SOUTH AFRICA AT CANNES: Day 3 by Andrea Quaye
From paying her own way to Cannes to now judging one of the festival’s most prestigious categories, Andrea Quaye, Marketing Director at Heineken Beverages, brings a sharp perspective and love for the craft. On Day 3, she takes us inside her more intentional approach to the week filled with meaningful connections and a reminder that, yes, Club Duvet by 10pm is a real Cannes flex.
By Andrea Quaye | Day 3 at Cannes Lions 2025
As a young marketer, it never occurred to me that I would ever travel to the Cannes Festival. I had heard of it from my agency partners, but it was never on my radar, until we won a couple of golds in 2012 and I saw a picture of my agency colleagues on stage receiving the awards with a South African Flag.
From that moment, I wanted to be inspired by the best of the best work and people. This is my 4th Cannes and I have always treated the experience as an investment in me as a marketer & business leader. So much so that I paid for myself the first 2 times I came to Cannes.
The Work & Learning
This time round, I had the privilege of judging the brand activation and experiences category with some of the most brilliant jurors from all corners of the world. My first days at Cannes was spent feeding my brain and my craft by going through and discussing 296 cases from different industries and continents.
Wednesday, The People
I woke up early (7am) on Wednesday with a clear intention to meet with colleagues & friends for meaningful connections. In all my previous visits, I went with the flow, moving from 1 venue to another at Cannes, leaving who I met and spent time with to chance. I wanted to try a more deliberate approach this year – and to be honest, it has worked well for me.
I started the day catching up with a dear friend and colleague, Luca and Debbie in the Omnicom tent, meeting his global colleagues and bumping into my global CMO, Bram.
I then went to the Heineken Curated Experience at the brand Village, met a few of my global colleagues and listened to Mark Ritson. It was good to be reminded about the science of marketing and the 3 ingredients to building sustainably strong brands. Emotion-Fluency-Time. He spoke about a Mini-MBA that I am sure to investigate.
Off I went to the Majestic Hotel to catch up with Peter from BLK@ to connect about his incredible progress, his organisation is leading the inclusivity in the creative economy. We shared a burger, delicious French champagne and lots of laughs.
I then popped up to the 7th floor to meet up with Tebogo at the WPP Mixer! Took a picture with Michael Johnson (so I could show my husband!!) had a little rose!
And finally at 8pm I joined the Publicis (Koo & Pete) and TikTok team for supper at Vesivio for delicious, simple Italian food, great wine and awesome conversations.
I was in club duvet by 10pm. I have finally learnt that nothing, I mean nothing good happens after 10pm!
Signing off for Wednesday!
Here’s what you need to know about our Cannes Lions 2025 Partners LITTLEBIG:
LITTLEBIG is a team-focused, quality-obsessed production company that backs South African creativity where it counts: behind the scenes, on set, and on the world stage. They’ve been with us every step of the way to Cannes and we couldn’t be prouder to partner with them.
Read more about LITTLEBIG partnering with IDIDTHAT to bring you all the South Africans in Cannes news 2025
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From paying her own way to Cannes to now judging one of the festival’s most prestigious categories, Andrea Quaye, Marketing Director at Heineken Beverages, brings a sharp perspective and love for the craft. On Day 3, she takes us inside her more intentional approach to the week filled with meaningful connections and a reminder that, yes, Club Duvet by 10pm is a real Cannes flex.
