The programme for marketing leaders, developed within Cannes Lions for more than a decade, will have a significantly broader calendar this autumn. LIONS will organise its CMO Accelerator in five cities, building on last year’s pilot editions in São Paulo and London and turning them into a series that will run from late September to late November.
The idea is not to move the same programme from Cannes to five new locations. Each City Edition will retain the model developed in partnership with Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble, but the content, topics and conversations will be tailored to the market in which it takes place. At the same time, insights from individual cities will feed into the wider LIONS programme and future editions in Cannes.
For LIONS, this is a way to ensure that the conversation with the CMO community is not concentrated within just a few festival days each year. Gaelle Comte, SVP, LIONS Learning, says the value of the programme lies precisely in giving senior marketing leaders the space to step away from their day-to-day work, compare decisions with peers and reconsider how they lead their organisations.
“Bringing that experience into cities means more leaders can access it in a setting that reflects their own market, while still connecting into a broader global programme.” Comte added that the model will also allow LIONS to stay closer to CMOs and aspiring CMOs throughout the year and further strengthen regional communities.
The first dates are reserved for Los Angeles, on 23 and 24 September. The programme will be led by Patricia Corsi, Chief Growth Officer at Kimberly-Clark, and Renata Ferraiolo, EVP and President, International Markets at SC Johnson. OUTFRONT Media will host, while ANA will serve as the marketing partner.
The next CMO Accelerator will take place in Singapore on 15 and 16 October, led by Siew Ting Foo, CEO of Soul for Profit Advisory and former Global Chief Brand and Insights Officer at HP Inc. The edition will be delivered in partnership with Spikes Asia.
November will bring the remaining three programmes. Mark Kirkham, CMO of PepsiCo Beverages US, will lead the New York edition on 5 and 6 November, hosted by Havas. Fernando Machado, Chief Brand Officer at Chipotle, will take over the programme in São Paulo on 16 and 17 November, with Netflix as host. The series will conclude in London on 25 and 26 November, where the programme will be led by Mark Evans, former MD, Marketing and Digital at Direct Line and executive coach to CMOs, while Virgin will host.
The five city editions therefore extend the CMO Accelerator beyond the timing of Cannes Lions, while retaining its core logic: a smaller group of senior marketing leaders, peer conversations and a focus on the decisions shaping the leadership of brands and marketing functions.
