Cannes Lions 2020 is officially cancelled

Its next edition will be held from June 21-25, 2021 because the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Coronavirus crisis.

The organisers of Cannes Lions said today its annual Festival of Creativity won’t take place in October as announced earlier. Instead, it will take place on June 21-25, 2021.

A press release from Cannes Lions said that customers’ priorities have shifted to the need to protect people, to serve consumers with essential items and to focus on preserving companies, society and economies.

The decision was taken after in-depth consultation with the festival’s partners and customers and represents the unprecedented challenges the world is facing today.

Philip Thomas, Chairman, Cannes Lions, commented: “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. 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.”

Simon Cook, Managing Director, Cannes Lions, added: “We all look ahead to a more positive time – right now, Cannes Lions will continue to bring the global creative community together and provide inspiration where we can find it. Our recent call for inspirational creative stories from around the world has already garnered hundreds of accounts of our community uniting and showing progress in this crisis. We believe firmly that the Lions continue to offer valuable recognition to that community and we look forward to celebrating and honouring the work in 2021, when the world will hopefully feel more stable, and our community can give their work the focus it deserves.”

Cannes Lions was supposed to host its annual Festival of Creativity from 22-26 June 2020 as per its original schedule. But, because of the spread of the virus, it was moved to alternative dates in October (26 - 30 October 2020).

The festival is the biggest gathering of professionals from the creative communications industry and held in Cannes, France. According to worldometer, there are 59, 105 cases in France and 5,387 deaths due to the virus.

Also Read: The One Club's Creative Week moved online because of Coronavirus fear...

Several other events too had to either postpone, cancel, or move their events online. For instance, The One Club for Creativity moved its Creative Week online.