United States
ELC and Amanda Gorman at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
Company Feature, Jul 13, 2023
Every year, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity hosts leaders across communications, advertising, marketing, design, entertainment, and tech for a week of discourse, networking, and recognition. This year at Cannes Lions, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) led conversations around the impact of authentic brand representation and the importance of fostering Gen-Z talent.
To kick off the week, ELC hosted a mainstage panel with US Youth Poet Laureate and Estée Lauder Global Changemaker Amanda Gorman. Amanda was joined onstage by Jane Lauder, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Marketing and Chief Data Officer, for a conversation moderated by Anna Klein, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs and ESG Communications. Together, they discussed the future of influence and the importance of sharing meaningful stories around impact and equity work. “I want to see more of a bright and beautiful, diverse range of stories in the world,” Amanda shared. “I want to see more storytellers and voices and narratives than we have not yet seen in history.”
As a Gen-Z creator, Amanda sits at the forefront of the ever-changing influencer culture. When speaking about her role as Changemaker with ELC, Amanda shared, “I wanted to partner with a brand that shared my value system––one that would use my power to empower others.” Together with Jane and Anna, Amanda explained why brand and influencer partnerships should be focused on driving measurable impact by means of both amplification and representation. Their mainstage conversation reached an in-person audience of 1,000, and a digital audience of 15,000.
In addition to the mainstage event, ELC had the pleasure of hosting a panel at Inkwell Beach Cannes with Amanda; Jessica Giles, Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine; and Alexis o’Kemunto, a member of the Young Lion's Academy. As young women in the creative industry, the group spoke about how executives of today can better support, mentor, and welcome the young, diverse talent of tomorrow.
Finally, Jane spoke with Meta’s Nicola Mendelsohn about how the ELC portfolio of brands have become household names for hundreds of millions of consumers around the world with new technology that is shaping the beauty industry.
ELC’s time in Cannes reinforced the impactful insight Amanda imparted on to her mainstage audience: “We’re louder as a single voice together than we ever would be alone.”