Inside the judging process at Cannes Lions

A fun thing about Cannes Lions: it’s not just about the yachts and the beach and the rosé. Apparently, there are also awards!

Winning a Cannes Lion is generally considered one of the industry’s most prestigious honors, but who makes the decisions and how?

In short, executives at ad agencies around the world, though some brand-side marketers are typically also in the mix. This year, nearly 300 jurors will deliberate across several categories, including film, outdoor, and design.

According to former jury members, decisions aren’t taken lightly and often involve reviewing hundreds of submissions for weeks before and during the festival, then debating which ones are most worthy among fellow jury members. Yet despite the stress, everyone told us they’d do it again.

“For me, it was definitely a pinnacle moment,” Judy Lee, head of global brand experiences and programs at Pinterest, told us. Last year was the first year she participated in the festival as a jury member. “Hopefully, I’ll have an opportunity to rejoin the jury in a future year.”

After applying for a few different categories, Lee was ultimately selected for the 2022 Social & Influencer Lions jury and said she had about six weeks to review around 200 submissions.

The review process was “very intense and rigorous,” Lee said. Given her busy schedule during the week, she said she spent most of her time looking at entries on the weekends.

“I’m one of those people who just blocked the time to do it all at once,” she said, adding that “it actually is really engrossing and engaging to learn and see how brands are navigating the space all around the world” and “seeing some of the best work out there.”

While her jury, which consisted of people from around the world, spoke on the phone before Cannes, she said they didn’t meet in person until the night before the festival. After that, they spent a few days “locked in a windowless room” reviewing submissions and deliberating who the winners would be.

“You have to put your phone in these little pouches and lock them up so no one’s distracted,” she said. “You’re totally focused on all the work.”

Lee said overall, the process was really efficient, in part because the jury president was able to keep everyone on track.

Rob Reilly, global chief creative officer at WPP, was president of the Titanium Lions jury last year—his fourth time overseeing a jury at Cannes. He said some of the responsibilities of being president include protecting the integrity of the awards and making sure the jury’s voices are heard. He encourages the jury to think like “curators” so the work showcased—which can be just about any budget or from any industry in the Titanium category—is as “diverse as possible.”

“That takes a lot of work,” he said. “But also making sure that every voice is heard and all opinions are heard…along with making sure everybody’s hydrated, and there’s snacks, and there’s breaks.”

Reilly said he reviewed the same amount of work as jury members, but was able to be the tiebreaker if needed when deciding on medal winners. One part of last year’s process that he said was “very difficult” was having to excuse himself from the room whenever work from WPP’s network was shown.

“They didn’t think it was fair to be in the room, and I kind of agreed with them,” he said. “But you maybe lost the value of having me as the president too because I wasn’t in the room guiding.” (With that said, he added, he didn’t think his absence affected the decisions.)

On the flip side, he said one of the better parts was seeing winners’ reactions firsthand: “That’s an amazing feeling to be a jury president and shake their hands and hand them that award that maybe is the first they’ve ever won.”

Liz Taylor, global chief creative officer at Ogilvy, who has judged three times—once as jury president and last year as a jury member with Reilly on the Titanium jury—said the judging process, and specifically seeing how many submissions are cut, gave her an appreciation for how hard it is to win.

“When you judge, it definitely gives you a moment of, ‘Man, if you’ve ever won, you went through a lot to win that,’” she said.

But even with the pressure, Rafael Pitanguy, deputy global chief creative officer at VMLY&R who has also judged three times, said his recommendation for first-time judges who feel stressed is to just relax. “The first time, I was so tense. I couldn’t sleep. My mind was working 24/7,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience, and you should get there with the right vibe and the right energy.”

If that’s not enough, remember that pressure is relative: “We’re not digging a ditch,” Reilly said. “This is looking at amazing creativity in the south of France, so don’t cry for the jury members too much.”