Each year the Cannes Lions Festival brings together the best and latest in the advertising, marketing and PR industries to celebrate one central

theme, creativity.

From the New York Times’ Mobile Grand Prix win for its VR app to Deutsch New York’s win for their First Ever Pinterest Yard Sale held on

behalf of Sherwin Williams, this year’s Festival again reinforced the idea that brands shouldn’t be afraid to experiment and that data-inspired

creativity is the heart of the most e�ective work.

You’ve probably all read the standard key takeaways, but we wanted to share some of the bigger themes behind the winning campaigns in this

brief roundup of industry recaps:

TECHNOLOGY MAY PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY, BUT IT’S THE CREATIVITY THAT ENDURES

When creativity and technology combine

almost anything is possible. Many of this year’s

Cannes campaigns combined the two and

Forbes looks at the ways winning campaigns

used virtual reality, artificial intelligence and

wearables to tell better stories.

LEADING WITH PURPOSE PAYS OFF AT CANNES AND WITH CONSUMERS

REI’s anti-Black Friday #OptOutside campaign

won the Titanium Gran Prix this year.

As consumers continue to demand brands lead

with core values, Fast Company takes a look at

how purpose made the campaign a big winner.

CANNES JURIES REWARD INNOVATIVE EXECUTION

And speaking of winners, those taking home

Grand Prix’s ranged from Phillips’ Breathless

Choir to Netflix’s House of Cards. Check out

Advertising Age’s recap of all the winners.

HOLDING COMPANIES LEVERAGE THE CANNES STAGE TO PLEDGE FOR GOOD

Lastly, following up on a promise made at last

year’s Cannes Lions, the six major holding

companies joined UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon

on stage this year to announce they are uniting

to tackle six of the UN’s Sustainable

Development Goals.