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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, typically a rosé-drenched networking extravaganza and one of the biggest events on the advertising industry’s calendar, confirmed on Wednesday that it planned to go ahead with an in-person event this summer, even as Covid-19 cases surge around the world.
“The availability of multiple vaccines offers hope that we can be together in June, even if we need to limit the numbers of delegates who can safely attend,” Philip Thomas, the festival’s chairman, said in a statement. “It’s clear from talking to the global industry that everybody is very keen to come together again.”
The festival is scheduled to take place June 21-25 on the French Riviera.
As the coronavirus mutates, countries have scrambled to respond with new lockdowns, quarantines and border closures. Passengers flying to the United States will need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test starting on Jan. 26.
One branding executive on Twitter described the Cannes news, which was first reported by AdWeek, as “a bullish, optimistic event announcement that sits at odds with the slow vaccine rollout and rising Covid-19 numbers.”
Cannes Lions can be expensive to attend, and much of the advertising industry, famous for its excess, has trimmed costs sharply during the pandemic. One person familiar with the spending of a major advertising holding company estimated the price tag of its presence at Cannes to be more than $15 million each year, including awards entry fees and production expenses.
Last year, Cannes Lions featured a series of video presentations, and other major events popular with the marketing community, such as South by Southwest and the Consumer Electronics Show, have announced virtual settings this year. And several agency executives have voiced interest in continuing the virtual format of the upfronts, an annual courtship ritual between media companies and advertisers that usually sprawls across landmark New York locations.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/13/business/us-economy-coronavirus/