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Day 1 of Cannes Lions Festival
Talk 1: CMOs in the Spotlight: Klarna,
Snap, Airwallex
Rate: 8/10
Reflection:
As this was the first talk of my festival experience, I was nervous about how it would go. It would be marking my experience for the rest of the festival. As I went into the talk, I had low expectations because I did not want to set myself up for failure. I personally thought the talk was very interesting. I saw what successful CMO’s could picture as their take on what marketing and advertising mean to them. The CMO of Snap mentioned how she sees parts of her life in chapters, and that stood out to me. I personally do not know why, but I really liked hearing that life analogy. I think most people would say the talk was boring, but personally, I enjoyed it. The talk was professional, educational, and memorable to me as my first talk at the Cannes Lions Festival.
Talk 2: Sport beach, The ownership Revolution: Jaylen Brown, Cari
Champion
Rating: 8/10
Reflection:
I ended up going to this talk not knowing who Jaylen Brown was, and now that I do, I have a lot of respect for this athlete. The speakers on the stage are launching a brand called Players United. The brand is about putting the players first and what they want. Brands and audiences want authentic relationships with the athletes. I learned that in the past, many athletes lacked a voice. This is surprising to me as I thought they controlled all aspects of their career, including merchandising and telling their stories. This is all about allowing athletes to speak for themselves. Audiences, especially Gen Z, can clearly see through fake relationships for partnerships. With Players United becoming established, the company anticipates bringing athletes together and building a more authentic voice from that. I really did enjoy this talk because every speaker seemed genuine about the project and what they valued in a partnership and sponsorship. I would recommend this talk to anyone interested in sports and future CMO’s.
Talk 3: Charlotte Maines with Elav Horwitz and entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel
Rate: 6/10
Reflection:
Before this talk, I was very excited. Bethenny Frankel is someone whom I followed on social media for years. Was she going to be nice, on time, or exactly what people say she is like? I was almost entirely correct about the perception I had of her. In the back of my mind, I thought she would be a bit rude and self-important, but I didn’t want to believe that. This talk on Amazon’s Port was disappointing. I know there was a heat wave, but that added to the chaos. Bethenny appeared a few minutes late, cut speakers off when they were talking, and advertised the entire talk for Amazon AI. As a valued follower, I questioned whether I had actually watched her on social media because I had never heard her mention it before. I would only recommend this talk if they want to watch someone promote something they do not use and feel like they wasted half an hour!
Talk 4: Byron Sharp and Mark Ritson
Rate: 8/10
Reflection:
Going into this talk, I had no idea what to expect. I constantly heard, “Are you going to Byron Sharp’s talk?” I decided to go because what would I have to lose, and with that hype, I felt that the talk would be informative. From the 3 pages of notes I took, I personally did not remember much from the talk. I feel like if I want to remember something that stands out, I would remember it immediately. I did remember a few quotes he mentioned. If I wanted to start a business, what would I have that no one else has? I even mentioned that quote to my father today when we were talking about the stock market. Byron also mentioned mental availability. If you want to succeed and grow for yourself and your company, you need to start with mental availability to follow through. I liked that mentality, and as someone who wants to start her own company, I found that Byron made it clear what I should have in place before I start.
Talk 5: Japan’s Creative Code: Storytelling That Endures
Rate: 7.5/10
Reflection:
Notes: You are probably thinking, Palmer, why are you at a Japanese Storytelling talk at Cannes Lions? I do not really know, but some things you would not expect you end up liking. The talk had three speakers from all different backgrounds, but all Japanese. Sometimes they would be speaking Japanese, which was obviously hard for me to understand. From the talk, I learned how children in Japan are learning school lessons from AI. Children have the shortest attention span, and the AI lessons are helping them pay attention and learn. I also learned that timing is key when you want to start an app, a company, or a discussion (this piggybacked heavily on Byron Sharp’s discussion). Also, they reinforced the idea that time does not equal the time remembered. That was a key quote I heard from one of the speakers. I started thinking that a 10-minute conversation with someone can resonate and leave an impression for years to come. It actually set me up to feel more empowered for the rest of the talks, wondering what I would hear that would resonate. I would recommend this talk to people my age who want to do something like build an app or start a company. The only downside was that 10 minutes of the talk were in Japanese, and I had to read the subtitles quickly.
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