Cannes Lions festival? No – CANNT Festival!

When you don’t have the opportunity to go to Cannes Lions festival and have a cocktail on a yacht in South of France, the amazing Glug people give you CANNT Festival in your city (or nearest city). So last night I attended the event in Brighton. 

As I walked into the venue, I got a Hawaiian garland and I instantly loved the event. Hawaiian theme party is my kind of party! There was plenty of time for notworking (something like networking, but funnier as Glug people explain it) before the speakers.

Not surprisingly the topic of the evening was Awards. Are they good or bad? Do they bring you more work or not?

First in the spotlight were Juliet Tzabar and Dominic Minns from Plug-In Media. It’s one of the most awarded agencies in Brighton with 4 BAFTAs, so I was all ears when they started their presentation.

Dominic started with a quote “Award doesn’t change the quality of a book!”, but it contributes to your portfolio he added. It sets your reputation as an expert in your field and confirms the excellence of your work. Juliet explained the internal benefits of winning an award. It motivates the team and makes them feel great about the project. And awards make your mum proud (best feeling in the world). 😊

Matt Baxter from Baxter and Bailey shared a notion from Gladwell that if you do one thing for ten thousand hours, you become an expert. It seems about right. However, he began his presentation with three cons about awards: ridiculously expensive, exclusive and nepotistic. Apparently, it costs almost £900 for one entry at the D&AD awards and to be honest, you like the awards only if you win. So are they really worth it? Yes, because the best thing is that they give you confidence. Awards not only inspire confidence in you, but also in your clients and help them to reach a wider audience with their work.
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But what do creative awards such as Cannes Lions mean for the PR industry? PR agencies are failing at the PR Lions as mentioned by Danny Rogers, editor of PRWeek. Several of the Lions were won by ad agencies and only few PR agencies were given a credit. The big campaigns were earned media-led, so it makes you wonder what’s the point of PR if big advertising agencies can produce them. Fortunately, Cannes Lions is not the only place where PR agencies can prove their excellent work. Creativity in PR matters and it should be celebrated (even if it’s not at the French Riviera)!

Although, it does seem amazing!