Young Cannes Lions Marketers Sirisha Pulapaka and Helen Luong report on day one
Sirisha Pulapaka, commercials channels and customers strategy marketing manager with Roads and Maritime Services and Helen Luong, CRM marketing executive with Audi Australia are in Cannes and report for CB.
With 9,000 of the most inspiring and creative people on the planet in one small French city, we decide to embrace crowd sourcing and ask delegates their advice to two questions that will have plagued advertisers at one point or another. What do I need to succeed and what makes this industry worth fighting for?
Our first interview was with Tom Beckman (pictured left), from Prime PR, global consumer agency of the year by the Holmes Report, and the first PR person ever invited to speak at the annual Cannes Independent Agency Showcase.
His talk covered the shift from building brands to taking stands. “Don’t create advocates,” Tom says. “Be an advocate.”
When asked what young people need to succeed, interestingly the answer was neither “talent” or “tenacity”.
“The most important thing to be successful in this industry is to be empathetic. If you can’t relate to how people think or feel, by definition you can’t relate to people.” He follows this wisdom up with a laugh. “And if you don’t have enough, work on it.”
And for times of doubt, we asked Tom what is it that makes him turn around and decide that this industry is worth staying in.
“There’s never been a more interesting time to be in our industry then right now, and the reason is that communication has become a tool for change. I have really welcomed the last few years of development in the field of media and how consumers are starting to demand companies act in a responsible way.”
As more companies embrace this we have more opportunity than ever before to change the world through the power of an idea.