Cannes Lions Festival Organizers Commit to Real-Life Return in June 2022

As expected, The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has confirmed that it will return to a real-life, in-person format in 2022. The tentpole advertising event, owned by Ascential, has been unable to run in person for the last two years due to Covid-19 risks but has now confirmed it will once again run in France between June 20-24, 2022. The event's format will be a hybrid model with both virtual and in-person elements and activations. Over the last two years, the event was run virtually. The awards were held only in 2021, but comprised the entries of the past two years. This also gave the organizers the opportunity to introduce a membership element called “Lions.” Launched in March 2020, it now has over 10,000 members offering access to case studies on the entry work and interviews from the festivals. Reuniting the community Philip Thomas, chairman of Lions, said in a statement that he could not wait “to reunite the industry and bring the community together once again.” “For over 67 years, Cannes Lions has served as a convening force for the global creative community. As the world continues to shift and change we know that our role as conveners needs to evolve," he added. "Building Cannes Lions as a hybrid Festival will allow us to continue to reach our expanded creative community who we have welcomed through our digital initiatives over the last 18 months. It provides us with an opportunity to democratize, innovate and reinvent the Festival for the future.” The organizers have also claimed that they have developed best practice health and safety standards, which will see the festival adhere to the latest health guidelines in the lead-up to the event in June, as well as made a commitment to sustainability. “We are putting the foundations in place to build a purposeful Festival that allows our community to come together in a meaningful way," explained Simon Cook, managing director of Lions. "Through highly curated content, community networking opportunities and agenda-setting initiatives, Cannes Lions will provide an annual forum for the global industry to address the most pressing issues the industry and world are facing today. In doing this, sustainability is top of mind for us—as it is for the industry—and we're committed to putting a sustainability agenda in place.” Last year, the entry rate for the awards was 29,074, down from 2019’s number of 30,953 entries despite 2021 accepting two years' worth of entries. Last year the event received entries from 90 countries while work entered by independent agencies was up by 14% and from production companies by 19% compared to the previous years. Cannes Lions 2021 Records Decline in Entry Rates Despite Accepting 2 Years of Work