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MUMBAI: Hill & Knowlton, which has pioneered the PR industry?s involvement at the annual Cannes Lions Festival, is to become its first ever PR partner.
The week-long Festival, founded in 1954, has traditionally been an advertising dominated event but has recently expanded to include other communications disciplines including PR in 2009.
?This is a great honour?, said Tony Burgess-Webb, chief marketing officer of Hill & Knowlton. ?Creativity is fundamental to effective communications and Cannes Lions is the epi-centre for creativity in communications. By getting actively involved, we have tried to set a lead for the PR industry worldwide.?
In 2009, the first year for PR award entries, H&K hosted its first PR seminar and first ever Cannes Lions ?tweet-up? with Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter to highlight the importance of social media. In 2010, H&K hosted another PR seminar with ImprovEverywhere and created a street event, a spoof ?VIP Party? gently satirising Cannes Lions? VIP party culture*. H&K also created a dedicated videoblog called Cannes Eye, webcasting two editions daily of interviews with leaders and CMO?s from brands such as Kraft, J&J and Procter & Gamble.
Festival CEO, Phil Thomas said: ?Cannes Lions has evolved way beyond pure advertising and creative PR is key to what brands want. H&K understood this very early on and have shown real leadership. We are pleased to recognise this by making them our first ever Official PR Partner".
The Cannes Lions Festival is the world‘s only truly global meeting place for professionals in the communications industry. In 2010 over 8,000 delegates from 95 countries attended seven days of exhibitions, screenings, as well as over 50 high-profile seminars, 30 workshops and master classes presented by renowned worldwide industry leaders.
