Has the Lion finally eaten itself?
An agency of the year which admitted to scam, one winner kicked off the app store, judges calling out block voting and that sexist party invite. Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes asks is 2016 the year Cannes Lions finally ate itself?
On the face of it it’s been another successful, record breaking year for the Cannes Lions. More than 42,000 entries, 16,000 delegates and no doubt a massive increase in sponsorship revenues from both the stalwarts of the creative industries and those onrushing tech giants looking to usurp them in the race for marketing dollars.
All of that adds up to a tidy little profit for the owners of the Lions festival, the newly listed Ascential which has a market capitalisation of around $1.6bn – even after a Brexit related hit on Friday. Compare that to locally-owned holding group Enero’s $102m, or WPP AUNZ’s $899m, and you’ll see it’s a massive beast in its own right. Things certainly look rosy.
But scratch beneath the very shiny veneer and even from a distance you can see the gloss has really started to come off global advertising’s biggest week of the year, leading more and more people to question why they are there, and finally a more critical eye being cast on it by delegates and the media.
It’ll be interesting to see whether there’s a new force for change in the this year’s post-Cannes inquest: Ascential shareholders seeking to protect their long-term investment.
Why does this event even exist? Why do ad agencies continue to exist? Why are you surprised about deceit and sexism in an industry founded on deceit and sexism? Why are you surprised that this industry hands itself awards for deceit and sexism? It’s an obsolete industry desperately trying to justify its own existence and kept on life support by gullible clients and sycophants – kind of like Hugh Hefner or Rupert Murdoch, only with less power and more desperation.
True of most dinosaur industries that award blue ribbons to their garbage and pat themselves on the back. Let’s demand better. Oh, and bring back Firefly!
Hi Alex and Mumbrella,
You are one of few actors in our industry with integrity, and your critical point of view is hugely appreciated.
Which is why I’d ask you to please provide some balance to the views and comments by so-called gender issues activists like Cindy Gallop. She is an old-school ideological feminist whose bullying tactics meet no resistance whatsoever, something she knows how to exploit.
Seeing the world through an ever narrowing ideological lens, she – and many others outside our industry – has made a career out of getting white males to apologise for existing and acquiring significant social status through false claims of victimhood.
This is not to say there are no issues, but there is currently a zero tolerance for rational debate on these issues – hence my anonymity – and I think that you could play a valuable role in changing this.
Thanks,
C
Chris your use of language makes you sound like a fright bat. “So-called gender issues”? I take it you’re also against racial diversity in advertising, and that we should be focused more on the loss of privilege to us poor white people?
How about you stop expecting other people to write articles for you, and have a crack at it yourself. Or do you not have any real facts beyond those pimped by Alan Jones and Eddie McGuire?
I disagree with @Anonymous that this is an obsolete industry, but there are still those who can’t let go of the good ol’ days.
Though there has been scepticism around Cannes for a while, kudos to Mumbrella for sustaining the spotlight on this. It seems the ripples from their splash a few years ago are gaining momentum.
Hey Mumbrella,
Seems like your small, “insignificant” voice, sounding from these antipodean shores a few years back might be proving to be quite effective.
Well done, you were the first, or among the first to courageously call “bullshit” – and thus you guys made yourselves a very conspicuous target.
But seems you – with your little sling shot – have started to topple the giant.
Well done.
By the way – did the missing “dog” from a suspected scam ad a years back ever get found????
@ anonymous. You summed it up brilliantly.
Labor would never win an election in Australia if this proposed voting scheme was implemented.
Great read Alex! Thanks for a very thorough view
How is this article a balanced view when the article fails to celebrate any of the many very positive elements of Cannes, you just obsess on the negative, which is about .001% of Cannes. Sure Cannes isn’t perfect but Mumbrella isn’t either.
Hi Toby,
I see from your IP you’re posting from an agency that’s enjoyed a lot of success at Cannes. So you’re probably aware that if you want non-questioning coverage of the festival you can go to hundreds of advertising blogs which will credulously reproduce press releases. We don’t claim to be perfect, but we admit when we’re wrong.
As ever there was some great work awarded, we covered that off in the winners articles we produced from the event.
Do you disagree there are issues that in the current climate the industry might want to address with its biggest festival?
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella