Cannes Lions 2024 Takeaways: Collaboration, Purpose & Ideas Over Tech Hype

Once a year, the industry makes a trip to the Lions to take stock of what matters to it, to see what’s changing and what isn’t and to get inspired by the vanguard of creativity. Here are a few takeaways from the 2024 edition.

This year clearly went beyond the flirtatious fascination with new technologies and saw a renewed focus on ideas rather than the tools used to deliver them. Exciting new technologies, new ways of driving innovation and fascinating new platforms were there to be seen for sure but were mostly acknowledged, as they should be, in service of the idea they were helping bring to life. The entries recognised this and spent less time eulogising the innovative use of new technology and more time on the idea they helped enable, as did the jurors.

There was also ample evidence of democratisation of creativity at play at the festival this year. Yes, craft has and will always have a role and yes, some of the pure craft-driven work was gorgeous but that was not the highlight by any means. There was undoubtedly less individual personality-driven creativity - in the work, in the choice of speakers and panellists, in the increasing presence of tech, consulting, media and platform companies, and in the general vibe of the festival. On the contrary, there was far more evidence of new ways in which technology, data and media are being deployed for creative solutions. Equally, there was more celebrated work that was a result of extensive collaboration than of individual brilliance. We are in a world where ideas thrive beyond rarified craft-driven execution and much of the work at Cannes 2024 was a testament to this. We also saw this in the continuing trend towards more diversity, with more entries from more geographies than ever before, Kazakhstan’s first Lion, and first-time jurors from Pakistan, Armenia, Ghana and Panama.

We also saw a healthy body of work that recognised the true power of creativity to transform. Transform lives, communities, businesses and the planet. This in itself was not entirely new, but what stood out for me was the increasing amount of such transformational work on big, global mainstream brands. Work where the purpose was authentic, demonstrated at scale and linked to real outcomes for both business and for cause. Consumers are clearly expecting brands to assume more responsibility and buy into those that do, brands are recognising this and in turn, the work celebrated at Cannes this year acknowledged this.

We are living in a collaborative economy, where growth is increasingly symbiotic rather than predatory. The creative industry has often been accused of being insular and self-contained, but if you are looking for evidence that this is changing more rapidly than we perhaps realise, you would have found plenty at Cannes 2024. Clients, consultants, technologists, creators, platforms, activists, sportsmen, scientists, policymakers and many many others didn’t just have stronger representation, but were more vocal and were an inextricable part of some of the best work celebrated this year. This bodes well for the future of the creative industry.

Amitesh Rao

Guest Author The author is the CEO Leo Burnett - South Asia.