Day 1: Monday June 19th 2023

The first day of the festival I was full of nerves and excitement. I woke up around 8am so that I could have enough time to get ready, grab breakfast, and walk to the festival without rushing. I went to a delicious spot called Copenhagen Coffee Lab (which I highly recommend). There was a line there and I saw quite a few people with their Cannes festival badges, so it was a great time to spark up a conversation. I had a chance to speak with someone who worked at Microsoft who was also attending the festival. After a delicious croissant and coffee, it was time to head to the festival!

Talk #1: Creative Equals: Unlocking Creative Excellence with Powerful DE&I Strategies 

  • It is essential to keep your audience in mind

  • #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs - In other words, as a brand you can’t have a campaign targeting a specific demographic if you haven’t taken the time to genuinely get to know and understand that audience 

    • It’s not enough to just talk about a demographic and know them only on the surface

      • Brands need to connect and truly learn from the demographics they’re targeting to create real change and relationships with different groups

  • When making campaigns, avoid common stereotypes about the demographic you’re talking about.

  • Always paint the group you’re talking about in a positive light

Takeaway: This talk was interesting but a bit boring and lacking in my opinion. I felt like a lot of the points they mentioned were quite obvious and redundant. I was hoping to learn actual tools and strategies used by well-respected companies and agencies that could be implemented to ensure equality in future campaigns. One thing I really liked about this talk was their use and explanation of “Nothing About Us Without Us” because I feel that it’s a great phrase that encapsulates what it takes to truly be inclusive and representative as a brand.

B-Reel

  • The client-agency relationship

    • Always hang onto your perspective

    • Ask questions - it’s okay to be a little naive!

    • Find the courage to be simple - find the core that the audience will resonate with and pursue that

      • This may feel risky because we often ask ourselves, “can it really be that easy?”

      • But yes, it can be that easy

    • Commit to understanding each other - respect, communication, values, ambitions, what you want to accomplish

    • Think about the team

Takeaway: I really enjoyed this talk because it involved the many different components of The North Face and B-Reel. The first part of the talk was given by a North Face athlete, Caroline Ciavaldini, and her experience working with the brand, as well as sharing personal advice. I thought it was really cool to hear from an athlete because this is someone quite removed from the advertising and creative part of the brand, yet her insights were still applicable to my future and career. Next, Michiel Cauwelier spoke about some of the core values of The North Face and how important it is to always stay true to those values. Lastly, Zack McDonald spoke about his role at B-Reel and things he’s learned along the way to ensure a good relationship between the client and the agency while still staying true to the brand’s core purpose. This talk felt robust and from the heart which I truly appreciated. Although each speaker had vastly different roles in their companies, all of their messages came together to emphasize the importance of holding onto the values that you find most important while also not being afraid to step out of your comfort zone for new and bigger opportunties.

Talk #2: B-Reel and The North Face - Taking Risks and the Route Less Travelled 

The North Face

  • Ask Yourself: What makes you dream?

  • The importance of creating teams

  • Find people who know things you don’t know anything about so that you’re surrounded

    by people you can always learn from

    • Find people who have your back and really support you 

    • Always be open to learning new things 

    • Be brutally honest with yourself about the skills you do and don’t have

      • Then work on the skills you don’t have 

  • Share the risk, share the reward

    • Embrace teamwork

    • Building a great team begins with trust, vulnerability, and openness 

Talk #3: Ad Net Zero - Let’s Take Responsibility for Advertising’s Role in a Net-zero Economy

  • Ad Net Zero: A climate action program designed to help advertising tackle the climate emergency 

  • Two goals: 

    • Decarbonizing ad operations 

    • Helping every industry promote sustainable behaviors and services 

  • They do this by a 5 point action plan

  • Their focus is reducing emissions from operations, production, media planning and buying,

    awards and events, harnassing advertising power to support behavior change 

  • We need more action because there is an urgent need to tackle climate change - and advertising has a massive role to play in this

  • One thing that can help us understand our impact is how we take responsibility in our role in the transition to a net zero economy 

  • University of Oxford Side Business School - commissioned by founders of a Adnet Zero UK to find out how to allocate responsibility of emissions that result from advertised goods and services and how we can tackle that globally / collaboratively 

  • Final paper is out for peer review

  • Professor Felipe Thomaz

    • Reframe the problem: 

      • From responsibility to a goal / opportunity 

  • This is not a trade off - the solution is an alignment between the economic incentives and sustainability / carbon incentives 

  • Once we operate in a carbon as a cost ecosystem, the financial alignments all come into play to deliver fast, immediate change 

  • So you don't have to get people to buy into a vision, they'll do it because it benefits them first 

  • So how do we manage a complex new portfolio of costs and benefits that have not just capital / cost / profit but also the

    carbon that we use and the carbon that we emit; the consequences of our actions 

  • But we have to remember that there is complexity and challenge in the system and each media channel we deal with

