Cannes organizers: Festival revenue declines, but approval ratings rise

Ascential, parent of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and consultancy MediaLink, reported financial results for the first half of 2018 on Monday — and it's official: Revenue declined for the Cannes Lions as the festival hit the reset button this year. In late 2017, Cannes organizers announced a slate of changes to the festival following backlash from agencies and holding companies complaining that advertising's biggest event of the year has gotten too expensive. For this year's festival, organizers introduced a shorter schedule, imposed an entry cap on work that could be submitted, cut award subcategories, reduced the price for passes and made other changes. The festival saw a 9 percent organic constant currency revenue decline, Ascential said, attributing that decline to one-year withdrawal of Publicis Groupe from the event and the "refreshed awards structure." However, organizers said "very strong growth" in Money20/20 (Ascential's payments and financial services events business) offset that decline. Ascential reported operating profit from continuing operations at £28.7 million for the six-month period ending June 30, down from £32.2 million in the first half of last year. The company reported 7 percent revenue growth on a constant currency organic basis. The Cannes Lions festival has three main revenue streams, which include award entries; delegates or pass-holders; and partnerships and digital. The company said award entries fell 21 percent this year, which it attributed to the Publicis pullout and retirement of certain Lions awards and subcategories. Ascential said "good levels of interest" in new Lions "offset long established declines in Print and Outdoor Lions categories." Delegate revenue also declined, "mainly as a result of reduced participation by agency holding companies including Publicis combined with the standardization to a single five-day pass," Ascential said. Partnerships and digital revenue, which comprise 21 percent of Cannes Lions total revenue, did increase 35 percent compared to last year. The company said its launch of "The Work" (a digital resource to provide the creative community with the "intelligence they need to do better business") and "Lions Digital Pass" were steps to "broaden engagement with the creative community beyond the physical environment of Cannes." It said its acquisition of WARC — a digital subscription business to help brands, agencies and media platforms gauge marketing effectiveness across channels — also helped further the festival's year-round digital revenue. Ascential said it plans to bring WARC and "The Work" together as a digital product "that spans both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness." The company said its exit customer engagement survey received one of the highest approval ratings the event has achieved. "Overall, we are encouraged that these developments, together with the well-received format changes and the high level of stakeholder engagement evident during the Festival, position Cannes Lions well for long-term growth," Ascential said in its interim results statement. Jose Papa 'redundancy' In an earlier statement, Cannes organizers said it has made its role of managing director for Cannes Lions redundant. "We know from our customers that the Cannes Lions 2018 reset was a real success, but we also know that it has had financial implications for the business," a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. "As such, we have regrettably made the role of Managing Director, Cannes Lions redundant. We thank Jose Papa for his unwavering commitment to Lions Festivals and his strong leadership of the business throughout this period of change. Phil Thomas, CEO, Ascential Events and Chairman, Cannes Lions will be taking over the running of Cannes Lions as we start planning for our 2019 edition." In May, ITE Group announced it had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Ascential's exhibitions business from its parent company. Papa said in an email to Ad Age this was the primary reason to do away with the managing director role. "Cannes Lions operated under this umbrella which was ultimately led by Phil Thomas," Papa said. "He has been involved with Cannes Lions for many years as you are aware and regretfully for all of us, after the sale of our events unit it made no longer any sense keeping us both. Because of Phil's long standing involvement with the festival it was the natural choice."

Cannes organizers: Festival revenue declines, but approval ratings rise

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