True to its branding as the “festival of creativity,” creative was the most mentioned topic on social media surrounding last week’s Cannes Lions festival, according to an analysis conducted for MediaPost by Sprout Social.

Overall, social-media conversations surrounding the annual ad-industry festival soared last week, generating a total of 31,193 mentions, 947,108 engagements (likes, comments, shares, etc.) and 1.1 billion impressions, according to Sprout’s analysis utilizing key hashtags associated with the Cannes Lions on Instagram and Twitter.

In terms of sentiment, the conversations were mostly positive (57%), followed by neutral (25%) and negative (18%).

While some of the negative criticism surrounding the event was the volume and hype about AI, the topic ranked only fourth among key subjects being discussed in social media, following creative, advertising and media.

AI did generate much more discussion than DEI, data, climate change and beauty, which were also heavily promoted subject matter at this year’s festival.

“Regardless of a brand’s participation at the Cannes Lions festival, social data from the event yields valuable insights around topics gaining the most traction and areas where brands can contribute to the conversation or initiate new discussions,” notes Sprout Social Senior Market Research & Insights Manager Mike Blight, adding: “For example, sports and gaming saw more than four times the amount of social engagements than the popular topic of A.I.— despite having a fraction of total mentions. These insights help brands understand what’s resonating with their audiences so they can fine-tune their strategies in-real time and adapt future plans accordingly.” 

In terms of sentiment, the conversations were mostly positive (57%), followed by neutral (25%) and negative (18%).