hannescannesexperience

[hannescannesexperience]

Last Day, Best Day

My favorite thing about today was honestly the first thing I went to. I went to the debrief session for the PR category and afterwards, I walked around to look at all the work. I think it’s inspiring and interesting to be able to see all the ideas that creative people come up with. My personal favorite was the Wendy’s campaign when they came up with the Roast Day. The campaign says “How Wendy’s Turned Your Fans Into Ours.” This was extremely effective because not only did other companies also got involved and both brands were able to bring more attention to their social media, but also I remember this campaign from when I saw it myself. My friends loved it and also wanted to get roasted, along with the brands because it was funny, yet simple.

The next thing that I went to that was interesting was by VIRTUE Worldwide and Logitech and their seminar was called “Unleashing the New Logic of Creativity.” I was drawn to it because of Bretman Rock, the social media creator, however I got a lot more out of it than I expected. I learned how Logitech is a brand that branches out to its creators and utilizes them for advertising. One things that stood out to be is one of the speakers said that brands who are still using the old social media content methods but try to use the new ones inauthentically stand out to Gen-Z in a bad way. Gen-Z has the ability to “sniff out” those who are inauthentic and that’s why it’s important to use content creators who are genuine. It’s imperative for a brand to practice what they preach, to find creators who have beliefs that align with theirs. It’s also important for creators to be supported, for them to be allowed to do what they want and attract the audience that they have. Creators continue the authenticity so they need to remain who they are for their fans, but they also need to be more than just business partners to companies. They need to be valued considering their new strength in advertising.

[hannescannesexperience]

Health and Wellness is What I Needed

It’s day four at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and I am extremely disappointed it’s close to coming to an end. Today, we started off at the Saatchi and Saatchi New Creators’ Showcase. Anna and I unfortunately were not able to stay the whole time, but I really enjoyed the video about not being alone. It was powerful and emotional and very memorable.

Next, we went to the Creative Strategy Lions Debrief. This was interesting because we were able to rewatch the videos from the awards before and learn about why which videos won. It was cool to hear directly from the panel and see their point of view of why each creator should win. I personally loved the Heinz ketchup commercial and I think it should’ve won the gold prix.

After this, we walked over to the Cannes Lions School for the Master Your Mindpower. This was… very different from the other workshops. It was interactive and more mind-opening. It started off with the speaker saying we have over 40 million thoughts that go through our brain, but every second, we can only process 40. We have a choice with the thoughts that we entertain. A main question she asked was “What do you WANT instead?” This means, when you think of those negative thoughts, what do you want instead? How can you turn this thought into a positive one? What we want and what we decide to focus on will expand. One thing that really shocked me was the speaker said 80% of our thoughts are negative. This was honestly a scary thought to have and was inspiring to start thinking more positive. Next, we discussed a mental toughness challenge. When you have a negative thought, write it down. Next, write down what you want instead. It’s a process to retrain your brain, cross out the negative and write down the positive and move forward. Finally, we practiced our new morning routine that we were introduced to. It consists of breathing, gratitude, and goals. We were taught a new breathing technique, “grabbing” energy from the air around us and practiced it. Gratitude and goals consisted of meditating, think about what we’re grateful for and what we wish to accomplish for the rest of the day. At the end, the speaker reiterated that a positive mindset is always a choice, and after experiencing a heavy downpour of rain, those were just the words I needed to hear. I’m sad the festival is coming to an end, but I can’t wait to hear and see what tomorrow has in store.

[hannescannesexperience]

Ryan Reynolds Exceeded My Expectations

Ryan Reynolds was a great start of day 3 at the festival. His seminar was called “MNTM/Maximum Effort: Ryan Reynolds on Next Generation Storytelling.” He had a few talking points that discussed what people want to see on advertisements and how his companies really attract consumers. His main methods were firstly, speed. It’s important to get relevant ads out on time if they pertain to current events. Humor, which is obvious for Ryan Reynolds. It’s important to keep consumer’s attention and create something they want to watch. He also explained that going at the product is important. If you can’t market the product without making it about the advertisement itself, it isn’t attractive or useful for the consumer. And finally, perfection and optimism seemed to go hand in hand. One thing he said that really stood out to me was that if you want to be good at something, you have to be willing to be bad at it. This was inspiring because if we allow the fear of being bad to stop us from trying new things, we’ll never find out what we’re good at or will never allow ourselves to get better at anything.

