Advertising Executives Share Their Cannes Survival Tips

On top of the JW Marriott in Cannes, France, top marketing executives gathered to discuss the best practices of omnichannel marketing, with sponsor partner Selligent Marketing Cloud. But, since this was only the opening night of the Cannes Lions festival, the conversation’s topic (and surrounding soirée) soon turned to helpful advice on surviving the week ahead.

Burger King’s global head of brand marketing, Marcelo Pascoa, made sure the crowd of Cannes veterans and newcomers alike understood the point of the festival overall.

Marcelo Pascoa discusses what makes Burger King's marketing strategy so tasty.

“Instead of trying to be the coolest kid in town, try to learn anything that you can,” Pascoa said. “Nobody is hooking up all the time. Everything you’ve heard about Cannes being crazy and wild is a lie.”

Kristen D’Arcy, head of performance marketing and media for American Eagle Outfitters, reminded the audience of Adweek and Selligent’s panel to visit the winning work from around the world. After polling the crowd to see who had a Cannes Lion award under their belt already, she said “it’s easy to get pulled into workshops and beach parties, but go back and see what’s won in order to get inspired,” she said. “Go back [home] and keep kicking ass.”

(L. to r.) Lisa Granatstein, Marcelo Pascoa, Kristen D’Arcy, Nick Worth and Stacy Minero discuss omnichannel marketing to kick off the Cannes Lions festival.

With a healthy reminder about everyone’s schedules, Twitter Fuel’s head of brand strategy, Stacy Minero told festivalgoers to not overbook themselves. By not overprogramming, people have more of a chance for spontaneous conversations and connections that could prove to be worthwhile.

Nick Worth, CMO of Selligent Marketing Cloud, also pointed out that “the whole world comes here. So you have an opportunity to connect with people from everywhere.”

The audience, full of Cannes-goers both new and returning, enjoyed refreshments and insights.

All in all, the panelists shared their insights about 360-degree marketing, with an emphasis on using platforms and media that feel relevant to their actual consumer, and shared their insights about the festival in general.

“Get out of here feeling bad about yourself,” said Pascoa, encouraging the crowd to try and better their skill sets.

Stacy Minero, Twitter Fuel’s head of brand strategy, shared how Twitter uses Twitter to market itself.

Sami Main

@samimain sami.main@adweek.com Sami Main is social editor for Adweek, where she posts Adweek content onto social platforms and looks for creative ways to communicate what's new.