Cannes Lions 2021 Records Decline in Entry Rates Despite Accepting 2 Years of Work

Ascential’s 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which will take place virtually for the second year in a row, received 29,074 award entries from 90 countries covering a two-year period after 2020's festival organizers canceled giving out awards because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the resumption in judging ad work, the entry numbers are down from 2019, the last time the awards were held, when the Festival of Creativity announced 30,953 entries from across 89 countries. The awards will be announced live through the Cannes Lion’s online platform as the five-day festival takes place entirely online. Work entered this year came from more independent agencies, which were up by 14% compared to 2019 and from production companies, up by almost a fifth (19%). Why numbers are down Anecdotally, some of the major agency network holding companies have entered fewer awards this year as they scrutinized the cost and prioritized entering only work from the last 12 months rather than the entire two-year period to maintain relevancy to the judges. So important are these awards that at least one of the networks had been holding regular judging sessions over the last year to determine which work to enter so as not to waste entry fees. Simon Cook, Managing Director, Lions, said the event this year would allow the industry to look forward. "Bringing together this mass of work from across the globe to present to our juries is always an exciting moment for us," Cook said in a statement. "The work gives us an initial snapshot of the industry before our expert juries take on the task of awarding the work that will set the new creative benchmark. This is a highly anticipated moment and the work across two years tells a story about the changing shape of creativity throughout the global pandemic and showcases the power of creativity as a vehicle for change.” Digital growth and short-term thinking The awards will also include the Creative Business Transformation Lions to recognize the changes being made by agencies and marketers due to the pandemic with digital progress taking place faster than ever before. That also is reflected in the entry numbers, with Social and Influencer Lions up by 14% and Creative eCommerce Lion entries growing by 12%. The Titanium Lions, which celebrate ground breaking ideas, grew by 15% on 2019. However, the Creative Effectiveness Lions has seen a 38% decline in entries, while the Creative Strategy Lions fell by 20%, which the organizers believe is down to “short-term strategy” focuses being taken by companies. The announcement of the winners of all 25 categories will be streamed live from June 19-25 through Cannes Lions Live. Cook spoke to Adweek about what to expect from this year’s festival, including how it plans to host networking and idea-sharing through the Lions platform as well. How Cannes Lions Aims to Provide Networking and Idea Sharing at This Year's Festival