Let’s kick off with the Cannes Lions night school campus, home to the academy classrooms. It will be transformed after dark into a space for all Cannes Lions attendees to explore creative ideas and have fun through crafted workshops. Running from Tuesday, 20 to Thursday, 22 June, with a different theme each night, special guests will be interviewed by Night School host Jon Burkhart, co-author of Newsjacking: The Urgent Genius of Real-Time Advertising and co-founder of Urgent Genius, the world’s first blog dedicated to reactive creativity.

Masters of Creativity takes the cookie

The School’s third week-long Masters of Creativity programme is designed to support industry talent to make the transition into senior management. This year’s brief, available to download from the website, asks participants to convince European adult consumers that Oreo cookies are not just for kids. Starting on Sunday, 18 June, delegates attend eight presentations from leading professionals and are then assigned into multi-disciplined, multi-functional teams who will present their pitches on Friday, 23 June.

Creativity poll for younger generation

Steve Latham, head of talent and training at Cannes Lions says, “The young generation of creatives are the most valuable asset the industry has. By understanding how they feel, the industry can make sure it remains an attractive career choice. That is why we have launched ‘The Future of Creativity: The Cannes Lions Young Creative Poll. The Night School is candid, refreshing and unscripted and we are inviting attendees to share their secret creative lives and celebrate their hidden talents – we cannot wait to open the doors in June.”

This short questionnaire, open to those aged 30 and under, takes less than two minutes to complete and will gauge how young creatives globally feel about the industry and their future within it. The results will be published in May. For more information, click here.

48-hour local film challenge fun

Cinemark, as the official South African representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is also sponsoring the local film category of the 2017 Young Lions competition. The creative brief, which will have a corporate social responsibility angle, will be posted on the Cinemark website at noon on Saturday, 22 April, provided you register by 5pm on Friday, 21 April as a team of two young creatives aged 30 and younger.

The panel of industry professionals and creatives confirmed to judge the entries include: Jeremy Maggs from the media industry, Sibusiso (Sbu) Sithole, co-founder and creative director at The Odd Number; Peter Khoury, 2017 Cannes SA judge in the Outdoor category and CCO of TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris; Nkgabiseng Motau and Mukondi Ralushayi, the co-founders and creative directors of creative hub Think; Thapelo Mokoena, winner of this year’s Saftas 11 Young Achiever Award, actor and director; communications for development specialist for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) South Africa Rayana Rassool; and representing Cinemark are Motheo Matsau, chief of marketing and sales for Ster-Kinekor Theatres and Lynne Wylie, head of marketing.

All completed entries need to be uploaded onto the same website by no later than noon on Monday, 24 April 2017. Register on the Cinemark website to take part!