Milton Lebrón of República: People expect more empathy from brands

During the fourth day of the Cannes Lions Festival, República’s CCO Milton Lebrón and Creative Director Michael de Jesús shared their impressions of the festival.
 
“What I take away with me this year is what an incredible display of work it was from so many parts of the world and with so many changes, especially with the narrowing of categories. You feel it got even more complicated, more difficult, while the work had a real depth of context because they evaluated everything,” De Jesús said.
 
For Lebrón, the festival was nothing short of excellent. He agrees that this year it was more demanding about the entries. “The changes of categories made it more complicated to win a Lion. We couldn’t take anything for granted, because the case histories we saw were very good and should continue to improve. Creativity is the most important thing in everything we do, even in the presentation of case histories. This year I noticed many experientials, because it seems people expect more empathy from brands.”
 
De Jesús said he saw many new faces at the festival. “Big brands always tend to shine, but so do works of new brands that people understand and recognize. I myself am from Puerto Rico, which is a very small market, but it managed to participate and stand out with some great work. There is a local agency that won its first Lion and all the work was developed there. Also, there were projects that aim to benefit the community and not just the product, which I think is becoming the norm outside of traditional advertising and is increasingly relevant.”