The next seminar that I went to was at Inkwell’s Beach and it was themed “Where Inclusive Creativity Begins is Where Brands Win.” This was extremely powerful to listen to because it opens your eyes of how people of color may feel in an office where inclusivity is just superficial. They also discussed how brands can avoid this feeling. One big point was know better, do better. Companies can’t hire people because they look the part. It’s important to have the uncomfortable conversations that can expand ideas through people of color or LGBTQ+ members. It’s almost important to create the environment that all people feel comfortable in, really wanting them in your company instead of just having that image that people want to see.

[hannescannesexperience]

The Inspiring Possibilities of my Career

For day two at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the first seminar I went to was LinkedIn: Back to the Creative Future - the Fight for Great Talent. I think this was inspirational because it opened my eyes in seeing that there is more than just creativity going into the public relations field. The speaker, Ryan Roslansky, who is the CEO of LinkedIn talked about how the field is almost 20% more tech than creativity and this gap between the two is growing more and more each year. While tech is more popular than creativity globally, in Lafayette, where I’m interested in working and it is my hometown, it is otherwise. I was introduced to plenty of other jobs and roles that are interesting to me instead of the typical graphic design job.

Another thing that stood out to me was actually the Havas Cafe talk. While it was long and slightly frustrating that we were hungry and waiting for lunch, I think it was interesting to hear about how health and wellness is really taking over the industry in advertising. I think this is a great concept because it can combine both interests of people in the industry, advertising and wellness, and it can lead to people creating content that they care about and are passionate about. I also think that leads to more agency success. Happier employees typically means heftier wealth for the company, which also leads to happier customers.

I will say, my favorite part of the day was easily Spotify thanks to the free drinks, food, and merchandise that they offered. I think their brand does a great job of keeping customers thanks to the algorithm, but also their branding is known for the fun ways the algorithm can show information about yourself that you didn’t even know, which I think is extremely creative and innovative.

[hannescannesexperience]

Cannes Lions Festival 6/20/2022

The first day at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was not what I thought it would be, but completely exceeded any expectations I had. It started off strong with an amazing venue and a gallery that stood out to me from the very beginning, all the way until the end. The gallery is by ACT called "Great Ads for Good" and showcases the best advertisements in the industry. Not only are they heart-stopping, intriguing advertisements, but they are also memorable and creative. My favorite advertisement that was on display was in the environmental category. Each picture is an animal from the sea that is portrayed through various debris found that is polluting our ocean. The shapes included a lobster, two different types of fish, and shrimp, all created with pollutants like fishing lines or nets. The caption underneath each image says, "By 2050 it will be more likely to catch fishing nets than fish." I think this is an effective ad because not only were the shapes memorable and interesting to look at while it held your attention but also because it is simply a mind-boggling fact to think about and the visuals help you imagine a harsh reality that our world is facing. Another thing that stood out to me today was actually the first presentation that we went to, which was "alma and Pepsi: Yielding Unapologetic Creativity Through 'Collaboratively'." I loved this one because it showed how taking risks can be extremely effective for someone who is considered no. 2 in the soda industry. It was also intriguing because it showed how a partnership can be beneficial and work for the team better as a whole. For example, someone from Pepsi had the idea to find the logo in various burger brands for an advertising campaign and the idea wasn't shot down simply because the idea did not come from the advertising agency. Instead, it was used for the greater good of the customer, and the relationship of the customer with the agency became "co-conspirators" instead of just a business deal. Today was an extremely successful day at the festival and I can not wait to see what the rest of the week will bring.