EXPLORING CANNES & FUELLING CREATIVITY AT THE CANNES LIONS FESTIVAL

Cannes Lions 2016; Thank You For The Creativity

If you follow me on instagram or snapchat (@mediamarmalade) then you will have probably noticed that this week i’ve been in one of my favourite countries France, and more specifically in beautiful Cannes for the Cannes Lions festival. The Cannes Lions festival is a global conference celebrating creativity, innovation and fantastic work around Europe and the World, and it was such a treat to get the opportunity to attend … and not just attend but present too.

On Friday afternoon myself and two colleagues closed the Cannes Lions week & the Entertainment stage with a talk all about purposeful content, meaningful connections and an idea we had to use our experience and passions to break a band! The week was packed with parties, luxe lunches and networking, as well as tech rehearsals, scripting and of course all the last minute logistics of doing a talk at an event as huge as Cannes Lions.

The week was a whirlwind, but this weekend was the perfect opportunity to unwind and explore the city before I head to Paris tonight for meetings next week. Quite naturally I grabbed my camera & went exploring … and took some time to reflect on all the inspiration & creativity i’d been exposed to.

3 THINGS I LEARNT ABOUT CREATIVITY AT THE 2016 CANNES LIONS

Aside from showcasing the beauty of Cannes, which is well worth visiting if you haven’t already (I only wished I had someone with me this weekend or more time in the week so I could have shot some outfit shots to share with you, every street is so picturesque), I thought i’d share some of the wisdom I took away from this week.

Balancing Commercial & Creativity

I was lucky enough to join an intimate talk with Sir Martin Sorrell and Wyclef Jean earlier in the week, and whilst the pairing might seem bizarre on paper, the Q&A itself was super interesting and relevant to any creative looking to commercialise their talent (like us bloggers). Whilst Wyclef was talking about staying relevant (and commercially successful) in an ever changing and ever growing industry he talked about the importance of always staying pure, and true to your art and creative style. Maintaining your originality is critical, but always learning and finding new ways to showcase your creativity is the opportunity that allows you to stay commercially sustainable. For bloggers, it reaffirmed the importance of maintaining your integrity and carving your own niche, because if the work is original and good, people will come.

Often the Best Ideas Are Born From Great Ambition & Considerable Constraints

The whole premise of our Cannes Lions talk was based on Adam Morgans recent quote that the best ideas are those born from great ambition but significant constraints, and it’s something that really resonated with me. Success doesn’t come easy, and luck just doesn’t land at your feet, it really is about having an ambition, a purpose and a passion, that is strong enough to allow you to overcome the inevitable constraints that you will likely be faced with. Don’t be afraid to push yourself, to challenge norms and to do something with real purpose, often those are the best ideas, and deliver the best results.

Art & Science

Art and science is an old phrase these days, but for me it still sums up the beauty of creativity and tech quite well, especially as a blogger and someone who constantly mixes my creativity (style, photography, writing) with new technology (running a website, coding, exploring new tech start ups, social media & using data to optimise my strategy). The leaders of Pinterest & Mashable indulged in a great talk all about how their platforms merge both art and science to deliver more relevant, more engaging and better optimised content for their audiences. From Washables ‘Velocity’ data machine helping them create articles based on the ‘next hot topic’, to Pinterest evolving the platform to help deliver more tailored content but also helping retail partners adapt products based on consumer trends and demands.

The power of art and science is significant, and for  me as a blogger this means two things; firstly knowing how to analyse and understand my data so I can optimise the content I produce based on who my audience is and the content they love to read (whilst staying true to my passion points), and secondly my  distribution strategy, the social channels I use, the day of week I post, the time of day my features go live etc.

The Cannes Lions festival is a wonderfully inspirational and fabulous event that this year I was lucky enough to attend, it’s work hard, play hard, and it leaves you feeling utterly inspired for creativity and innovation. But it’s not just the Lions, Cannes itself certainly evokes some inspiration, the vibrant city is the perfect place to relax, the perfect place to people watch and the perfect place to fill your boots with ideas. I for one certainly feel re-invigorated and excited to put some of what I learnt here this week into action.

Did you enjoy this little Cannes photo diary come creativity post?