CANNES DAILY DIARY: Day 3 with Bridget Harpur

The first thing I discovered about Cannes Lions is that it’s hot.
Not metaphorically hot. Actually hot.

The kind of hot where your T-shirt has melted into your skin by 10am, your sunglasses have steamed up, and even though we think we’re used to heat we find ourselves commenting on the temperature every twenty minutes.

The third thing is that nothing can really prepare you for it.

As a first-timer, Cannes Lions is overwhelming in the best and worst possible ways. There is simply too much to see, hear, learn and experience. Every morning presents an impossible choice: do you attend the breakfast everyone is talking about, or the keynote everyone says you can’t miss? Do you queue for one speaker or race across town in the sweltering heat for another? Everywhere you go, there is the nagging feeling that something equally brilliant is happening somewhere else. I was told to sign up to everything and then decide what to attend based on (walking) commuting time.

It’s exhilarating. It’s exhausting.
And occasionally, it’s a little disorientating.
Fortunately, I’m here with a few trusted friends who helped me navigate the madness, pointed me in the direction of the talks I shouldn’t miss, and occasionally reminded me it’s also OK to miss out. I’m Aries, this is uncomfortable for me!

I’ve listened to some of the most creative minds in the world share ideas that challenged, inspired and stretched my thinking. I saw Oprah command a room exactly as only Oprah can. She said many of the things you’d expect her to say, but somehow still landed with wisdom and optimism in a way that makes you feel a little better about humanity and our troubled world.

One of my personal highlights was Jon Evans, “The Uncensored CMO”, who I listen to on a weekly basis. His message about the power of surprise landed in a simple to understand and clear way. In a week full of carefully crafted narratives, authenticity always stands out.

And then there are the awards.

The scale, the production, the theatre of it all is extraordinary to say the least. The Cannes Lions stage is unlike anything I’ve seen. And I love how every winner represents an idea that started somewhere small — a conversation, a brief, a spark — before becoming work that was crafted to death to earn this global recognition. It struck me over and over again that the best ideas are always the simple ones. The ‘ahhhhh’ or ‘ohhhhhh, of COURSE’ ones. 

But as inspiring as the talks, awards and networking have been, the thing I’ll remember most isn’t any single speaker or session.
It’s the South Africans. Us! We are just so everything!

Being thousands of kilometres from home has a way of reminding you who your homies are. Throughout the week, South Africans showed up for one another. We celebrated our wins. We shared recommendations, introductions, encouragement and occasionally a much-needed rose 😃.