The Cannes Lions Brand Marketing Academy: A Front-Row Seat to the Future of Brand Building
To most of us in the business of advertising and marketing Cannes Lions is the proverbial Mecca of the industry. And we know a few ways to make it to the annual festival. - winning an award and accompanying your agency or brand team, Competing and winning at Young Lions at the national level or scoring the elusive Roda Mehta Scholarship.
But what many don’t know is that there’s another way, one that’s designed specifically for emerging talent: the Brand Marketers Academy and the Creative Academy.
I was fortunate enough to be part of the Brand Marketers Academy this year, and I can say with full confidence: for anyone under 30, this might just be the most inspiring, eye-opening way to experience Cannes. If you want the most complete, immersive, perspective-shifting experience of Cannes, the academy is the place to be.
Cannes is the heart of this mad machine we call branding, advertising, and marketing. It’s where the best people, best work, and best ideas come together. You’re surrounded, engulfed, by brilliance. Sitting in the Palais, watching people win, hearing the crowd cheer, flags waving, teams dancing… It's electric. And when you meet even one of those winners, you realise what drives them, drives you too. You can do this. You must.
My Personal Moment
This was my first trip outside India. First Cannes. And our Leo India team was winning an award. Our CCO was kind enough to ask me to join them on stage. I was thrilled to share that moment of glory for the team that worked on ACKO. Lights shining. People applauding. My heart full.
And to add to this moment as I reached the Palais to join the team onstage, I looked to my right. Piyush Pandey was sitting right there. The man who changed Indian advertising. The reason many of us even dream of doing this work. I joined my hands and thanked him from afar. He gave a playful salute. I left the award show feeling something shift inside me. I want to do what Piyush has done. Only time will tell.
But even with all that, I will still say: the academy is the most all-round experience Cannes has to offer.
What Makes the Academy Truly Different
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Cannes, the Brand Marketers Academy offers something no award show or rooftop mixer can: genuine connection.
At Cannes, everyone talks about connections. “Your network is your net worth,” they say. But when you’re attending only for awards, you’re chasing sessions, running between stages, or hanging with your own group. Networking becomes transactional.
The Academy offers something deeper. For one entire week, you share an experience, with 30 brilliant young marketers from across the globe. You sit side by side, not just listening to world-class CMOs, but engaging in raw, honest, and unfiltered conversations. Just real talk.
These aren’t sessions filled with slide decks and buzzwords. They're about life, growth, creative frustration, and cultural nuance. And outside the classroom, the connection doesn’t deepen over Aperol spritzes and late-night food hunts. We exchanged ideas, debated branding challenges, and shared personal stories we hadn’t planned to tell.
One that stayed with me was from Tauhid, a marketer from Bangladesh, who wrote in his application, “While most people are encouraged to think outside the box, I often have to break the box entirely just to be heard.” That line hit differently. That kind of learning doesn’t come from keynotes or panels. It comes from people. From presence. From real discussions.
A Small Village With Big Lessons
The academy became a small village. A group that noticed every little gesture, lifted each other up, complimented each other’s efforts, outfits, insights. And then came the lectures - Intimate. Honest. Filled with vulnerability. Where most marketers would kill for 15 minutes with these CMOs, we got an hour, sometimes two. They were kind. Patient. Generous. They answered everything from career questions to existential creative crises.
At a session with Marian Lee, CMO of Netflix. Someone asked how ideas at Netflix survives given the tight timelines and many stakeholders. She said, “The fastest way for ideas to die is by committing to them too early. Ideas need space to grow.”
Marc Pritchard from P&G was asked, “What’s one golden rule for a marketer trying to make a brand irreverent?” He said: “Learn the history of the brand. The fruits are in the roots. There is gold in your brand’s past.” (I immediately thought of L’Oréal’s campaign, The Final Copy of Ilon Specht.)
Islam ElDessouky, global VP creative strategy Coke, brought in basketball analogies. He said, “Consumers today are always playing defence with their time. Entering the market is like playing an away game. Creativity is how you earn home court advantage.” Wild. Sharp. Unforgettable.
Another gem he shared, “Instead of asking, ‘What kind of pen can write best in space?’, ask, ‘How do we write in space?’ The first question burns millions building a space pen. The second gets you to a pencil.
Keka, CCO Lat-am Ogilvy, took us inside the jury rooms, showed us how juries look at OOH and Print work. They don’t even watch the case study video first. They look at the ad the way a consumer would. Nothing else.
And finally, David Shingy. My biggest personal takeaway.
“Be where you are celebrated.” Simple. Powerful. Changed me.
The Nightlife (Yes, That Too)
Another part of the academy is what happens after dark. You get privileged access to parties, villa gatherings, closed-door sessions, the kind most delegates never get into. And the people you go with, your academy cohort, make those nights even more magical.
What I Wish I Knew Before Going: You will feel imposter syndrome.
I didn’t expect it. But being an Indian surrounded by Western excellence sometimes made me feel like I had to prove I belonged.
Then someone wise - Najoh, global brand and experience officer at Mars told, “You don’t need to prove you belong. You’re already here.”
That changed everything.
To conclude, going to Cannes early in your career shifts something inside you. You come back:
- More inspired
- More connected
- And a little more certain that your ideas can travel the world
So, take the shot. Apply. Show up. And when you're there, be present. You’ve already earned your seat. Now just sit in it fully.
