What You Need To Know About Cannes Lions 2024

As the creative world gears up for another Cannes Lions festival on the coast of France, you might have some questions about the gathering. Like, How do you say “Cannes”? And I’m not in France, so why should I care? Or maybe you’ve got some more serious questions — we’ll answer those, too. 

Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Cannes 2024, including the awards, brands, and new events. 

---

What Is Cannes Lions? 

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is held every year in Cannes, a city on the southern coast of France. The 2024 festival will take place from June 17 to 21. In their own words, “At Cannes Lions, the advertising and communications industry meets to celebrate the world’s best work.” 

The Cannes Lions 2024 Schedule 

With speakers including Deepak Chopra, Esi Eggleston Bracey, Queen Latifah, and Mike Cessario, it’s clear there’s no shortage of talent at Cannes. From filmmakers to CEOs to creative leaders, there’s thought leadership from every level and every corner of the industry. 

There are seminars, speaking engagements, shortlist presentations, skills sessions, and more. This year, the content is broken up into five different categories: 

• Insights and Trends
• Innovation Unwrapped
• The Creativity Toolbox
• Talent and Cultures
• Creative Impact

Sessions at this year’s event include “Convince Your C-Suite: The Real Impact of Creativity,” “Unlock Your Creative Genius with Visual Alchemy,” and “Changemakers: Inspiring Creators Driving Change.” If you’d like even more FOMO (personally, we have enough), you can check out the full schedule here. 

The Cannes Lions Awards

Cannes Lions presents annual awards to “celebrate creativity in all its forms.” Each evening of the festival, awards — or Lions, in this case — are presented in 30 different categories to honor a wide range of ads, brands, and creatives. 

In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev took home the Creative Marketer of the Year award; Omnicom won the Creative Company of the Year Special Award; and GUT, a Buenos Aires-based agency, accepted both Agency of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year. 

A New Addition: Lions Creators 

This year, the festival has a new addition: Lions Creators, an additional festival for (you guessed it!) creators. No matter what kind of video maker you are, it’s essential to make connections with other creatives — and Cannes Lions is helping facilitate that collaboration. 

By giving them the space to come together in this creative environment, video makers hope to connect with agencies and other organizations — and vice versa. According to Adweek, “Activities will include roundtables about the challenges facing this fast-moving space, bringing together leading voices across the big players in the creator marketing economy, including platforms, brands, creators and agencies.” 

Getting Creatives to Cannes 

While Cannes Lions is an incredible way to bring together creatives from around the world, the event passes, travel, and other elements can be expensive and inaccessible to many organizations and video makers around the globe. 

According to Adweek, “[Cannes Lions chief executive Simon] Cook said the festival is committed to providing greater access to Cannes Lions and addressing the different needs and circumstances of the 15,000 delegates who attend from more than 90 counties.” 

Some initiatives they’ve introduced include the Lions Creators program and the Start-Up Pass, both of which provide less costly pass options for potential attendees. They’ve also released certain funded passes that creatives can apply for, including the Equity, Representation, and Accessibility Programme, Roger Hatchuel Academy, LIONS Scholarship, and the See It Be It Programme. And, if you want to experience the schedule from the comfort of your own home, you can get a Digital Pass to join online. 

The Brands at Cannes Lions 2024 

No matter your role or industry, you’ve probably seen a brand activation at some point that made you think, Oof, how much did they pay for that? And if you’re a marketer, you probably had a follow-up question: …Did it work? 

Ad Age took a deep dive into the costs and benefits of Cannes Lions activations. According to their findings, one brand, Influential, calculated that their 2023 activation at the festival brought in a 20x return on investment (ROI), encouraging them to increase their spend this year. 

Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness, drive positive PR, or get a significant ROI like Influential, there are options for every goal. The activations start at 50,000 euros and reach up to several million euros. 

Some teams, however, are a bit more skeptical about the measurement tactics used. So is it worth it? Like everything else in marketing, whether or not an activation provides a significant return is a decision for your brand based on goals, target audience, and other objectives. 

Video Marketing Around the Globe 

Whether you’re heading to Cannes or staying at home, you’ve probably noticed that video marketing is just about everywhere. From television advertising to OOH video activations, brands need more video than ever to stand out in today’s digital landscape. 

Check out Made with QuickFrame to explore some of the incredible work from our network of makers — or contact us today to get started making your own.