Since the creation in 1946, the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of cinematorpahy, boosting the industry and celebrating it as an art at the international level. While the festival’s official mission and goals have remained the same through years, the opportunities that the event provides to brand owners and advertisers grow year by year, helping brands promote their values and, of course, engage with their customers in an unassumingly soft and pure manner.
This year’s Festival de Cannes was opened on May 11 by the renowned Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, who was awarded an honorary Palme d’or by Gilles Jacob, in the presence of the Jury, headed by Robert de Niro, and the Mistress of Ceremonies, Mélanie Laurent. This year the main panel of juries includes: the actresses Uma Thurman and Martina Gusman, Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi, the writer Linn Ulmann, Jude Law and the directors Johnnie To, Olivier Assayas and Mahamat Saleh Haroun.
Photo: All the members of the Feature Film Jury, AFP
Photo: Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson — Red Steps, AFP
Photo: Chivas Regal, the official supplier of the festival, www.chivas.com
The ‘brand panel’ of the official sponsors, partners and suppliers traditionally represented by Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers, premium wine supplier Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Rémy Cointreau Group and Stella Artois. Among other official partners of the festival there are: beauty brands L’Oréal and Dessange, FMCG manufactirer Nestlé, luxury watch making brand Chopard, car maker Renault and vehicle renting service provider Europcar, technology and consumer electronics brands LG, Electrolux and HP, communication and media brands CANAL +, Continental Media Assurance and Orange, financial service provider Societe Generale Private Banking, global HR service provider Ranstad and the official fetival’s airltine — Airfrance.
Interestingly, that some brands not simply declare their sponsorship contribution to the event, but are trying to develop really engaging and ‘digital-friendly’ activities around the Festival de Cannes sponsor’s status. A good example is the beauty brand L’Oréal, promoting its new L’Or L’Or L’Or collection and offering its fans to enter a make up contest RED CARPET LOOK to win a VIP access to the next festival in 2012.
The rules are as simple as that: to participate a fan should create a video of one’s best Red Carpet make-up, inspired by L’Or L’Or L’Or, and upload it to L’Oréal Paris YouTube channel. The authors of the most viewed videos will be invited to the next year’s glamourous festival! L’Oréal make-up expert Karim Rahman explains how:
The Festival de Cannes 2011 will take place for 12 days through May 22. Follow the festival’s news and updates here: http://www.festival-cannes.com.