Cannes Lions brings the global creative industry together.

For WPP, the opportunity was to create a place within it where its own extraordinary network of agencies, clients, partners and leaders could come together too.

For be-good, that meant designing much more than a beach venue. We needed to create a shared home for WPP at Cannes.

The Brief

Every year, WPP’s Cannes experience needs to work for a huge and diverse group of people.

Across the week, the space would host client meetings, panel discussions, workshops, agency activations, executive dinners and parties, welcoming everyone from extraordinary creatives to senior business leaders.

The challenge was to create one distinctive WPP experience that could flex around all of them.

The Challenge

One space. More than 40 different events.

The venue needed to change constantly throughout the festival, giving individual agencies, clients and partners the freedom to make it their own while still feeling unmistakably WPP.

And behind every effortless guest experience sat considerable complexity.

Planning began almost a year in advance, followed by a ten-day build and the coordination of production, logistics, speakers, content, security, hospitality, photography, videography, client engagement and agency activations.

Our Thinking

At Cannes, there is no shortage of places competing for attention so we wanted to create somewhere people wanted to spend time.

So the experience was designed around how people would actually use it: somewhere to meet, somewhere to talk, somewhere to discover new thinking, somewhere to celebrate and, importantly, somewhere to stay.

Meeting cabanas created space for conversation. A terrace restaurant and beach café brought people together more informally. The main stage and screens gave ideas a platform, while flexible spaces allowed the experience to shift from workshops and panels during the day to dinners and parties at night.

At its centre, a three-metre-high colourful steel art installation created an unmistakable expression of the WPP brand.

Every element had a role to play.

At a Glance

● 1,900 guests

● 40+ individual events

● Almost a year of production planning

● 10-day venue build

● Meeting cabanas, terrace restaurant and beach café

● Main stage and large-scale screen content

● Panels, workshops, parties and executive dinners

● Events for WPP agencies and global brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Mondelez and Haleon

● End-to-end production, logistics, speaker management, content, activations, security and hospitality

The Outcome

Across Cannes Lions, 1,900 people experienced the space through more than 40 individual events.

The achievement wasn't simply the scale of the programme, it was making one environment work for countless different people and purposes, while creating a consistent sense of place throughout.

Agencies could make it their own, clients could meet and build relationships, leaders could exchange ideas and guests could move naturally between content, conversation, hospitality and celebration.

For one extraordinary week, WPP had a place where its global community could come together.