Cannes Lions 2019- Day #4

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 was from Italy, my assigned country for our regional projects. I asked him if I could spend a few minutes interviewing him outside of the theater and he happily agreed, but only had fifteen minutes to talk with me because he had to go back to the judging room to judge the film entries. He gave me tons of insight into the advertising industry in Italy and I would share more about our conversation, however, I don’t want to give too much away before my final project presentation. After I thanked him and said goodbye, I looked up his LinkedIn profile and found out that he is the Chief Creative Officer at Havas Milano. I briefly left Palais I after the panel to get lunch at Facebook Beach before heading back into the theater to hear Jeff Goldblum and Stéphane Xiberras speak about the future of entertainment. While they discussed upcoming advances in technology and a more personalized world, both men agreed that sincerity and human connection would still be at the center of advertising. For example, things like Fortnite or Game of Thrones have recently connected people across the globe because of their shared interests and Jeff and Stéphane both explained how they believe that technology has the opportunity to drive human connection globally. After I left the Palais, I headed to the Terrace Stage to hear Chelcee Grimes, James Kirkham, Rebecca Smith, and Nuria Tarre discuss the advances in women’s football and the future of the sport. The most interesting anecdote from the presentation, for me personally, was that women footballers today have to have a strong social media presence, not for their own benefit, but to inspire younger generations of women, to ultimately advance the sport. I stayed at the Terrace Stage after the women finished speaking to hear the NFL’s panel on modern brand building. Tim Ellis, Deion Sanders, Richard Sherman, and Travis Kielce spoke about the NFL’s partnership with key players to grow their personal brands to promote the league as a whole. Recently, they have started a program to give players assistance when it comes to capturing key moments in their personal lives so that they can share these moments with their fans via social media. Overall, it was a very interesting and inspiring day, however, I do wish that I’d had the opportunity to network a little more.