The Cannes Lions Festival was held between June 19 and 23, and Zoltán Simon, CEO and Zoltán Szakál, Strategy Director of Café Communications, Hungary were eager to see what the festival has to offer. Here are the impressions and most important takeaways - not just strictly ad industry-related - from Zoltán Szakál.
"The role and importance of AI was a prominent theme, with practically everyone hunting for these presentations. We were no exception. The overall impression is that, despite the fears in the communication profession of losing jobs and positions, the presentations and workshops showed that AI can be a collaborative partner in the creative process, not an enemy. As a tool, it can be used as well or as badly as anything else. In the right hands it can supercharge processes, efficiency and effectiveness. AI opens up new possibilities for storytelling, content production and creativity. Overall, it cannot replace expertise, experience and creativity. Current cultural trends and hot topics change from year to year, so it was no surprise that these were on the agenda. Thus, the finalist entries returned home with lions of entries with themes that resonated well with the jury, such as climate change, inequality, diversity and inclusivity. Of course, none of this is worth anything without original ideas, excellent execution and effectiveness, so we saw some truly brilliant campaigns. One of my favourites, apart from the Apple presentation, was the presentation by Andrew Robertson, (President and CEO of BBDO Worldwide). The bottom line: It's time we stop taking ourselves so seriously and embrace humour a little more to drive serious business results, according to. But the use of humour in advertising is in decline, and Andrew urged the crowd to at least consider having a laugh again. Takeaway from him: „If brands are tuly looking to make the word a better place, we could do a lot worse than make people lough. (and make some money😊)” Just one more thing: in Cannes restaurants, keep your waiters under close supervision and your eyes on the bill. It's not worth relaxing about this, because your wallet will take the hit, not to mention the unacceptable behaviour of some waiters."