Sophie Woods’ Cannes Diary: Day Three

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IMG_0431.jpgSophie Woods is a producer for The OTTO Empire and is attending her first Cannes Lions, attending as a ‘Young Lion’ delegate. She reports exclusively for Campaign Brief.

They all told me “don’t go too hard too soon”. And did I listen? No. I did not.

SLOW NEWS REPORTER DAY

HOW NOT TO CENSOR ISIS

HOW TO MAKE YOUR MISTAKES AT THE START (IRONIC MUCH)

HOW TO MAKE IT ONTO THE STAGE AT CANNES TO SING AND DANCE

Well, I guess I’ve learnt my lesson. But I have no regrets. Last night’s young lions gala was absolutely insane. I made about 500 friends whose names I may never know. I also thought it would be really funny to enlist one of my new friends for a deranged mission to help me go through the dance floor and slip my business card into people’s pockets. That’s called #massmarketing, folks.

After very slowly making my way down the spiral staircase in our apartment building, I made it to the seminars. Honestly, I feel like that’s what they should be awarding here. Real Aussie battler accomplishments. My first seminar for the day was hosted by two Google execs and centred around Youtube and censorship, which was super full on. When it came to the question of ISIS their suggested method of countering the voices of radicalisation is to make noise in the name of deradicalisation, and support the people fighting the good fight. Makes sense. We watched some risque videos which got the blood pumping, and it was crazy to think that those people on stage have to decide whether hosting a beheading video on your site is ok.

IMG_0449.jpgDavid Shanks from Oliver Agency explained that time is a creative asset in the sense that with less time, you don’t have a chance to faff around and second guess yourself. You work quickly, make your mistakes at the start, move on and get shit done. It’s a really simple way of changing your attitude on tight deadlines and working at the speed of current audience consumption and demand.

Ok this is the part I kind of wanted to make my whole blog about. I went to the +Castro #Worst Cannes Lions Talk Ever FullSizeRender-1.jpgand our curiosity was rewarded with an insane seminar featuring Backstreet Boys music, two incredible and highly respected agency heads dressed in Sea Captain costumes and speaking only in Spanish, and a group karaoke session where we were invited to dance on stage. Definitely did not fall asleep in that one! Very very fun and silly and a perfect end to the day of seminars.

Tonight we party with the Dutch at the JongeHonden Slumberparty so I guess we’ll see whether I wake up tomorrow at all.

Oh and yes I missed Pharell’s seminar this morning but I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.