Cannes Lions scraps on-ground event

The organisers of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity have announced that the on-ground event will not be held in 2021. 

 

The event will now be running digitally, as Cannes Lions Live from 21-25 June, during which winners of this year's Lions will also be announced.

 

This follows last week's update, where the organisers stated that they were going ahead with the physical event with four safety pillars: physical distancing, protect and detect, cleaning and hygiene, and communications. Campaign India had then asked Indian adland whether they would be comfortable attending the festival, for which we got a mixed response.

 

Since then, the French government has announced a fresh lockdown.

 

Philip Thomas, chairman, Lions, said, “Over the last year, we’ve been consulting with our customers and working on our plans, including the development of Cannes Lions Live as part of the new Lions Membership platform. We are now able to move fully to this format for 2021 - which will have all the celebration, inspiration and participation of Cannes Lions - to unite the global community virtually during Cannes Lions Live this June.” 

 

Simon Cook, managing director, Lions, said, “Cannes Lions Live will also signal the return of the Lions awards. After the benchmark of the awards was paused last year, we want to be able to give our community the chance to immerse themselves in the creative work once again. We’ll be championing the work on a huge scale - tracking progress throughout the week, analysing the winners, delivering insights, identifying new talent - it’s the return of the benchmark and a moment for the industry to reflect but also look forward.”  

 

Lions Membership will launch in May. It looks to unite the creative network of people and businesses to drive professional, personal and societal progress through creativity. All Lions members will receive complimentary access to Cannes Lions Live as part of their membership. Annual Lions membership is priced at €249. All Lion winners, past and present, will be gifted complimentary membership.