CLX debuts in Cannes to take brand awareness to next level

Cannes Lions’ inaugural CLX, the series of Connect, Learn, Experience installations, activations and talks, will focus on immersive and interactive experiences as highly effective media platforms for selling brands to consumers in today’s digital-first age.

Via CLX, Cannes Lions is collaborating with sister company MediaLink to offer delegates who register in advance a rare opportunity to connect with companies creating these new content formats.

These are Amazon, Microsoft, podcast operators iHeartRadio, Wondery and Stitcher, video-games publishing giant Activision Blizzard, creativity software group Adobe, broadcast and entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal (NBCU), short-videos app owner TikTok, and digital marketing agency Huge, an IPG subsidiary.

Adobe's Ann Lewnes

“CLX will provide participants with an intimate and experience-led environment to hear from and engage with the companies at the forefront of content creation through a series of curated round-table discussions,” said Festival organisers.

Activision Blizzard, NBCU and TikTok will each be hosting the discussions.

During the CLX session called What Do Video Games, AI And Tampons Have In Common?, Amazon and Huge will demonstrate the new opportunities offered to brand messages via voice-activated platforms like Amazon’s Echo smart speakers. Adobe will be hosting The Secrets Of Breakthrough Experiences, a session devoted to the role of digital transformation in the future of creativity and marketing. The speakers will include Adobe senior executives Ann Lewnes and Scott Belsky.

“Our round-tables will explore the secrets behind creating breakthrough experiences and how brands can leverage innovations in voice, AI, augmented reality and 3D content creation in their storytelling,” Belsky said.

“One constant of creativity is its continuous change. In our round-table conversations, we’ll talk about how to use that change to your advantage.”

Microsoft has organised two events: Innovating For The Agency Of The Future plus The Business Of Inclusion. The first comprises debates about the role new tech like AI, mixed reality and voiceactivation can play to inspire creativity, while the second will show why inclusivity can help spur authentic growth. And podcasts, the fast-growing digital audio-media platform embraced by so many areas of the media including celebrities of the status of Oprah Winfrey, will be demonstrated during Engaging Consumers Through Podcasts, a session about why advertising effectiveness on this new format is accelerating. Hernan Lopez, Wondery’s founder/CEO, said:

“Podcasts are taking the world by storm, yet brands are only now starting to find the best ways to become part of the conversation.”

Hernan Lopez, Wondery's Founder/CEO