Last week, the city of Cannes hosted the world’s largest meeting for the advertising and creative industry: the 71e Festival Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. From June 17 to 21, thousands of professionals and enthusiasts gathered at the Palais des Festivals or on the beaches bordering the Croisette.
But in an era where digital is king, the event, its impact and its influence have gone beyond the borders of the Provençal canton. If we know the number of participants on site, the content of the conferences and the agencies’ rankings by number of awards,… What about their popularity on the web? The Metrics Factory and J’ai un pote dans la com carried out the investigation to find the figures for the online impact of the Festival. And some results might surprise you!
Cannes Lions 2024: the figures online
This year, the Festival welcomed thousands of visitors. These are all potential users of social platforms, who, by updating their networks, were able to amplify the reach of the event. In fact, if on site, the crowd seemed dense, the number of individuals making it up turned out to be just a drop in the bucket compared to the figures generated online! So, in total, the Cannes Lions are:
- 112 921 904 impressions
- 2 790 589 engagements
- for a media valuation equivalent of €848,276
X: flagship platform of the event
On the different platforms, nearly 97,616 pieces of content related to Cannes Lions were published. And the Golden Lion for the most engaging platform undeniably goes to X. This first place is not surprising. We had already noted an equivalent domination of the platform in our previous snapshots. This is explained by the very nature of the network and its instantaneous side which allows you to follow current events. Thus, on the different platforms, we have identified:
- X: 91,800 contents
- Facebook : 2 468
- Instagram : 2 159
- LinkedIn : 744
- YouTube : 713
- TikTok: 476
Cannes Lions: the list of French agencies
The Metrics Factory and J’ai un pote dans la com teams focused on the performance of agencies in France. The results present the Festival in a new light, going beyond the microcosm of advertising elites to highlight the campaigns that made the greatest impact. Decryption.
Projects, shortlists and awards: the recap
- 1,433 French campaigns were submitted (out of 26,753 in total)
- 43 French agencies submitted a project
- 23 of them had a shortlist
- 13 agencies were awarded a total of 58 Lions
- 2 agencies, Publicis Conseil and Marcel, respectively obtained 2 Grand Prix.
The Festival’s winners: a reminder
We have in mind the rankings of French agencies this year. At the top of the ranking: Publicis Conseil. With two Grand Prix, 10 Lions and the title of agency of the year, it is the great champion of this 71st edition. In second position, Marcel has nothing to lose. Its two Grands Prix and its 8 Lions also earned it the title of agency entertainment of the year.
In terms of awards, the list is as follows:
- Publicis Conseil: 2 GP, 4 Gold, 6 Silver, 5 Bronze
- Marcel : 2 GP, 3 Or, 2 Argent, 3 Bronze
- TBWA\Paris : 1 Or, 2 Bronze
- BETC: 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
- Buzzman : 1 Or
- Publicis Luxe : 1 Or
- Havas Paris : 3 Bronze
- Ogilvy Paris :1 Bronze
- DDB Paris : 1 Bronze
- Change : 1 Silver
The online performances of French agencies
We know the official ranking. But what about online performances? If the Festival’s prize list depends on the decisions of the jurors, Internet users have decided otherwise. This is evidenced by this top 10 of French agencies in terms of impressions:
- Marcel : 319 550 impressions
- McCann : 221 894
- TWBA\Paris: 206,305
- Publicis Conseil: 138,880
- BETC: 56,841
- Steve : 38 503
- Buzzman : 37 308
- Has Paris : 24,092
- Publicis Luxe : 21 586
- DDB Paris : 2 603
Marcel thus comes out on top. His campaign, The Blues Compilation for Orange, caused a lot of reaction. A great opportunity for the spot to renew and amplify the impact of its message, which had already spread throughout the world when it was broadcast during the Women’s World Cup last summer. More than an advertisement, the spot generated hundreds of millions of impressions, becoming an educational tool and giving young girls new role models to admire. And yes, a bright idea, “ Magic » as Pascal Nessim, co-President of Marcel, would say, coupled with great technical prowess: this is enough to put an end to stereotypes!
But the big surprise of this ranking remains in the appearance of McCann in second position. The agency recorded a good start to its campaign Worth It Resume, for L’Oréal Paris, with six shortlist selections. If the latter left the competition empty-handed, she nevertheless knew how to make an impression. Just as strong and committed, this campaign encourages women to share their failures to prove that they are an essential component of a successful career.
The French Touch shakes up the networks
When it comes to the global influence of French creativity, the French campaigns are (literally) at the top. If France is downgraded on the awards podium (6th this year, vs 4th last year), two of the three most commented award-winning campaigns are indeed French:
- Renault – Cars to work (Publicis Conseil, Paris): 295 mentions for the Grand Prix in the category Creative Commerce et Sustainable Developpment Goals
- Heinz – It has to be Heinz (Rethink, Toronto): 257 mentions for the Grand Prix in the category Creative Effectiveness
- Orange – Women’s football (Marcel, Paris) : 241 mentions for the Grand Prix of the category Film et Entertainment Lions for Sport
Note also that, this year, for the first time, the Lion Of St Mark was awarded to a French personality: Jacques Séguéla, to reward the 60 years of career of this “ pub son » which we no longer present.
Cannes Lions: stars and beaches
The Musk raid
At Cannes Lions, no less than 150 hours of conferences were scheduled by the organizing committee this year. And among the 500 or so speakers, one name particularly caught the attention: Elon Musk. A year after inviting advertisers to go fuck themselves (and we’re being polite here), Musk saw in the flagship advertising event an opportunity to make up for it with brands.
Guest of Mark Read, CEO of WPP, the billionaire affirmed that X is a privileged place for influential marketers and advertisers. He returned to his « Go f*** yourself », which then caused an outcry, to indicate that it was not necessarily targeting advertisers. The big boss of X took advantage of the harshness of the message to advocate freedom of expression and authenticity on his platform. Moreover, it was also discussed brand safetyAI and technological innovation.
Unsurprisingly, despite a brief appearance, Musk was mentioned 36,800 times, and his post on X was the most engaging of the festival, combining more than 28 million views and more than 120,000 interactions.
Beyond the Palace, the beaches
And yes. The Cannes Lions also represent a perfect opportunity for brands to shine among professionals around the world. Like every year, the global advertising titans brought the Croisette to life, competing with sophisticated infrastructures and influential speakers. And as the years go by, the more tech giants take their place. As evidenced by the ranking of the most mentioned brands this year:
- Spotify : 1 700 mentions
- TikTok: 1,000
- Google : 800
The Spotify Beach well and truly represented the hot spot of the Croisette. With 10 years of experience under its belt, the streaming platform has built a solid reputation among festival-goers. This year, the Spotify beach hosted, among others, interventions from John Legend to Janelle Monae and artists like Tyla and Shaboozey on stage.
Each platform has its own celebrity
The Cannes Lions are also stars, and this is reflected on the web, to see the most notorious posts of the event on social networks.
Thus, on Instagram, it is the driver Lando Norris of the McLaren team who receives the greatest number of impressions: 3,556,438, to be exact, and 284,515 interactions.
On TikTok, it was Alix Earle, the platform’s it-girl with more than 6 million subscribers who created the buzz… From her bed. The young American laughs at her difficult awakening after a festive evening.
On LinkedIn, finally, it was a beautiful tribute from the Ogilvy group to its founder that stood out. The famous advertising executive would have been 113 years old this year.
