The Not-Going-to-Cannes-Lions Marketer and Creator's Survival Guide
I was deeply uncool growing up. My mom wanted to instill in us that what mattered most was on the inside and so she absolutely was not going to support me in my pleas to buy Limited Too underwear or Abercrombie & Fitch polos just so I could match every other girl in my class. I was on the Varsity volleyball team, where my teammates talked about Sailor Moon and studying; not the Girls Soccer Team that usually won the conference and walked liked it; and not the hot girls on cross country who swapped tips about how to eat less and where to put your hands when a boy starts kissing you.
We grow out of high school, but we still know the feeling of literally not being at the cool kids table. It doesn't leave us.
I love my work. I love it. I love being a marketer and I love being a creator. And one of my favorite parts is the amazing relationships I have with people across both spaces. I've met titans of the ad industry and huge creators and they've all been wonderfully generous and I get to call a lot of them friends. So many of them have extended themselves in pure generosity and friendship simply because we met through someone, or at an event, or--a personal favorite-- we exchanged witticisms in the comment section.
And so if you're going to Cannes Lions I love that for you; and I know you'll get tremendous value, and this article isn't to upset you or guilt you or jinx you or trigger you or be better or make us not friends anymore or secretly hate on you, it isn't for you.
It's for the marketer or creator who's sincerely considering maxing out their credit cards (because I've seen the posts). It's for the person who has that same feeling I used to have growing up. You know, the one where you feel like you'll never fit in. These are the two people I want to speak to, because every bad decision I've made in my career has come from the fear that I'm good enough.
1 To the person who thinks they're the only one not going:
You're in the industry so you already know that social media algorithms play favorites. Not just with people, but with topics. That's why sometimes when you ask your friend who isn't chronically online what they think about what's flooding your feed, they haven't seen it.
I'm not going to lie to you: Being in the room is powerful. But success in this industry also involves resourcefulness and while you can't be there, here are two things you can do.
Capture Learnings: Great news! Cannes Lions is going to be flooded with content creators and marketers growing a personal band. These people are in an industry March Madness bracket to get you to see their posts and subscribe to their newsletter. The amount of content-rich content about content we're about to see is going to be exorbitant. The fact you know several dozen people with platforms going--read their posts! Subscribe to their newsletters! Leave a comment with your question! They love that stuff. They want to be seen as an expert, you want to benefit from the expertise. Match.Made.In.Heaven.
Network. I'm going to go back the days I wrote an advice column for The Muse and give you a script. This really happened last week, and it really led to an outcome I'm excited about:
Person I'm Excited to Network With: Will you be in Cannes next week?
Me: I won't be in Cannes but I’d love to chat after and hear all about it! Are you free [time] or [time]?
Person: Yes!
[invite sent and confirmed]
Cannes is not the last life boat off the Titanic. Will there be priceless networking opportunities? Sure! Are they your only chance? Only if you tell yourself that!
2. To the person considering a terrifying financial expense "to be there":
I think of the viral social success of LaNia the Artist, who earlier this year filmed a video in Paris where she said "Watch the sun hit my face. Bonjour!". That video went mega viral (garnering many of the 48 Millions views it has at present in just a day or two) and got her top-tier press and changed her career on social media.
She made a subsequent video that got a fraction of the views from her car a couple of days later. She was in tears over an eviction notice. She had spent her rent money on that Paris trip and the brands in her comments weren't in her DMs and if they were not in a monetarily meaningful way. Now, the fact that over the course of that trip, she went MEGA viral, she made a follow-up to the follow-up video that she got her rent paid and management. And since, her feed is full of more travels. I love that for her. It's real for her. And it's also a Cinderella story.
Which is to say, the messaging that:
you only have one life to live
take the chance on yourself
being in the room will change your life
you are who you surround yourself with
no one will be believe in you if you don't believe in you
change won't come from doing the same thing
is all true. And it also happens to be the exact messaging predatory marketers use to get people to take out payday loans to buy a $20K seat at their next event.
You shouldn't let anyone stop you from listening to your inner voice. You should remember the people telling you they're proud of you for taking out and maxing out a credit card to go to Cannes Lions won't be paying off its interest.
Career-changing moments are real. Conversations and connections and opportunities that catapult you ahead are real. I believe they'll be at Cannes Lions. And I believe they'll happen for people who don't go, too. So please remember the left-out feeling is a combination of the genuine joy of people who you like and admire, a barometer of where you'd like to be that you can use any way you'd like to, and the algorithm, rage-baiting you into feeling like you're not enough because you hover over those posts so it's serving you more.
