A time of challenge to open a new human society

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which began with the Lions Health awards and ran for nine days, concluded in great success. The festival closed with a spectacular fireworks display at the closing party.

The latter part of the festival featured lively events like a debate with former US Vice President Al Gore, and presentations by Dentsu Inc.'s Matsukoroid and SoftBank's Pepper.
But seriously, foreigners probably don't know Matsuko Deluxe, so how can they find Matsukoroid that entertaining?

The first half featured P&G's Always campaign " #LikeAGirl " to restore women's confidence, Volvo UK's spray " LIFE PAINT " to prevent bicycle collisions, and the "Ice Bucket Challenge" movement, which spread to Japan and raised awareness and funds for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). These campaigns were praised for uncovering challenges like life and death, human rights, and prejudice, and demonstrating how creativity can solve them.

Burger King USA's rainbow-wrapped " THE PROUD WHOPPER," launched in support of the LGBT community, also gained significant attention. This was further amplified by the news that same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in the US during the Cannes Lions festival.

The latter half featured announcements for major categories like the traditional Film division and the Titanium division for the most cutting-edge ideas, plus this year's Lions Innovation category awards.

The Grand Prix in the Film category went to the " UNSKIPPABLE " commercial series by American auto insurance company GEICO.

This campaign, when placed on YouTube, delivers its entire message within the first 15 seconds of a 60-second commercial, accepting that the rest might be skipped.
The sheer absurdity of it had the audience roaring with laughter. Beyond the sheer fun of the execution, however, it represents a challenge: how film content can counter the limitations of advertising slots. That's likely the key point of its evaluation.

The Titanium Grand Prix, awarded to the most cutting-edge and innovative idea, went to Domino's Pizza USA for their " Emoji Ordering " campaign.
This campaign delivers pizza to your doorstep when you tweet a pizza emoji on Twitter.
Honestly, when I first heard this announcement, I couldn't fully grasp it: "This is the most cutting-edge idea???" The jury chair's explanation was also unclear, and the atmosphere in the venue was a bit awkward.

But I suppose this is what it means.
Some say humans can only verbalize about 5% of their brain's thoughts.
The remaining 95% is the non-verbal realm where thoughts aren't verbalized.
I think "Emoji Ordering" was recognized for challenging to open up communication in this 95% non-verbal realm.

In Japan, we've been using emojis extensively since the flip phone era, and recently with LINE stickers, we've been pioneering communication in this area. Globally, though, it's still in its infancy.
As globalization advances, we must also pursue the potential to transcend local language barriers and communicate non-verbal elements as they are.

I also felt tremendous potential in the initiative " 3 Words To Address The World," which won the Grand Prix in the Innovation category (a bit confusing, huh?) at Lions Innovation.
This initiative aims to create a universal global address system by dividing the Earth into 57 trillion 3m x 3m grid cells, each named with a combination of three words.

When you hear "Innovation Division," you might imagine developing some tech-driven device, but this idea of skewering common challenges across developed and developing nations to create a new framework is truly amazing.
If realized, it would fundamentally transform not only maps but also global postal and delivery systems, tourist attraction strategies, and even how people arrange meetings.

Viewed this way, the second half of the competition—building on the first half's focus on "challenges in uncovering and solving issues" like human life and death, human rights, and prejudice—could be seen as evaluating the "challenge of expanding methods and means" to make those solutions a reality.
Challenges to the constraints of frameworks, challenges to non-verbal communication, challenges to create new frameworks that connect the world...

Some say this year's Cannes lacked truly groundbreaking ideas that made you think, "Why didn't I think of that?"

This might mean that, as mentioned above, the festival deliberately prioritized evaluating the challenge of expanding the scope of what creativity can solve, while leaving the ideas for solving those challenges to be developed later.
In that sense, this year's Cannes felt like the calm before the storm.
Well, there's no need to force meaning onto it, but personally, I took away a message from this year's Cannes: "Creativity is what will forge a new human society. To achieve that, we must first attempt every possible challenge."

Incidentally, what truly moved me the most was the British department store John Lewis's Christmas commercial, " Monty's Christmas."
It depicts a heartwarming Christmas story between a boy and a penguin, and it won the Grand Prix in the Film Craft category.
Experiencing content like this makes me realize anew that what truly touches the human heart remains unchanged over time.
While it's great to see new challenges being recognized, it's also reassuring to see Cannes properly honor work that stirs these fundamental human emotions. It was a bit of a relief to see that kind of award outcome.

Cannes is where over 10,000 people from around the world—those who believe in the future of this industry and the power of creativity to change society—gather to seriously clash with the ideas they bring.
Every idea is the finest essence distilled from these individuals, each hinting at the potential of creativity and the future of the industry.
The numerous ideas shared here will be taken back to various corners of the world, where they will undoubtedly spark new developments.
That alone undoubtedly moves the world in a positive direction.

That's our report from the scene. Thank you all so much for joining us.
I'm not sure if I've conveyed even one-hundredth of the overflowing information, but I'd be delighted if it offered you some kind of hint.
Next time, let's meet in person. That's all for now.