The Work’, which is a subscription-only archive of more than 200,000 Lions campaigns and 1,600 Festival talks, will also accessible for free throughout the original Festival week. ‘The Work’ will be a treasure trove of case studies and inspiration.

Further, during June anyone creatively inclined can also access a specially curated course of lessons taken from the Cannes Lions masterclass series on 42courses.com. This will cover lessons from creative masters such as Rei Inamoto, Keith Reinhard, and Debbi Vandeven on topics such as Creative Effectiveness, Strategy, Storytelling, Behavioural Science, and Digital Marketing.

Alongside, Cannes Lions’ sister companies MediaLink and WARC will also be curating their Cannes activities, with a virtual MediaLink “networking beach and lessons” on the choicest effectiveness strategies from around the world presented by WARC.

Simon Cook, Managing Director, Cannes Lions, said: “In order to drive progress through creativity, and support our community at this difficult time, we want to provide the global industry with the opportunity to learn and network throughout June and beyond.”

Elaborating on the plans, Cook added: “For the first time in nearly 70 years, we are unable to bring the industry together in one physical place in June. Lions Live: Creativity Matters will provide a virtual platform for the industry to collaborate, learn and problem-solve, because now more than ever, creativity really does matter.”

Earlier in an Open Letter, Cook had said: “Over the past few weeks, we’ve spoken to many members of the global community who have shared fascinating stories of invention, collaboration and compassion. Stories about how creativity is working overtime right now, to respond to rapidly changing consumer behaviour, evolving circumstances and periods of extended isolation, or to create positive change.

We’re opening up our platform to share these stories and breakthroughs, no matter how big or small. Whether you’re a brand pivoting to make hand-sanitisers, a platform providing mental well-being content or a company ‘building the plane as it’s flying’ to adapt to the changing world, the creative community wants to hear about your brilliant insights and realisations.”