Can the advertising community help build a better world?  According to former President Bill Clinton, the answer is a resounding yes.  At a packed session today before thousands of attendees at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (the world’s biggest festival for creative professionals), the president called on the industry to use its collective knowledge to work on issues that can make a difference.

In a broad ranging talk highlighting the many challenges facing the world, the president made several references to the foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations program and the importance of the partnership with Cannes Lions to engage a critical community.  “We need people like you to fire our imagination,” he said. He went on to say that the creative community needs to tell the facts and communicate the “why” behind these important issues.

The president also discussed the idea that the world needs to build creative networks of cooperation to have real impact.  With an increasingly interconnected world, citizens have more power to affect their future than ever before.

In March, as part of the 9^th call of the Grand Challenges Explorations program, the foundation put a call out to the world to help change the narrative around foreign aid – Aid is Working: Tell the World.  Nearly 1,000 entries from 85 countries were submitted.  The entries are currently under review.

Join the conversation on Twitter at #changetheworld.