Situation: Outside of the Lions Awards, Cannes hosts the globally-renowned Festival de Cannes film festival, with its world-famous red carpet, the biggest movie stars and directors in the world, and dazzling designer dresses. However, other than watching it from your couch, or if you're lucky enough to catch a glimpse from behind the safety barricades on La Croisette itself, the Festival de Cannes can feel a little out of reach to the general public.

Brief: How can we use TikTok's partnership with the Festival de Cannes and our creators to broaden access to the festival and film-making more generally?

Objectives

- Leverage TikTok's partnership to bridge the gap between the esteemed Festival de Cannes and our users

- Hero our creators and celebrate their creativity

- Strengthen TikTok’s place in the cultural and entertainment landscape in France.

A single thought united our Festival de Cannes campaign: how can we use the power of our platform and our communities to broaden access to the festival, and in so doing create a deeper love for film-making and cinema around the world? We did this through three pillars -

1. Democratizing access: by providing global audiences with unprecedented access to the red carpet, stars, and films via our TikTok creators.

2. #TikTokShortFilm Competition: Serving as a launchpad for emerging filmmakers, the competition offered a platform for showcasing short films at Cannes, reaching over 1 billion viewers globally and amplifying diverse voices in cinema.

3. National campaign in France: Showcasing TikTok as a catalyst for filmmaking talent, the campaign highlighted actors, directors, foley artists, and costume designers, reinforcing TikTok's role in nurturing creativity within the industry.

In 2023, our strategy was two-fold: firstly, it aimed to highlight TikTok's role as a platform that nurtures diverse artistic talent, including those traditionally associated with the cinema industry. By showcasing talent like foley artists, directors, and costume designers on TikTok, the partnership sought to emphasize the platform's ability to serve as a canvas for emerging artists, and incubate the cinema talent of the future.

Secondly, the strategy aimed to shift perceptions by positioning TikTok not as a threat to traditional cinema, but as a complementary and inclusive space where creativity thrives. By showcasing the potentially symbiotic relationship between TikTok and the cinema industry, the partnership aimed to demonstrate that digital platforms like TikTok can serve as an enabler of talent and film-making creativity, and more broadly as a way to give a new and bigger audience access to the Festival de Cannes.

In 2023, TikTok's partnership with the Festival de Cannes saw incredible results:

- Reach: the #Cannes2023 hashtag garnered a staggering 776 million video views, while #TikTokShortFilm achieved an astounding 9.5 billion video views.

- Engagement: with #TikTokShortFilm 70,000 videos submitted, double the number from 2022, and participants from 80 countries, engagement levels were unprecedented.

- Impact: TikTok's platform saw a significant increase in total audience engagement, with a 7.5 percentage point rise in recognition as "the home of tomorrow's cinema talents" and an 8.1 percentage point increase in being perceived as "a window to the world of cinema".

- Brand perception: The collaboration sent a powerful message to the entertainment industry about the platform's influence in shaping the future of entertainment.

- Objectives: The competition successfully reinforced TikTok's commitment to emerging film talent, providing exposure to over 1 billion viewers globally and promoting diverse storytelling on the platform.