In a sign of the globalization of creative power, this year Grand Prix were awarded to a broad range of nations, including including a first Grand Prix for Puerto Rico. Delegations from Mongolia and Saudi Arabia hosted pavilions at the Palais. Meanwhile Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Mongolia joined the shortlisting jury for the first time. And Czech Republic won its first Grand Prix this year for KitKat’s “Phone Break” campaign by VML Prague.

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KitKat’s “Phone Break” campaign by VML Prague

China’s tally of four Lions in 2024 was comparatively low. Adams Fan, chief creative officer for agency F5 Shanghai explained that the nation has traditionally channelled its creative energy into tackling innovation and R&D, but that things are changing. Fan was joined by speakers from dairy group Yili and appliance brand Midea, who talked about their focus on brand-building and emotional storytelling, leveraging AI and influencer strategies.

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Yajuan Wang, chief marketing officer, Xiaohongshu

Social shopping and lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu or Rednote was in Cannes for the first time too. As well as hosting an activation at the Palais, CMO Yajuan Wang shared details of its business model which leverages the power of its fifty million-strong community across over a million vertical interest groups to promote or “seed” products, achieving click through rates of 14%. The platform has become a kind of shopping search engine in China and clearly has an eye on global expansion.

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Jimmy Fallon

Media is also borderless as platforms now cater to vast global audiences. Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC Universal's Tonight show acknowledged the role of social media in building a truly global audience for the show. "The rain people know who I am here is because of digital." Short skits made for digital have racked up 8.5 billion views, including 500m for a Star Wars video featuring the late Carrie Fisher.

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