    • Every media has a unique footprint and ecosystem where it operates so we cannot treat them all as identical

  • There is no common taxonomy in the industry of what we mean when we use certain words / phrases

    • So we need to come to an agreement of what we mean when we say X,Y, Z 

    • And this must also be done globally 

    • We must respect differences that occur globally - it is not enough to exist just within your

      individual mindset and ecosystem

  • Major advertisers, media, and advertising firms are working to reduce emissions from their entire supply chains 

    • Once one firm makes the pledge, it will be a domino effect 

    • Creating a constraint which allows people to compete and thus cause change (companies not competing to be more green and sustainable) → This is the commercial imperative 

  • Advertising emissions 

    • Digital and physical advertising and their differences 

    • However, it is important to not place the entire blame on advertising 

    • Financed emissions is not a moral imperative - its because they need to be

      accountable of their risk exposure 

  • Facilitated emissions 

    • A new approach to be used for those that advice and help others - and those actions have consequences 

    • Allows finance, marketing, and advertising to all work together and achieve the same goals 

    • More specific definitions are required for facilitated emissions 

    • Take into account not only the increase of consumption emissions but also what kinds of consumption emissions 

  • Managing profit and carbon together 

    • 3 areas need to be measured 

    • Joint optimization: minimizing the cost while maximizing the cash reward and minimizing the carbon cost associated with it (trying to move consumption towards better financial outcomes but also better sustainability outcomes, and competing and trading on both)

  • Final notes: 

    • Start thinking profit and carbon - think in terms of both and not “or”; don't compete. Don't take one side or the other

    • Decarbonize the industry, fast, by tackling Advertising Emissions 

    • Help integrate a new standard in line with Facilitated Emissions and use the same language universally so we can all agree 

    • Use our superpower to help the business measure intangibles

Takeaway: This talk was incredibly interesting and engaging. I enjoyed hearing from one of the professors who worked on this paper and found what he was talking about to be very insightful. I liked hearing about the direction that advertising and marketing will be moving in to be more sustainable. Before this talk I didn’t know if there was enough being done in the advertising world to combat emissions and waste but this definitely gave me hope that the advertising industry will be launching more eco-friendly initiatives to offset some of the damage that comes from consumption. His presentation of the material was clear and to the point without judgement, but also serious enough to let companies know that this is expected of them and not optional. It made the paper’s proposal seem much more real and achievable for small and big businesses alike.

Talk #4: Droga 5 part of Accenture Song and Levi’s - The Product, The Hero

  • Levi’s 501 jean is world famous and versatile

  • Strong brands tell a story

    • They make us feel something

    • They provide emotionally compelling stories which help consumers trust

      the brand and make the brand stand out

    • Product-focused stories

    • Using consumer stories to tell true brand stories

      • Having the product at the heart but human stories at the core

      • = “The Greatest Story Ever Worn”

  • 4 points to remember

    • Stay true to the core product values

    • Embrace the community that adopts your products

    • Use your product to tell culture-forward stories

    • Take risks with the product front and center

Takeaway: I actually had the chance to see this campaign in one of my advertising classes last semester, so it was fulfilling to hear the brand’s vision and story behind creating it. I enjoyed this talk because it gave insight into one of the most famous clothing brands and really drove home the point that a brand needs to have a story before they can create truly remarkable work. I also love that Levi’s respects their history so much and the stories of their customers. One of the speakers was actually the historian and director of Levi’s archives, and she shared her experience hearing from one of the customers that was used in their campaign. This talk was a great reminder of what advertising and storytelling for a brand is really about.

Talk #5: Flywheel Digital - Measuring Creativity, Creatively

  • The consumer attention span is shrinking

  • But consumers are still looking for brands to connect and relate to

    • Every brand needs a story

    • 67% of global consumers are willing to pay more for certain brands that they find worthy

    • This means that brands need to land their message quicker in order to capture an audience

  • Brands need to keep in mind:

    • What is the message?

    • What is the moment to share it?

    • How to share it in a new and innovative way?

  • Advertisers need to keep in mind:

    • Think about all the engagement you’ve received and learn from it

    • Apply what you’ve learned to future steps taken

Takeaway: The final talk of the day was sadly a bit meh. To be honest, it felt like a lot of advertising courses I have taken compiled into one quick seminar. The speakers didn’t seem too engaged with the audience and I saw a few people seem very bored with the content. I was hoping for more concrete ways to actually measure creativety that can be used to improve ideas and create solid campaigns.

After our talks, we attended the first night’s award show. It was incredible to see all the remarkable work that won awards. I saw what it takes to win a Gold or Grand Prix award, and what separates great from extraordinary. The award show ended around 9pm and it was finally time for dinner. After eating, I headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed because I was EXHAUSTED. It was a fun first day but definitely a full one. I went to bed early knowing that I had the rest of the week ahead of me.