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Cannes Lions announces Lions Live winners; to live stream sessions
MUMBAI: After a record breaking number of votes, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has confirmed the winners of Lions Live. The online initiative, in partnership with Mindshare and YouTube, brings a selection of sessions from the Festival stage live to people, wherever they are in the world.
As 19,135 people, nine per cent more than in 2014, cast their vote on the sessions they most want to see.
Google, Europe head of B2B brand marketing Donal Mac Manus said, “Cannes Lions is a key moment in the year where creators and innovators from all around the world come together to celebrate creativity and innovation. YouTube are happy to be part of that moment and believe Lions Live is a great opportunity to live stream some of the best elements of the Festival to those who are unable to make it.”
Lions Festivals CEO Philip Thomas added, “The results of Lions Live are always interesting, it shows what’s top of the industry’s agenda. This is a solid mix of current issues – from the buzz around ‘disruption’ to climate change with former Vice President Al Gore, as well as data insights and lessons in creativity from top-performing, global clients – we’re delighted that we can bring this content to those missing out on Cannes Lions this year.”
The Lions Live schedule has been confirmed as:
21 June: ‘How to Survive a Zombie Attack (and Harness Cultural Trends to Grow Brands)’, hosted by MediaCom
The guys behind the hit show The Walking Dead talk zombie attacks and cultural phenomena.
22 June: ‘Toolkit for Transformation’, hosted by Razorfish Global & Contagious
With combined expertise in creative business transformation, consumer culture and technology, Razorfish Global and Contagious offer learning on the future of the industry.
23 June: ‘Sentience: The Coming AI Revolution’, hosted by PHD
Creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners Lee, joins PHD’s Mike Cooper to talk about the revolution that is Artificial Intelligence.
24 June: ‘Marketing For People’, hosted by Unilever
Keith Weed explores how our industry can transform to market for people in everything we do.
25 June: ‘Social Networking Since 1864’, hosted by Heineken
Learn about Heineken’s legendary creativity and its role in unlocking social networking around the globe to ultimately elevate their creative output.
26 June: ‘The Cannes Debate: Sir Martin Sorrell in Conversation with Al Gore,’ hosted by WPP
Sir Martin Sorrell talks Live Earth: Road To Paris, The Climate Reality Project and the role of communications in political and environmental campaigning, with former US Vice President Al Gore.
27 June: ’25 Years of Disruption: Conversation with Today’s Most Disruptive Marketers’, hosted by TBWA
Some of today’s most disruptive marketers join Jean-Marie Dru to discuss the role Disruption continues to play in creating and growing global brands.
Mindshare global CEO added, “We believe that we work in the most exciting industry in the world and we are delighted to be able to share some of the reason why with the wider marketing world. We believe that marketing has to be fundamentally adaptive to achieve the best results and Lions Live is an experience that adapts by allowing the viewers to decide the content.”
Voting for Lions Live was open to everyone. Across a period of two weeks people were invited to cast their votes through www.canneslions.com. The seven winning sessions for 2015 will be streamed live via the Cannes Lions YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/canneslions, which will also be updated with Festival highlights throughout the Festival week, running from 21 – 27 June.
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Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
