Why Cannes Lions doesn’t need another diversity talk

Last week I took to a stage in Cannes with Shiva Raichandani - a non-binary Bollywood dancer who is challenging the gender stereotypes of Indian cinema. The premise of our talk was simple: we don’t need another diversity talk - we need action. Our idea was to use the platform Cannes provides to highlight talented people of colour and of difference that are overlooked by the advertising industry - simply because they don’t fit the mould of rose-quaffing executives.

My relationship with Cannes has a delicate history. Two years ago I attended with a previous employer and went to talk about independent being the key to creativity by Paul Venables. It was a session that changed the course of my life, and I made an intention to go back on my own money, my own name and my own merit. When I was there in 2017 it was Ramadan - my colleagues to this day express astonishment that I did the week without drinking - and I wondered whether I should be trying to go to an event that is exclusive by its location and nature in the first year running The Unmistakables. It felt daunting, and when speaker applications opened back in November, I put together a shonky film on iMovie and prayed for the best.

It worked.

It was a blessing to be chosen, and gave us an experience I will never forget. As footage of our talk is being processed, I wanted to share some thoughts about what happened once our session was over. We had the chance to take in the rest of the Festival and it was hardly surprising to encounter a number of diversity talks both in the main event and on the ‘Fringe’. As HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen put it: “Cannes is a very white place. Also a very straight place”, but was heartening to see more of a commitment towards diversity, with a better gender balance ‘than most industry events’ (according to Adage), which is hardly difficult when you look at some of the events that take place day-to-day. 

The Diversity Delusion

Sadly a lot of the talks about diversity were one dimensional. There were either talks about women, by (predominantly white) women and to women, talks about being LGBT+ by (predominantly white) LGBT+ people to predominantly LGBT+ audiences and talks about being a person of colour, by people of colour, to people of colour. The idea of intersectionality felt very far away, but as someone in the world’s smallest Venn diagram I have grown accustomed to not seeing spaces that cater for more than one protected characteristic. I heard murmurings from a number of people that it was the ‘same old, same old’ and from where I was sitting, it’s as if the echo chambers that have formed online were playing out across the Croisette.

The problem as I see it is that we are living in a diversity delusion. By talking about diversity on panels, we’re deluding ourselves that things are changing at an acceptable pace. Having sat on similar panels in the past I am aware that they are a good opportunity to virtue signal and build profile, but it feels like the time has come where we should be asking ourselves: where we are handing over the microphone, or the platform that we are given, and how we are using it to amplify minority groups with their own voices?

We should be concerned about the fact that we’re hearing the same old things and speaking to the same people, and that while we are starting to see some change in some of the work shown in the basement of the Palais - we are not seeing enough change above ground across the rest of the event.

The Inkwell Beach

One place I did see a difference this year was at the Inkwell Beach, which was new this year. I hadn’t come across it in much detail until I walked into what looked like an unbranded space - and ended up sat 4 rows away from Naomi Campbell who was on stage. How confusing. You could either shell out thousands of Euros to be sat in nose-bleed seats listening to two Ad Execs talk about an acquisition, where you wouldn’t learn much more than what you might read in Campaign, or you could head to the beach and hear from one of the world’s biggest supermodels and leave feeling like you had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

This confirmed my feeling that Cannes isn’t an easy experience for newcomers. If it’s ever going to become as diverse and inclusive as we want it to be, we have to question the power structures that sit behind it - and how the industry operates. There is a reason why those working in large global agencies end up in a faux Hunger Games scenario to confirm who gets to go - because it needs to retain an air of exclusivity.

But as a start-up we managed to make it work. It was impossible to afford the costs of flying out the people I wanted to put on stage, so we developed a video and showed it during our talk. Simply by having a slide up at the end with the people who have helped us on our unmistakable journey at the end of our presentation, we did our bit to show faces and people that the industry is overlooking and have some sort of impact.

We also met other agencies such as Posture Media and reconnected with our partners Brand Advance who are pushing and taking action in changing the industry. Lots of people talk about Cannes being a waste of time, and the piece 'Dying at Cannes' from Bob Hoffman has been doing the rounds. However, as a company that is less than a year old, we feel humble that we were given the opportunity to share our message on a global stage it’s not something we take lightly.

2020 Vision

But there’s more to be done. We need to ensure that more people feel welcome at Cannes, and are spread across the footprint of the Festival. We’re already talking about an LGBT+ night at The Drum Arms, but we want to see more work that celebrates diversity, more people of colour taking to stages, more platforms being given over to the most marginalised, and more of our frustration at the lack of change being channeled into action.

The Unmistakables is focused on making organisations more representative of society, and we stand by the belief that this industry can be a force for good.

As a start-up we also recognise we are just a small rowing boat in the harbour full of super yachts, which is why we’re assembling a global working group to help develop ideas that go beyond diversity panels and talks next year. We don't want to go back next year to talk about diversity and inclusion - we want to make it happen.

If you’d like to join us then e-mail [email protected].