Why Cannes Lions is cancelling 2020 festivals and awards

Cannes Lions, the has said the present turmoil the marketing and creative industries and so many others have found themselves over the coronavirus pandemic is leaving it with no option but to cancel this year’s edition of the annual festival.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. The festival, which holds yearly in Cannes, France, is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry in the world.

France where the festival holds yearly presently has nearly 60,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In a statement on its website, the festival organisers, Cannes Lions said it has cancelled both its awards and festival which were billed to hold in October 2020, because the priorities of its customers have shifted to the need to protect people, to serve consumers with essential items and to focus on preserving companies, society and economies.

“Cannes Lions at its core has always been about creativity and the Lions. We realise that the creative community has other challenges to face, and simply isn’t in a position to put forward the work that will set the benchmark,” Philip Thomas, Chairman, Cannes Lions said.

“The marketing and creative industries, in common with so many others, are currently in turmoil, and it’s clear that we can play our small part by removing all speculation about the Festival this year. We have tried to make our decisions as early as possible to give the industry total clarity on the situation, and that is why we are announcing this move today.”