This year alone, apart from the hundreds of the best and smartest creative minds, advertising officers in chief of every description, we're expecting top-level representatives from companies such as the Unilever Foundry, Nestle, Facebook, Lego, The Economist, The Guardian, Snapchat, CNN and many more, live on stage at the Palais from 21 to 27 June.
So even if you can't network at Cannes Lions in person this year, you can expect winners' category shortlists, social media updates, seminar report backs and at least one Bizcommunity exclusive interview per day with local or global industry experts live from Cannes, as the event unfolds.
Ann Nurock
Yes, stand by, as this year we've appointed Ann Nurock @annnurock to be our first media correspondent on the ground in Cannes. Ann has over 25 years' experience in the local and international advertising industry, which culminated in her position as CEO Grey South Africa and subsequently President/ CEO Grey Canada. Since resigning from Grey in 2011 and returning to South Africa, she's remained very involved in the local advertising industry via her Relationship Radar tool, which measures the health of the client/agency relationships of 32 SA agencies.
With names such as Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Group CEO (also incidentally a non-executive director of Formula One and Alcoa Inc); CNN's Chief International correspondent, Christiane Amanpour; Al Gore; Monica Lewinsky; Alistair King of local agency King James; our own Mikes - Barnwell and Shalit, the ECDs of FCB and Net#Work BBDO respectively; and the other 12,000 delegates from 94 countries who will be hanging out on Cannes' famed Croisette strip, Cannes Lions 2015 promises to be the biggest event in the advertising industry calendar.
Also among the SA contingent at Cannes will be FCB, Hellocomputer, Joe Public, M&C Saatchi Young Lions, TBWA/Hunts' Pan African contingent, Y&R, Ogilvy and more.
So pack a 'Cannes do' attitude and head for the sunny shores of Bizcommunity's front page and Cannes Special Section from 21 to 27 June for daily multimedia Cannes Lion winners action. It's the next best thing to being there.
You can also follow all the latest updates on our social media accounts, as Ann will live-tweet and share photos directly to the Bizcommunity Twitter account, as well as our Facebook and Instagram pages. Watch for the special #bizatcannes hashtag for our exclusive content!
