Cannes Lions postponed to October due to COVID-19

share on

twitter /
facebook /
linkedin /
- email
- telegram
- whatsapp
- wechat
- pinterest
- line
- snapchat
- reddit

Cannes Lions is postponing its annual event to 26 to 30 October, less than a week after it first announced that it will carry on with the original dates in June this year.

The decision came after much deliberation with its partners and customers, as well as consultation with public health officials, the mayoral office of Cannes and the French Authorities. Last week, organisers outlined its contingency plan which involved pushing the event back to October this year, should changing circumstances require the event to be postponed. Cannes Lions also said previously that it will make the call to postpone no later than 15 April and will share weekly updates ahead of any announcement date.

"We acknowledge the challenging circumstances facing us all as a community - we have and continue to be in deep consultation with many of our customers and partners as we adopt our contingency plans. The health, safety and wellbeing of our customers, employees, sponsors and partners remains our first priority," it said in a statement.

Cannes Lions added that it will continue to monitor the rapidly changing developments associated with the coronavirus outbreak. Although sound mitigation plans are in place, organisers will continue to monitor the situation carefully and continue to engage closely with its customers.

Philip Thomas, chairman, Cannes Lions, said the global situation is dynamic and changing rapidly, and it felt it was critical to provide visibility on June as soon as possible. "We will continue to liaise closely with our customers as we develop our plans," he said.

According to the World Health Organisation's COVID-19 situation report released on 17 March, there are currently 179,111 confirmed cases worldwide and 6,573 confirmed cases in France. While Cannes Lions has been postponed, other events including South by Southwest, Mobile World Congress, and Adobe's annual Summit/Imagine 2020 were cancelled. Adobe, however, has taken to hosting its event online.

share on