David Droga opened a Cannes Lions panel Friday by winning the festival's prestigious Lion of St. Marks award, but he ended it by saying he really wanted to win an election to become Prime Minster of Australia. The Droga5 founder and Aussie native said: "One day, when I have advertising out of my system, I want to be Prime Minister of Australia."

International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde joined her longtime friend Maurice Levy from Publicis on the Cannes stage Friday to discuss how the IMF is using creative solutions to help fight gender inequality. Among the takeaways: Great ideas are the fuel of progress. Creativity is the fuel of change.

Director Ron Howard joined NFL Patriots owner Robert Kraft and WPP CEO Martin Sorrell for a wide-ranging discussion at Cannes on Friday.

In one of the more amusing panels during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Grey New York's Alice Ericsson hosted members from the Russian punk rock advocacy group Pussy Riot for a master class in activism.

People want to be part of something bigger than themselves and football and music, in particular, have emerged as the ultimate common denominators in connecting individuals, says Copa90's James Kirkham who spoke at the Cannes Festival today.

There are twice as many male characters in ads than female characters: 25% of ads feature men only, while only 5% of ads feature women only. Men are also six times more likely than women (18% vs. 3%) to be used as voiceover performers.

In a world of constant technological disruption, it is better to disrupt your own business model before the marketplace disrupts it for you. That was the advice the team from Interpublic's R/GA unit gave to other agencies attending the Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, Wednesday morning.

Today's empowered consumer is forcing marketers and the content they are creating to begin addressing personal identifiers rather than traditional demographics Indeed, only 44% of respondents say being a women is a common experience, according to new research from IPG, Refinery29 and National Geographic that was presented at Cannes today.

A panel discussion billed as "how athletes and brands can change the world" at the Cannes Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, this morning focused more on what they should not be doing together than on what they should. The panel examined some recent pitfalls where professional athletes, their leagues and the brands they partner with were in misalignment.

The Cannes Festival of Creativity got off on an ethical note this morning by asking some questions that go well beyond brand marketing and into the heart, soul and brain of the most fundamental aspects of humanity, including life and death.