Protect Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
How to experience Cannes with the least amount of damage to your self-worth.
The sun in June is quite strong in the south of France. It luxuriates over the Mediterranean Sea, but if you’re not careful, it can damage your skin.
And in Cannes, the coastal town along the Mediterranean which hosts the annual Festival of Creativity, its unique heat can damage your ego.
You see, every year, after the Hollywood Cannes and before the Adult Film Cannes, there’s the Advertising Cannes: The Cannes Lions.
Mais oui, on the third week of June, without fail (save for a pandemic) global Madison Avenue, the media companies and the tech companies descend upon the charming coastal city for a week of schmoozing, boozing, creative-jurying, Lion-awarding, preening, hob-nobbing, two-cheek-air-kissing, deal-making, rose-swilling, yachting, gutter-barring…and yes…learning.
But put a pin in that last one — learning. We’ll come back to that tout suite.
During the festival there is nothing more soul-crushing than waking up each morning (or afternoon depending on the night before) and combing through the “shortlists.”
The shortlists are the lists of creative work that the juries have debated and approved to contend for the awards in each category: Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Unlike the rest of life these days, Cannes is quite old school: Not everyone gets a trophy.
Indeed, the odds are not in your favor.
The math maths like this: Over 30,000 entries from something like 90 different global markets which yields a 3% win rate.
Bien sur, on average, you have a 3% chance of winning an award.
3%.
Trois. Pour. Cent.
Put another way, there’s a 97% chance your work will be ignored.
Nearly 100% zip, zilch…rien.
Yet hope springs eternal.
So each day, you comb through the shortlists in search of your company or client’s name and your idea.
If you make the shortlist, no matter what happens after, you can deal with it.
And seeing your stuff on the shortlist puts a spring in your step that is even more potent than the very good espresso you find all over the Côte d'Azur.
But if you don’t make the list…mon Dieu.
Suddenly, the sun is too bright. The hotel room is too hot. The Croissette is too crowded. The croissants are…well, the croissants are always amazing in France. Grâce au ciel.
But otherwise, your soul is crushed. (And by the way, you can experience this even if you’re not on terra firma and you’re following the festival along from places like Adelaide to Chicago to São Paulo.
How do you deal with the misery of not being on the shortlist?
How do you deal with the dread of being ignored? The seeming sin of the no-win.
How can you survive Cannes without a Lion?
It goes back to learning.
The trick is to turn Cannes from a week of self-loathing to a week of self-improving.
What can you learn?
What can you learn about storytelling from something you saw that you really loved?
What can you learn about new technology — you know the A.I. people are going to be out in full-force.
What can you learn about people? About different cultures? About the world?!
In other words, don’t go to Cannes to get something. Go to Cannes to learn something.
Cannes is actually one big classroom and experience to get your Phd in creativity — year after year.
Forget your ego. Focus on your eyes and ears.
Focus on your mind.
This is the secret.
Nelson Mandela said it best:
“I never lose. I either win or learn something.”
Image: Midjourney