The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity brought to light the importance of live events and the opportunity they create to make new connections.
Kite Hill PR was in attendance, taking note of emerging trends, differing perspectives and conversations that will take us into next year. I recently recapped our thoughts on the festival for PR Daily and CommPro.
Below are a few more key takeaways and how they can be applied to upcoming industry events.
Key takeaways from 2023
Adtech dominated Cannes. This year’s Cannes featured more adtech attendance than previous years. Adtech companies were placed predominantly on Yacht Row (although expected to change next year due to construction) and in cafés along the Croisette such as Kerv’s L’Avenue takeover next to Café Roma. We saw these locations become popular meeting spots for Cannes attendees.
Fringe events were key in networking. With over 100 events hosted at Cannes, it’s easy to overbook your schedule. This year, there were plenty of fringe events, ones not officially on the schedule or hosted through Cannes, which proved to be the key to great networking. Events that led to an organic connection had the most impact.
Avoid industry jargon, especially with reporters. Being in the business of PR, I made some time in our Cannes schedule to sit down with a few reporters and pick their brains on what they’re looking for from sources. The biggest takeaway: stay away from the jargon and don’t get too in the weeds.
Looking ahead to 2024
There are a few key takeaways from Cannes from an event-planning perspective that I’m taking with me in the second half of 2023 and into 2024.
Leverage strategic partnerships. There were a lot of companies that had speaking opportunities through other companies with their own stages and activations. For Cannes, and other industry events, we recommend looking for strategic partnerships to help mitigate costs.
Avoid programming that misses the mark. At all events, but especially one like Cannes where there are hundreds of events for attendees to choose from, it’s important to ensure that you’re aligning to a focused topic – one that people are passionate about – and then bringing it back to the business at hand.
Now is the time to start planning for events happening in the latter half of the year. With Advertising Week right around the corner, these lessons can be applied to your approach for that key industry event and others.
And dare I say it? It’s not too early to start formulating a strategy for Cannes 2024 either.
Kite Hill PR is here to help ensure you have a game plan in place, your talk track is set and your impact is powerful. To get in touch with our team to discuss your event needs, reach out to us at Hello@KiteHillPR.com.
- Tiffany Guarnaccia, CEO