Visiting the Cannes Lions festival of creativity was a significant milestone for me in my career. Having learned about the festival during my time at Wieden + Kennedy, I quickly learned about the cultural cache the event had in the industry. I’m happy to say that my experience did not disappoint.
Based on my experience, I wrote an extensive Cannes 2024 recap on the recently launched Supermetrics community. I’d encourage you to check it out if you want to hear about some of the key themes at the event, including Retail Media, the evolution of agencies and, of course, AI.
While the above is more focused on industry insights, below I’ll recount the lessons I learned from my first time at Cannes and give advise to those who plan to attend in the future.
Cannes Prep: three keys to success
1. Book early
If you know you’re going to Cannes or think it might be a good idea for your business and role, the best thing you can do is to book early. This isn’t for the simple reasons like the price of flights or hotel room availability (although these things both still count). This is because the Cannes veterans, the ones who really make the most out of the event, plan their entire year around Cannes.
What do I mean by this? Going to Cannes is as much about status signaling as it is about doing business. That said, it’s a pretty reliable signal. Definitionally, the people who are coming to Cannes are at least influential and at best decision-makers. Orienting yourself toward this crowd and planting seeds throughout the year about your upcoming presence at Cannes is a way to show up where it counts and impress the right people.
It’s also worth noting that anyone of importance who is going to Cannes will have their entire schedule built out many months in advance. I received notes from a few executives suggesting that the next time I want to get on their calendar, I had better reach out in March or April.
2. Show up with a plan
There are many industry events that you can show up to and have a great time with no plan. Cannes is not one of them.
The way the event is structured, there is a small, sectioned off area for pass-holders with a large series of adjacent areas that are easily accessible without an event pass. This means that there is quite a bit to do and see outside of the main event area. Many companies run their meetings out of designated hotels or sectioned-off areas of the palais.
What this means is that wandering around aimlessly will have you hot, dehydrated and lacking meaningful engagement with your peers. It’s far better to show up with a series of meetings booked in advance, sessions you want to attend and parties you plan to go to. There’s an entire run-up to Cannes that involves pre-registering for events ahead of time based on who your closest industry partners are. This means that while your calendar will absolutely be fluid, you should try your best to plan the week in advance as much as possible.
3. Take care of yourself
To say that Cannes is exhausting is an understatement. If you’re doing it right, you should be having around six meetings per not including, including dinners, after-parties, and after-after-parties. This is all while getting around primarily on foot in heat that is typically over 30C (86F). I clocked about 30,000 steps per day while I was there.
Practically, this means that nutrition and hydration are key components to lasting to the very end. A really practical thing we did was eat breakfast at the same restaurant each morning and ensure we started the day with lots of protein and minimal carbs. Frequent stops to hotel lobbies gave us the opportunity to cool down, apply sunscreen and grab a bottle of water (for an extortionate price). I won’t be prescriptive about how you use alcohol, but just make sure that you have a strategy around its timing and quantity.
Will I see you next year?
If you book in advance, plan well and take care of yourself, you’ll have a great time and hopefully deliver whatever business outcomes you’ve promised your stakeholders to get secure funding for the following year. On that note, if you do want to see me next year in Cannes, please drop me a note via the contact form on my website.