Cannes LIONS Announces New Home of Creativity: LIONS

Cannes LIONS has announced the creation of its new master brand, LIONS. Building on 67 years of championing creative excellence, LIONS - The Home of Creativity, will provide the global community with a year-round destination and equip them with support, tools and insights to better understand, and adopt the transformational power of creativity.

Speaking at the October edition of LIONS Live, which is taking place this week, Simon Cook, managing director, LIONS, said: “We are in a unique position in that we have over 60 years of evidence confirming that creative excellence moves people, business and society forward. Cannes LIONS takes place annually, but it’s become clear that creativity cannot only be tethered to a single experience. For some time our customers have been asking us for year-round support, to help them realise their creative aspirations and enable them to move forward. The creation of LIONS is a very natural evolution of our business that brings our portfolio of services onto a single platform - The Home of Creativity. Our aim is to provide those in the business of creativity with access to the insight and support they’ve asked for to enable them to drive progress through creativity, every day.”

Offering access to the best work, talent, insight and learning, the LIONS product portfolio - which is split into four pillars of Community, Intelligence, Learning and Benchmarking - is designed to be highly accessible by everybody in the business of creativity, from students to the c-suite.

Cannes LIONS partnered with five creative legends from all corners of the world to create a brand film that celebrates creativity that drives progress: Chaka Sobhani, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett; Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer at BBDO India; Tea Uglow, creative director of Google's Creative Lab in Sydney; PJ Pereira, creative chairman and co-founder of Pereira O'Dell; and Yang Yeo, chief creative officer at Hakuhodo International in Singapore. 

With this film, LIONS hopes to inspire as many people as possible to champion creativity. Cannes Lions has been setting the benchmark for creativity and those in the pursuit of excellence since 1954 when the global advertising community came together to set the bar for cinema advertising. Nearly 70 years later, the master brand LIONS provides a platform for creativity in all its many forms. From craft and campaigns to platforms and products – based on the belief that creativity can come from anywhere and exists in everyone. 

Philip Thomas, chairman, LIONS, said: “This change brings together the disparate parts of what LIONS has been offering for some time, whether that's our consultancy services for brands who want to improve the creativity and effectiveness of their marketing, the benchmarking of the Global Creativity Report, the inspiration and celebration of the festivals we run, our year-round training courses, or the rich digital resource of The Work. We know how powerful creativity can be, and the LIONS platform is designed to equip our community with the support, tools and insights to better understand, and adopt, transformational creativity.”

Expanding on the campaign, creative director of Google's Creative Lab in Sydney, Tea Uglow, commented: “Creativity illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of society. Embracing the chaos and colour of creative practice let us find new uses for old tools, or imagine better models, better worlds.”

The videos will be streamed throughout LIONS Live and are all available to watch on the LIONS YouTube channel.

When asked about the LIONS film and his involvement, Josy said: "This is personal. Every word in the 'creativity manifesto' runs in my blood. I feel it deeply. 'When I choose creativity, I take the harder path' - that's so true. That’s why I love what we do. I am grateful to Simon Cook, Phil Thomas and the awesome team at Cannes LIONS for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their worldwide mission to champion creativity. May it give hope, meaning and energy to people everywhere. May it move us all to 'stay restless, aim higher, push forward'."

As part of the LIONS offering, this week sees the second edition of LIONS Live. Available free, to everyone, everywhere, the week-long agenda sees creatives from across the world coming together to deliver practical learning, inspiration and insight. Around 80,000 people from 145 countries have now registered to be a part of the LIONS Live community which Cook said was “testament to the industry’s appetite to learn about creative excellence and be part of a diverse, global community with a shared vision and belief.”

The new LIONS platform is available here.