The Cannes Lions Festival wants everyone to feel welcome to share their ideas on our stages.
We know that creativity is better when it is designed by people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Enriching our understanding of those diverse viewpoints is a vital role of LIONS and its Festival, so we are looking for global ideas presented by people who reflect the societies and communities we seek to reach and serve.
For this to happen, LIONS, and the creative industry it represents, must ensure that all ideas challenge norms and monocultural perspectives. The creative ideas we hear must work together to present a global outlook. And as the Festival organiser, we commit to creating an environment where voices that have been traditionally silenced, excluded or marginalised are heard.
At LIONS, we know that creativity drives progress - and we also understand that our business has the power to be a driver of positive change. Our tentpole Festival, Cannes Lions, convenes the world’s most powerful brands, media companies and agencies, meaning we are advantageously placed to play a meaningful role in moving towards a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous future.
As a global company, the individuals that make up LIONS strive to create positive change and are committed to making a lasting impact through our collective actions - including our content offering, where we know it is our responsibility to ensure that different voices and perspectives are present on our stages.
Content must acknowledge the breadth of representation in the industry, so we will not consider homogeneous panel suggestions for the Festival line up. We urge you to put your story/message first and then consider who would be best suited to deliver it - bearing in mind that this will not always be the most senior people in the business.
Before submitting, ask yourself if the cast of characters represents society at large? If not, please continue to work on your content idea and line-up before submitting.
Please consider who you submit with as much rigour as you would the topics they discuss. We are looking for content proposals that bring in a plethora of ideas that challenge norms and stereotypes associated with your topic, and are not viewed through one homogeneous lens representing one gender, region or demographic, for example. Those that score highly will put diversity, equity and inclusion at the heart of their idea, in terms of their selection of speakers and the core ideas and perspectives presented.
Our definition of DEI can be found here.