In accordance with Mayo Clinic, the typical American grownup walks someplace between 3,000 and 4,000 steps a day. That’s a determine that may make veteran media govt Lou Paskalis little wanting Superman.
“My file is 28,000 steps in sooner or later, based on my Apple watch,” mentioned Paskalis, chief technique officer of Advert Fontes Media.
What might probably immediate a company chief to hoof it that tough? It’s time to lace up for the Cannes Lions Worldwide Competition of Creativity.
Paskalis was a visitor on the inaugural episode of the Cannes Dispatch, hosted by ADWEEK chief govt officer Will Lee and chief expertise officer Jenny Rooney. The three-part podcast sequence captures the thrill and distills the intelligence from this storied occasion on the French Riviera.
Cannes Lions is now in its 70th yr, although it bears little resemblance to what it regarded like even 25 years in the past. In 1999, Paskalis recalled, the pageant was simply what its identify implied: a flashy conclave for advert executives to indicate off their work.
Advert magnate Michael Kassan (whose abrupt departure from MediaLink in March put him on ADWEEK’S June cowl) remembers a second he realized Cannes was altering.
“One of many world’s largest entrepreneurs turned to me and mentioned, ‘Michael, do we have to take note of this social media factor?’” mentioned Kassan, additionally a featured podcast visitor.
The revolution of Net 2.0 rewrote the promoting playbook and the Cannes Lions program together with it. Right now, the programming and networking alternatives supply as a lot for a chief information officer as a chief advertising and marketing officer.
But simply as Cannes has drawn a bigger cross-section of pros, the popularity persists of a champagne-splashed clique of highly effective white males. Shelley Zalis, founding father of the advocacy group The Feminine Quotient, remembers it effectively.
Zalis’ reminiscence of her first time at Cannes was plodding again to her resort by herself. “I wasn’t invited to any of the events,” the podcast visitor mentioned. “I keep in mind feeling like: How am I ever going to really feel included right here?”
It’s a painful reminiscence—but in the end a fruitful one.
Right now, the Feminine Quotient’s phases the Equality Lounge, a networking occasion the place identify tags aren’t permitted—immediately meting out with job-title elitism.
Lee and Rooney requested company to share some survival suggestions for these 5 very important, kinetic and aggravating days within the solar. Right here’s a sampling:
• Put aside time to stroll the Palais flooring and “see a few of the inventive concepts for inspiration,” Paskalis mentioned. An concept that labored in Brazil can in all probability be tailored for New York.
• Ritzy setting apart, deal with Cannes as severe work. “If you happen to come house from Cannes with a suntan and a sore liver,” Kassan mentioned, “you’ve finished the flawed factor.”
