Everything Communicates: What I Brought Back From Cannes Lions Besides Someone Else’s Luggage

Scene of my first learning opportunity: the baggage carousel at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport.

It was me. I grabbed the wrong black Away bag. It had the same scuff marks and road wear. So identical to mine that its owner had made the exact same mistake. We only found each other because I chose to be old school and left my phone number inside the tag. And he opted to buck the airline’s guidance by calling it.

We met immediately, swapped bags and festival itineraries. Two strangers. Trading invites over a splash of rosé. Human effort and details for the win.

Welcome to Cannes Lions. Fast forward to feet aching. Elbows rubbing. And the immersive kind of heat I've only experienced in my ancestral Haiti. Then somewhere between another panel and another mixer, I’m wondering: why do we do this to ourselves?

I found my answer on the Basement Stage of the Palais.

Adam Ferrier of Thinkerbell and Lach Hall of Vacation Sunscreen held a panel discussion that posed a counterintuitive argument: Stop listening to the customer.

No, they weren’t encouraging us to zag into the void. They were making the case that the strongest brands don’t let feedback throw them off course. They listen long enough to find the category's boundaries, then stop. And zig within those confines. Building something so distinct, so ritualized, that creativity shifts from a way to buy other people's attention to how they own their own.

It’s a provocation. But underneath it is a truth I kept coming back to all week: everything communicates.

Every risk. Every touchpoint. Every nuance. Every overinvestment in craft. Every decision to defend an idea rather than dilute it. Every choice tells the world who you are.

Cannes Lions pays homage to all of it. The intention that goes into winning the Grand Prix. The willingness to think longer and harder and spend even more creative energy than anyone thinks should be reasonable. And, above all, the belief that all of it matters.

This year's work proved it. And a few pieces stopped me cold.

Bullet Machine for La Unión. A mother is jolted from sleep by gunfire. The sound is visceral. Her fear is palpable. Sheer terror as she races to shield her children from the onslaught. Except this isn’t gunfire. It’s a typewriter. And what we’re hearing is what happens in Mexico when a journalist publishes the truth. I will never forget this insight or this craft.

Nigrum Corpus for Idomed & Instituto Yduqs. A medical textbook for a disease that would never appear in one: structural racism in healthcare. Case files. Microscope slides. Scientific drawings. Real testimonies from Black patients rendered with the full authority of a clinical manual. I sat with it in awe. And felt seen in a way I didn't expect. Like something was finally created to make that conversation easier to have.

The rest of my shortlist held to a similar standard.

Bad Bunny's halftime show, shot on iPhone, rooted in his people's fierce pride. Back Market flipping that same format to expose the glamour-free wreckage of fast tech. Hyundai Puerto Rico responding to a complaint about the call of a national symbol by casting their rental fleet as cultural ambassadors.

Club Deportivo Municipal reaffirming their community by signing with a thousand local sponsors. Kotex. Adidas. Hornbach. Cerveza Victoria. Suncorp. Simple, passionate, always culturally fluent work that required someone, somewhere, to say: we're going to do the absolute most.

Work like that doesn't come from LLMs. It comes from those that obsess. Follow instinct. Exercise judgment. Risk identity theft to be reachable. And cold call strangers to turn a mix-up into a connection.

From what I saw at my first Cannes Lions, the festival celebrates intention as much as attention. It demands expansive thinking, relentless execution and a commitment to audacity above all else.

The risks taken in a brief, the arguments won in a boardroom, the decision to go further than the budget suggests—all of it shows up on screen. In print. In sound. Audiences don't always know why something moves them. But they can feel the difference between an idea someone fought for and another that someone settled on.

If we don't celebrate the best of it. If we don't show up, sweat through our cool clothes and embrace the heat rash to make a case for more of it. As the 2026 Lion of St. Mark recipient Susan Credle put it on Friday night: what did we make besides money?

Why do we do this to ourselves? Everything communicates.

Klick Health is the world’s largest independent commercialization partner for life sciences and a leading full-service pharma marketing partner, serving as agency of record for leading pharma, biotech, and healthcare brands. Klick’s specialized offerings are rooted in deep medical and scientific understanding, including market insights, award-winning creative, and proprietary AI and data models to craft impactful brand narratives and seamless customer journeys. Backed by nearly 250 medical experts and advanced healthcare analytics, Klick delivers integrated marketing strategy and communications, from new product launch strategy to MLR review with real-world evidence, helping brands thrive in today’s complex healthcare landscape. Learn more at Klick.com.