Hanna Jon Lewis

One of my most memorable interactions from the 2019 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was our small-group breakfast with the COO OF PHD, Stacy DeRiso. There were only about eight people present at the breakfast and I was lucky enough to sit right next to Mrs. DeRiso. During the brunch, we all had a chance to ask questions about her professional career path and she asked us questions about our program and the things that we’re learning not only in school, but through opportunities such as Cannes Lions as well. One of her stories that stuck out to me was centered around an employee that she recently hired at PHD. A job position had opened up and when her team was brainstorming people who might be a good fit, they immediately thought of a woman who had worked at PHD in years prior but was at home at the time, taking care of her two children. When they reached out to offer her the job, Mrs. DeRiso assured her that she would be able to pick and choose which days and hours that she worked...

One of my favorite ad campaigns from the festival was “The Non-Issue” by L’Oreal Paris. L’Oreal found a problem when doing research about their consumers and they decided to do something about it. In collaboration with Vogue, L’Oreal helped create “The Non-Issue”, an single issue of Vogue that portrayed age as a non-issue in our society. According to their research, over 40% of women over the age of 50 however only 15% of them are represented in the media. L’Oreal wanted to combat the issue of gender-based age discrimination by making a Vogue article to specifically highlight women over the age of fifty to combat this ageism head-on. The articles in this issue we’re all centered around the belief that age should be a non-issue. Models included celebrities such as Elle Macpherson, Maye Musk, and Julianne Moore. Not only were of the models over fifty, but all of the designers, photographers, make-up artists, and all other contributors were as well. It also included suggestions for beaut...

One of the ads that I chose to critique was the NFL’s “The 100-Year Game” commercial from the 2019 Super Bowl. When I attended the NFL’s panel on Thursday, “Modern Brand Building: The NFL Players and League”, the NFL’s CMO, Tim Ellis showed us this commercial and explained why they chose this specific commercial for the league’s one hundred year anniversary. The commercial is two minutes in length and so it would have cost around $21 million to air, as Super Bowl commercials cost about $175,000 per second. This ad was entered into the film craft category, however, it did not win a lion. What I loved about this commercial was how relatable it was across all generations. I remember watching it for the first time during the Super Bowl with my dad and brother and how much they enjoyed seeing not only the new players they love, but players that my dad watched when he was growing up. This two minute commercial brought back stories that my dad could share with my brother and memories from wa...

My favorite ad from the festival this week was IKEA’s  “ThisAbles” campaign commercial. It won three Bronze Lions, three Silver Lions, four Gold Lions, and a Grand Prix. The advertisement explained how for one in ten people, regular furniture is a regular problem and special needs furniture is twice as expensive as regular furniture. To combat this issue, IKEA made product add-ons to allow disabled individuals to customize their IKEA furniture. These add-ons could be downloaded from their website and made via 3D printer, or found at their store– all for free.  According to the video they showed at the award ceremony, these products have already been downloaded and printed in one hundred and twenty seven countries. Since last year, IKEA’s sales for these products with available add-ons have increased by 37% and their revenue is up 33%. Not only did I kea work to make their furniture customizable and more accessible, they directly reached out to consumers to get their input and...

Today was definitely the most underwhelming out of our five days at the festival. I noticed on Thursday night that a lot of companies were closing down their cabanas and beaches and they had already begun to pack everything up. This morning, I got to the festival around 11:00 AM and went straight to Medialink Beach for our meeting with their three UGA alumni. After the meeting was over, I stopped to talk to Abby Castro, as she mentioned that she was active in the American Marketing association and I am on the board for the 2019-2020 school year. When she found out that I live in New York, she invited me to get coffee when we both get back to the city. After leaving Medialink, I headed straight to the Palais II Stage to hear Adidas’s Global Director if Running, Clara Dooley, and the President of Code and Theory, Michael Treff, talk about Adidas’s new digital activations in their brick and mortar stores. After that, I quickly headed to the Lumiere Theater to get in line for Apple’s pres...

Today I got a later start to the day than usual. My train arrived in Cannes around 11:00 AM and I went straight to Palais I for “Time to Step Up: Smashing Beauty Stereotypes” with Dove, Getty Images, GirlGaze, and Shonda Rhimes. The group mainly spoke about their parts in creating Dove’s Real Beauty campaign and the future of real beauty in the advertising industry. After this session, I stayed in the theater to hear Netflix writer and producer, Kenya Barris, co-president and CCO of Wieden&Kennedy, Colleen DeCourcy, president and CEO of TBWA, Troy Ruhanen, and SVP/CDO of Omnicom, Tiffany R. Warren discuss brand activism in a hyper-charged society. My main take-away from their discussion was that while brands today do have the opportunity to stand for something, it doesn’t mean that they all should. According to the panel, brands need to be careful about how, when, and why they go about promoting a social cause. At the end of the session, I realized that the man sitting next to me ...