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No, you weren\u2019t imagining it. By the estimation of some attendees, the creator presence at Cannes Lions was bigger than ever this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was truly a multiplier effect compared to last year,\u201d Chris Detert, CCO at marketing company Influential, told us. \u201cThere were definitely two to three times as many influencers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The larger-than-usual creator presence at the festival, which some attendees predicted ahead of time, can be in part attributed to it being the first year of Lions Creators, a track dedicated to creator programming, networking, and events that was jointly led by Cannes Lions and Viral Nation.<\/p>\n
Joe Gagliese, co-CEO and co-founder of Viral Nation, said the experience this year \u201cblew [his] expectations away.\u201d At one point, he said there were more than 200 creators on the creator rooftop atop the Palais. Outside of the Palais, companies like Amazon, TikTok, and Meta worked with creators to post content about the festival, and influencer Alix Earle racked up over 240k likes on a TikTok about her experience at the festival.<\/p>\n
We spoke with attendees about how the first year of Lions Creators went and what they hope to see from next year\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n
Halle Alice, a content creator at ad agency Gale, attended Cannes Lions for the first time this year because of Lions Creators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the creator track opened up, my CEO was just like, \u2018You\u2019re going,\u2019\u201d she told us. \u201cI didn\u2019t have to do too much back-bending. Our C-suite saw the value in me going, and the marketing industry is seeing the value in creators being there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice said she connected with creator managers and social strategists at the festival, and found that the centralized creator space in the Palais worked well as a meeting place for industry attendees. With that said, there were some things that could be improved: Alice said that panel discussions with larger creators didn\u2019t always provide insight for others on how to grow their followings and break into the industry.<\/p>\n
Some creator marketers told us they hoped this year\u2019s festival would serve to bridge gaps between creators and brand executives, but some said those gaps remain. Becky Owen, CMO of creator agency Billion Dollar Boy, told us she noticed a disconnect between what creators were interested in discussing and what brands were interested in discussing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trending conversation among creators was around wanting more empathy in brand partnerships and wanting to be viewed and treated as true creative partners instead of commodities,\u201d Owen said in an email. \u201cOn the other hand, the trending conversation among brands was around innovative ways of working with creators.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some attendees have other ideas for improvements. Detert said the creator track felt \u201ca little bit disparate,\u201d in his opinion, and Alice said the Lions Creator program felt \u201ca bit isolated\u201d from the rest of the festival.<\/p>\n
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Some Lions Creators programming conflicted with Influential\u2019s, Detert said, an issue he hopes doesn\u2019t come up again. \u201cIn the future, we\u2019ll look to align with [Cannes Lions] a little bit better so that we can create programming that their team and their creators can attend and not be competing against them as much,\u201d he told us.<\/p>\n
Given how different Cannes Lions is from other creator events, Owen said many creators could have benefited from \u201cmore support and structure\u201d in navigating the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was confusion on what they could and couldn\u2019t attend and how to access other areas of the festival, which kept many siloed to the creator area,\u201d Owen said, later adding that \u201cit would have been nice if their presence was more integrated into the main festival and if it felt a bit more connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owen said the sticker shock of attending could have limited the number of less-established creators in attendance compared to macro-creators and celebrities at the festival. And Gagliese said price was his one point of feedback to the Cannes Lions team. With more time to plan next year\u2019s festival, he said, it could become naturally more affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if we give [creators] a runway in terms of time, it\u2019ll really help them to be able to drive those costs down and make it more reasonable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, said he expects to see more underwriting from brands and agencies in the future to help get creators on the ground. Gagliese agreed, saying \u201cwe\u2019ve all gotta do it as a collective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice said the experience with Lions Creators was positive overall, and she attributed any hiccups to the newness of the program. \u201cI don\u2019t think that Creators have yet claimed their stake in advertising as a whole. I think next year, we\u2019ll see a lot of progress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Gagliese\u2019s hope for 2025 is to get even more creators to the festival. \u201cThe way that the
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\n space is moving, I feel like it\u2019s going to naturally continue to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the things that we did this year are just going to get bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n