CANNES DAILY DIARY: Day 4 with Cameron Watson
South Africa’s Cannes Daily Diary, brought to you by IDIDTHAT and VRtuosus. Following South Africa’s creative virtuosos at Cannes Lions 2026.
In this diary, we get a two-for-one Cannes special from Accenture Song ECD Cameron Watson. From the nerves and pride of presenting ‘The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix’ to the Titanium jury, to Silver Lion celebrations, Saffa meet-ups, and the beautiful blur that makes Cannes feel like one giant, sun-drenched fever dream, Cameron’s says it perfectly.
Don’t be fooled, the IDIDTHAT Cannes Daily diary is a misnomer. Cannes doesn’t have delineated days like the other 51 weeks of the year, it is just a week mixed, stirred and smooshed together to make one single ‘day’ in your memory just like an Aperol Spritz. When given the responsibility of writing this, I thought I was Wednesday’s reporter, but I then found out I was Thursday’s reporter. So you’re getting a 2 for 1 special deal here. Something you won’t find in any of the Cannes restaurants.
By Cameron Watson | Day 4: Thursday (or was it Wednesday?)
I’m sure it has been said by others already but it can’t be overstated as to how BIG Cannes has become. I haven’t had enough sleep to calculate it, but I reckon if you put everything in single back to back session – all the talks, parties, events, meet ups, listen sessions, yoga sunrise’s and inspiration deep dives – you’d probably be able to stretch Cannes to last months, not just 6 days.
Added to the buzz of this year, we had to prepare for a Titanium presentation first thing Wednesday morning, which meant that up until then all things Cannes really did have to wait.
Let’s go!
Up early to ensure everyone has enough time to cycle through the single bathroom, we assign a master of the apartment keys as we work our way down to the croisette to start the 20 minute walk to the Palais.
Mercifully the heat has not set in at 8am, and we manage to make it to the Palais with only a mild onset of the sweats.
Passes scanned, we get into the Cannes Lions delegate area and head for the Speakers entrance. A nervy coffee, and then as our time arrives we head up through the bowels of the Palais to the auditorium that the Titanium shortlists present their ideas to the judges panel, along with any delegates that want to watch. The place is packed.
Leandi and Greg take the stage to represent The Philipstown WireCar Foundation campaign. It is a moment that has so many emotions rolled into it, but the one I remember is just one of pride. Proud of the team, proud of the work, proud of South Africa standing up and sharing this story with the world.
The 10 minute presentation is a time warp, and all of a sudden it is over. The team have smashed it, and we can breathe a collective sigh of relief and head out to meet the rest of the team. As we exit we get to see our work represented in the ACT Responsibly auditorium and all place our votes and send the call out to the Saffa whatsapp group to help our cause(more on that whatsapp group later).
Somehow it is already 11am and we have yet to have anything to eat, and under the guise of finding somewhere to have a celebratory tequila we head out to actually find breakfast, which means we join our first queue of the day. You queue a lot in Cannes. Far too much, and no matter how famous you may be 100m away in the Palais, or how many wristbands you have on your arm with the letter V I P on them, the French hostess will still ignore you as you try to catch her eye.
Leaving breakfast we need to return the physical wire car to our apartment and get our phones charged up past that worrying 20% mark. Which means the walk back along the croisette, which is now like Canal Walk on Christmas Eve, so it takes 3 times longer than it did earlier in the day. It is here that you overhear conversations and bump into people you haven’t seen in years.
Just as we arrive at the other side of Cannes at our apartment we get the email from the Lions team, we have won a silver Lion. High fives and a flurry of messages later, we bid adieu to the aircon and head back to the Palais for the official photo op on the infamous red stairs with the trophy (and SA flag).
Formalities over, we check the time and have to make the 2km journey to the Carlton for a client meeting. Once again we hit the Croisette and all it has to offer.
As you walk you see some of the most outrageous things. Super cars, super yachts, and super weird people, all in one place.
Afternoon is becoming evening, and food becomes a priority once again. Unfortunately everyone now has the same priority and the restaurants are packed.
It is around this time that your phone pings to remind you of your usual bedtime and you call for the bill, it is still light but it is 10pm.
Back on the croisette and check we have the right QR code to get into the Yahoo Tiesto party. On the way we pause to listen to Mumford and Sons at the Spotify beach, but by the time we get to Yahoo the queue is once again ridiculous, and we never make it in. So instead we watch/listen from the street and we are treated to a brilliant drone show before hitting the beach right behind the Tiesto set.
We call it a night, or is it a morning, and try get some sleep.
Bafana Bafana beat South Korea in the soccer. The WhatsApp group explodes while I sleep.
Morning (the first late one of the trip) and we’re back on the Croisette with the sole aim of getting to a talk in the Palais. As we walk we check in to a few of the brand exhibits and listen to talks.
A client meeting at the Canva Beach means we’re on the move again. Airconditioning in the meeting cubicle is a godsend. After the meeting we manage to catch the end of a talk from Zoom and the power of connectedness, while eating probably the best pistachio gelato I’ve ever tasted.
It is hot, and I know everyone has said it, but it needs reiterating, it is crazy hot. While walking you become shadow hunters. We gatecrash the tail end of a lunch of fellow Saffas at the Carlton beach and the pull of the blue Mediterranean Sea becomes too much, we have to swim. It is glorious.
Time has melted in the sun and all of a sudden it is time to be at ACT Responsibly stand for the awards ceremony. While listening to the opening speeches for the awards you are reminded of the power we have to create proper change through the work that we do.
We’ve missed the South African photo organised by IDIDTHAT. Bleak. But from all the messages on the whatsapp group we can see that Saffas showed up and represented beautifully. We do make it to the South Africa meetup drinks at Hemisphere where we’re able to connect with our fellow countrymen. Some we see every week, some we haven’t seen in decades. It is a beautiful event and one that really is the jewel of the Saffa experience in Cannes.
Next is dinner and not only do we manage to find a table, but we also may have found the only friendly waiter in the whole of France. I can’t overstate how good we have it in SA.
We hot foot it back along the croisette to get to the Shots party on the beach. Mercifully there is no queue and we make it inside. Once again we bump into people we haven’t seen in ages, and as the music builds and the drinks tokens are exchanged, the night slips into morning and my day is done and I can hand over the torch to Ward who is doing tomorrow’s diary entry. This photo is the handover point. Good luck Paul.
As I said when I started, Cannes is a merged experience that has no defined start or finish and everyone has a different version of that experience. Some days you are bouncing from meeting to meeting, some days you manage to sit and let inspiring talks fill your brain, and some days you manage to escape the experience all together and just marvel at the fact that you are sitting on a beach in the south of France and you feel so damn fortunate to be doing so.
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