What Happens When TikTok Creators Come to Cannes?

“It was a lot.” The first day spent at Cannes Lions is an overstimulation of the senses for anyone, even if they’re prepared for what to expect. So it’s easy to empathise with TikTok creator Alexia Del Valle (@lexdelvalle), who wasn’t sure what to expect. “The first day was really overwhelming,” she says, speaking near the end of the week in France, where she was part of Whalar’s cohort of creators on the Croisette. “It felt like everything was going on and nothing was going on.”

Alexia, most at home on TikTok, headed there to try and work out what Cannes Lions was all about, but ended up none the wiser. “When I looked it up on TikTok, I more so saw the aesthetics instead of what the programming was or what things you could actually do, learn, attend. So on one hand it was nice to not expect anything, but on the other hand, it also felt like it was all over the place.”

Grace Wells (@gracewellsphoto), a freelance creative who’s built her following making “epic commercials for random objects” is much closer to the advertising world, so has been desperate to come to Cannes Lions for some years. “This is very exciting for me,” she says. She’s been following the festival for a while even considering entering the Young Lions before, so it’s a realisation of a dream for Whalar to have taken her. 

“I'd say surreal is the best word to describe this for me. It's exciting. Because I feel like for the past couple of years, I’ve felt like that intersection between traditional marketing spaces and creator marketing has been largely untapped. And I feel like we're finally getting to that moment now where we're starting to have those conversations and discussions. The fact that we have the Creator Pass is just such a manifestation of that moment.” 

The Cannes Lions Creator Pass, introduced this year, opens the festival’s doors to the next generation of social media creators. A four-day pass that promises an immersive and tailored experience for creators looking to elevate their craft, forge new partnerships, and leave an indelible mark on the industry, it's something that the Whalar creators were intrigued about. All of them collaborate with brands, so they’re keen to have more of a seat at the broader marketing table.

“It's the beginning of something great,” says Grace, who is glad to be part of the festival’s first formalised inclusion of creators is promising for her. 

For Angela Onuoha (@curlbellaa), a trichologist and cosmetic chemist creating in collaboration with several hair and beauty brands, this is “the trial period.” Creators are feeling out where their place in it all is, and so are the festival and everyone else there. “I do feel like maybe by next year, we'll see a huge difference in how they incorporate creators beyond just panels, but having us part of [other] events. I do think that this is a great opportunity for brands to come face-to-face with creators and even for us to network with brands on maybe working together in the future. So I think it'll be cool to continue to see how that track grows and how they incorporate us in what they're doing.”

She and her fellow creators have dipped into the Creator Track programming and networked with some of their fellow Creator Pass holders throughout the week, running between panels they were attending and moderating, leading workshops at some of the platforms’ spaces, and bumping into people from totally opposite ends of the marketing spectrum. Grace admits the week was chaotic, but had enough information on Cannes to know to embrace that. “I feel like we have kind of been bouncing around,” she says. “I kind of went into this knowing that if there was a plan, the plan was not going to be adhered to. And that's very much been the case.”

Angela moderated a conversation between three creative giants on Tuesday – PJ Pereira of Pereira O'Dell, Rei Inamoto of I&CO, and Tiffany Rolfe of R/GA. For many of our readers, those will be familiar names, but Angela came in without that baggage. “I was so intimidated when I saw their positions,” she says, “so I was so happy to have 10 minutes before to even say hi. Because that made me realise no worries, they're cool. I'm kind of a vibe person. So I was like, hm, maybe they're just too serious. 

“But it was so much fun. That was a breath of fresh air. I learned from that. I had an assumption and it wasn't that way at all, super positively.”

She was particularly inspired by how none of them set their sights on advertising growing up. “Rei was saying that he didn't start doing his stuff out of passion. So I started to ask him a question, 'What was the goal? What were you so passionate about?' And he wanted to become a soccer player. Then Tiff was talking about how she didn't even know what she wanted to be, but she was just a hustler. She was like, you remember that people had a lemonade stand at six or eight years old? She had employees. She had other kids selling lemonade for her. It was hilarious the way that she explained it.”

Grace couldn’t make it to that session because she was simultaneously running one of her own, breaking down what goes into her Reels at the Meta beach. “It was really cool, because there were a lot of small business owners approaching me at the end and asking me for my take on their social marketing and things like that. The conversations after the panel lasted just as long as the battle did.”

The chance to network with a completely different set of people excited all three of the Whalar creators I spoke to. “I've met people outside of the typical influencers that I would meet at events,” says Alexia. “It's really cool to have a whole new crowd of people. You really don't know who you're talking to. You would never expect them to be in the position that they are. That's the cool part about it.”

“You can also get inspiration from people that are doing something totally different, just from a brand perspective,” says Angela. She loves the non-creator track kind of talks which are more zoomed-out views of branding campaigns – a stage creators usually don’t get to see, and from people outside of the creator-specialised parts of the industry. “It works both ways. Because obviously, they just have a team that is all about creative partnerships. But that's not what [the people at these events] do. So I also think it's really nice to get that point of view, that insight and also make sure to understand certain things a little bit more, why certain things take longer than others. 

“It also creates a lot of understanding. And that will also help us in the future when it comes to working with brands, for brands and the other way around as well – understanding each other way better.” 

That’s a gap that all the creators I spoke to feel needs to be bridged. “Sometimes I also feel like brands don't always know how to work with us. They just have a template and are just gonna do this every single time,” says Angela. “So [welcoming creators into Cannes Lions] also creates more understanding that the possibilities are endless. But you just need to talk to us. And allow us to share that as well.”

Grace mentioned the word ‘template’ too, for how brands often reach out to her. “I just feel it would be so nice for brands to ask us, 'How do you think you could contribute to a digital display in a retail store?' I feel there's so many other avenues that we could help brands revitalise their content or attract gen-z audiences. But I feel at the moment, we're very confined to this small sliver of their marketing pie.”

Alexia thinks many brands need to pay more attention to how they approach creators. “It just doesn't feel genuine [when] they don't actually pay attention. I think that's an important conversation. Because I've gotten big brands that would approach in a way that I'm like, 'Have you even watched my videos?'”

Creators feel that they’re often only seen as content creators, but immersing themselves in the marketing and advertising circus of Cannes has brought other options into focus for them. “I can work on a consultancy base. When there's a new launch of a product range, I can talk about the products,” suggests Angela. “And it might be even easier, because I know how to speak to creators, but also still have the expertise. But you need to remind them of those things. They really don't think outside of the usual box ('We just want you to make a video or post a picture'). Maybe even asking us, if the sky's the limit, what would perfect campaign or collaboration be? Not meaning that they need to work with you, but even ask that open question to hear us out. I sometimes feel they, on one hand, know that we're creative, but they don't know how creative we are.”

“It's not only just the content posting,” she elaborates. “Grace works with Maybelline. If they would have asked for a good concept that they can approach other creators with, and hire her to do that, she wouldn't even share it online. That's also a way to use us. It will probably also be cheaper for the brand, looking at it from a business point of view, but also right away targeting the audience that they actually want.”

All three want to come back to Cannes Lions now they’ve witnessed it, and they’re keen to see the Creator Pass evolve. “I feel we need two more editions to really feel comfortable,” says Alexia. “I get now why people are so curious for the next one and the one after. It gives you a little FOMO because it's gonna be totally different next year, so what's up then?”