What I hope to see at Cannes Lions: Simone Tam

With the 2017 Cannes Lions festival just under six weeks away, we asked five jury members from different countries and areas of expertise to share their hopes and expectations. See our Cannes 2017 page for the full set.

The Creative Effectiveness Lions are the ultimate celebration of the business impact of our creativity. This is the recognition that everyone in our industry longs for, whether you are a marketer, a creative, an agency CEO or a strategist.

Personally, I am eager to get the other jurors’ perspectives and align, as a team, on how we define ‘effectiveness’. I would definitely expect the ad campaign that stands out to be the hero of the business success. I would also look for work that is so fresh and outstanding that it can be a living example for the rest of the industry; the sort of work that is not only worth the comment “I wish we had thought of that”, but will also be cited as a best practice to inspire more insightful thinking or a little extra bravery while developing ideas.

Five new categories have been added to the Creative Effectiveness Lions. I am particularly pleased to see that ‘Creative Effectiveness for Good’ joins as its own category. I am a big believer that the talent we have in our industry can actually make a positive difference in the world beyond business.  And adding this award will help legitimise those who have made a real contribution to society in a measurable, less subjective way.

I also looking forward to seeing which of the highly awarded campaigns over the last three years has actually made an impact in business. We have seen much amazing work in recent years that ranges from very emotional film to innovative solutions, and it would be a joy to see highly awarded ideas delivering business results in a relatively less optimistic economy.  And I, like many of us in our industry, have always believed and will always believe that outstanding creativity contributes to outstanding business results.

Simone Tam is CEO of Mcgarrybowen China and is serving on the Creative Effectiveness Lions jury at Cannes this year.