iDidTht & Ster-Kinekor Partner to bring you #SAatCannes Live 2019

Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity – here we come! Once again iDidTht will be your go-to-destination when it comes to bringing you all the big South African news live from Cannes. We’ve booked our apartment (‘A quant rustic, shabby chic, fixer-upper’ Read: ‘The Rand gets you this tiny box complete with mousetrap and pillow’) and we’re all set to hit the Croisette!

Each year iDidTht teams up with a partner to bring the South African ad industry all the Cannes coverage and most importantly shout from the rooftops about the work you’ve created that’s being celebrated on the biggest global advertising stage. A massive thank you has to go out to our partner this year, the team that showcases great moments at their greatest, Ster-Kinekor, for enabling us to keep everyone back home in SA informed and celebrated! Big ideas deserve the Big Screen and we couldn’t be more excited about this collab.

“We’re excited to partner with Ster-Kinekor Sales this year to bring you all of South Africa’s Cannes news. They’ve been the official South African representatives at Cannes for so many years, continuously supporting and uplifting South Africa’s creativity on the global stage. Both our brands have similar objectives: promoting and building the culture of South Africa’s ad industry and therefore this partnership really felt like the perfect fit. We believe that in joining forces we can achieve more and have a greater impact on the industry. And of course, who better to partner with for Cannes than the brand that has the very words ‘Big Brands. Big Ideas. Big Impact’ in their logo! – That’s what we’re hoping for South Africa’s Cannes results this year!” – Julie Maunder, Founder of iDidTht.com   

South Africa’s Cannes Predictions by iDidTht – Now live

Our fearless industry leaders; Devin Kennedy, ECD at King James Group Cape Town; Kabelo Moshapalo, ECD at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris; Molefi Thulo, CD at Ogilvy Johannesburg; Steph Van Niekerk, CD at Grey Africa; and Suhana Gordhan, CD at FCB Johannesburg selected this year’s list of South Africa’s Cannes Predictions. They channeled their inner-psychics by selecting the work that they think will win in Cannes. Have a look at what they predict will be picking up that heavy-Lion-metal this year.

We’re tweeting out South Africa’s Shortlists as they’re announced every day

iDidTht will be the first to bring you the live results during Cannes (17-21 June). We’ll be tweeting out all of SA’s shortlists as soon as we receive them, as well as showcasing all the SA shortlists, the work, companies involved and winners, with an up to date tracker so you can follow it all live on iDidTht.com. All the work will be linked back to iDidTht companies involved, so you can find out who to work with. Check in to this dedicated page with all the updates on the 16^th of June to follow all SA’s featured results at Cannes and find out who’s winning what.

We’re tweeting out South Africa’s Winners live from the awards

The awards run over all 5 nights during Cannes week, kicking off at 19:00 France time (we Googled it and that’s also 19:00 SA time #Magic) and we’ll be there live-tweeting and screaming wildly every time SA is awarded. Follow us on these Twitter accounts to keep up-to-date on all South Africa’s results as they happen: @ididtht and @SAatCannes. And make sure to check into our ‘South Africa’s Cannes Results’ page after the awards every night for a complete summary of who won what on the night.

Follow ‘Frannes in Cannes’ for daily takeouts

Follow our Insta-Stories for the Big Picture

Follow us on Instagram (@ididthat.co) for the general Cannes vibe; what’s happening on the ground, famous faces we bump into, those golden moments of our South Africans representing on the global stage, winners wielding their Lions on the red carpet, winners falling over their Lions at the Gutter Bar, stalking celebrities and of course the tradition of the annual family portrait of all the Saffers representing in Cannes. Again, a massive fist-bump goes out to our partners at Ster-Kinekor for making this all possible for us. We’ll fly the flag high!

Cannes Content Programme 2019

Apart from the actual award shows, another biggie in Cannes is the awe-inspiring list of global industry leaders who appear onstage during the week tackling some hot industry topics and believe us, it’s a pretty impressive list. BUT, guys, there’s also a whole bunch of like super famous celebs which has totally distracted us and instantly transformed us into squealing fangirls; from Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington and John Legend to Laura Dern, Lorne Michaels and Marie Kondo! It’s basically Huisgenoot interviews happening live before your very eyes!

*And breathe*

Now, to help you find your way through the hundreds of sessions and conversations happening this year – here’s a handy guide: The 2019 content programme will be focused on 10 themes. The Cannes Fest people spoke to over 900 global leading industry experts to help them shape these themes. They shared their concerns, insights and visions for the future of the industry and used that feedback to inform the programme.

The themes this year are: Brands in culture; Re-imagining storytelling; Proving the value of creativity; Embracing inclusion, equality & diversity; Future-proofing creative organisations; Winning in the digital economy; Creative strategy & how to reach the reluctant consumer; The new rules on brand purpose; Creating exceptional consumer experience; Trust, ethics & transparency.

10 key questions that will be answered onstage include:

1. How can you infiltrate popular culture and stay relevant at scale?
2. How do we strike the right balance between purpose and profit?
3. How can creative strategy build brands to drive performance & growth?
4. How can modern technologies improve the art of storytelling?
5. How do we use creativity to drive exceptional consumer experiences?
6. What creative business models thrive in a direct to consumer world?
7. How can we drive diversity of thought to deliver more positive and better work?
8. How can creativity deliver competitive advantage in the long & the short term?
9. How can we meet consumers wherever they are in both the physical & digital world?
10. How do we fix the issue of trust, ethics and transparency in creative marketing communications?

For those Saffers at home wanting to follow the conversation or just stare at famous people, The Digital Pass is the inside track to the conversation, debates and big ideas from the most sought-after minds in the creative and marketing community. You can access main stage talks; insights behind the award-winning work; exclusive interviews with industry thought-leaders and more. It’s like digitally being there – do it!

If anyone has got to this point in the article, firstly well done, that’s a lot of reading for 2019, but if you’re thinking ‘Whatever, awards don’t matter for brands’ just hang on there 😲and give this puppy a read: The Case for Creativity

Now that we’ve got past that, cut this out and stick it on your computer screen so you NEVER embarrass yourself in a meeting again with words like ‘We don’t need to get creative on this guys, we just need something that works’ (FYI: This comment is obvs not directed at agency folks 😉)

Good luck to our SA judges representing in Cannes

We could not be prouder of these 7 South African superheroes who have been chosen to form part of the judging panel in Cannes this year. We wish you all Hulk-like strength for what lies ahead and remember SA has your back and we’re all basically sitting on your shoulders screaming ‘Fight, fight, fight!’

1. Tseliso Rangaka, ECD of Ogilvy Cape Town – Radio & Audio
2. Neo Mashigo, COO M&C Saatchi Group – Print and Publishing
3. Ryan McManus, CCO, VML – Entertainment
4. Michael Zylstra, chief strategy officer, Dentsu Aegis Network – Media
5. Nikki Taylor-Garrett, CD at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris – Brand Experience & Activations
6. Fran Luckin – CCO at Grey Advertising – Film
7. Claudi Potter, CD at Joe Public – Direct Marketing

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