Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to be held. Yasuharu Sasaki, CCO, serves as Category Jury President.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the world's largest celebration of creativity, will be held in Cannes, France, from June 20 to 24. This marks the first in-person event in three years.


The Dentsu Group will participate in various ways, including submitting numerous creative entries, hosting various seminars, and having 20 staff members from around the world participate as jurors. Yasuharu Sasaki, Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of Dentsu Inc., will serve as Jury President for the Brand Experience & Activation Lions. Fred Levron, CCO of Dentsu International, will serve as Jury President for the Direct Lions.

Major Seminars Conducted by Dentsu Group Companies
① Theme: Designing a Global Creative Network for 2022 and Beyond
Overview: What happens when you fuse the Dentsu Inc. Japan Network's century-plus of craft and transformation with Dentsu International's understanding of modern media and customer data? This session explores the future of the advertising industry and the role of creativity in a new era.
Speakers: Wendy Clark (Dentsu Inc.), Fred Levron (Dentsu Inc.)
Date: June 20 (Mon) 14:00-14:30 (local time)
Seminar Official Link (Viewing requires separate registration)

② Theme: All Players Welcome - When Embracing Differences Unlocks Creative Infinity
Overview: Through experiences at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, we explore the theme that "differing perspectives expand human potential and open the door to infinite creativity." We welcome guest speaker Ryo Kurisu, Art Producer, to discuss this. As a concrete action, an experimental live performance will be presented, connecting three global cities using a performance device developed in collaboration with MASA (WITH ALS), who continues his creative work despite living with ALS, and PONE from France.
Speakers: Naoki Tanaka (Dentsu Inc./Dentsu Lab Tokyo), Ryo Kurisu (SLOW LABEL), Masatane Muto (MASA) (WITH ALS), PONE (73 Beats)
Date: June 24 (Fri) 10:00-10:30 (local time)
Seminar Official Link (Viewing requires separate registration)

Two additional seminars are planned, for a total of four seminars.

Key Judges from Dentsu Group
・Brand Experience & Activation Lions: [Jury President] Yasuharu Sasaki (Dentsu Inc.)
・Creative B2B Lions: Michael McLaren (Merkle)
・Creative Data Lions: Chris Chen (Dentsu Inc.)
・Creative Effectiveness Lions: Patricia McDonald (Dentsu Inc.)
・Design Lions: Kimiko Sekido (Dentsu Inc.)
・Direct Lions: [Jury President] Fred Levron (Dentsu International)
・Entertainment Lions: Alice Chou (Dentsu Inc. McGarryBowen)
・Film Lions: Susan Higgs (Dentsu Inc. McGarryBowen)
・Titanium Lions: Merlee Jayme (Dentsu Inc.)

Three additional judges, plus eight judges for the Shortlist categories, will participate as jurors across 16 categories, totaling 20 judges.

Additionally, eight young employees from the Dentsu Group will participate as Japan representatives in a competition where professionals under 30 participate in pairs.
・Digital Category: Momoka Nakayama (Dentsu Digital Inc./dentsu lab tokyo) × Akari Kamata (Dentsu Inc.)
・PR Category: Yuki Sato (PR Consulting Dentsu Inc.) × Nako Morimitsu (PR Consulting Dentsu Inc.)
・Film Category: Shishu Hagiwara (Dentsu Inc.) × Junji Tokuoka (TBWA/HAKUHODO)
・Print Division: Yume Iijima (Septeni Japan) × Moemi Furubayashi (Tokyu Agency)

Additionally, young employees from Dentsu Inc. International are scheduled to participate in the Media category (Norway, Austria) and Print category (India), representing their respective countries.

Visit the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity website here.