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Cannes Lions 2017 - The Download

Join the next CS Mini Cannes on the 19th July at Twitter where the panel of speakers include Trevor Robinson (Founder of Quiet Storm) who will talk to us about Creative Bravery, Nadya Powell (Utopia) and Henry Cowling (Unit 9) will take us through their own judging experiences while Shahnaz Ahmed (Livity) andJaki Jo Hannan (AMVBBDO) will tell us about their See It Be It Experience. Finally Claire Beale (Campaign) will host a panel made up of Johnny Vulkan (Anomaly), Sille Opstrup (Pernod Ricard) and Elizabeth Cherian (JWT) to look into the future. More info and tickets here..(with a special 10% discount)
We asked Shahnaz Ahmed, Senior Graphic Designer at Livity and Founder of Knit Aid to give us the Cannes Lions 2017 download with a few probing questions.
Shahnaz was attending the week-long festival as a member of the See It, Be It initiative which was launched as a response to the gender imbalance in our industry – an estimated 25% of agency creatives are women, and only 11% will reach creative director level – with the ultimate aim of changing the ratio of women leaders in agency creative departments.
A select group of 15 women are chosen each year. They take part in a series of main stage seminars curated specially for the programme, get behind-the-scenes jury room access to learn what goes into stand-out campaigns and benefit from specially designed workshops with awarded senior creatives. They also have one-to-one mentoring with a host of the most respected industry leaders and a range of networking opportunities at their fingertips.

Sum up Cannes Lions in 140 characters

Cannes Lions See It Be It has been eye-opening, life-changing, tribe-forming. Learning to be my most fearless, empathetic, authentic self.

Which talk inspired you the most and why?

'Seeing is Believing: The Power of Re-picturing Stereotypes' led by Getty Images
A panel with:
Piera Gelardi, Co Founder and ECD of Refinery29,
Lena Waithe, Actor, Producer, Screenwriter
Braden Summers, Photographer
Campbell Addy, Photographer
There's been a lot of talk about diversity in our industry but it's often around gender diversity. There were a few talks touching on the true meaning of diversity at Cannes Lions – what it means for concepts of gender, race, LGBTQ, religion and disabilities, and the fact that they can all be intersectional - and this one led by Getty Images was one of them. The importance of including this in our work means that there is true representation of our audience and what that means for society as a whole. Being truly diverse with our work is not only good for business, it's a social and moral imperative. This talk inspired me the most because diversity in its truest sense means that no one is left out, and it's a step closer to a more equal world.

Which picture / video / link sums up this year’s Cannes for you?

For me, it's my fellow See It Be It women. Here's a pic of us meeting and being inspired by talks by the wonderful Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.

Tell us about 2 key trends you will be taking back to your team

“Self-esteem comes from doing esteem-able acts.”
Madonna Badger, Founder and COO, Badger & Winters (Ambassador of See It Be It 2017)

"Be fearless: The fear center inside our brains is this size of an almond – and you'd have to be nuts to let an almond run the show."
Kathleen Griffith – Founder Grayce & Co

What was your favourite piece of work?

The Humanium Metal Initiative by Akestam Holks and Great Worksl, Stockholm – Gold Lion for Innovation
Converting illegal firearms into valuable metal that can be used in a variety of social projects to improve the world. I loved the concept of taking an object that harms (gun violence results in 1500 deaths a day) and modifying the actual material to do good, including creating new sources of funding for victims and projects aiming to rebuild conflict-torn societies.

What was your favourite quote from the festival?

I have SO MANY incredible quotes from the festival, and the See It Be It programme, but I've chosen the one that has stayed with me the longest. Piera's quote on how we should position the idea of diversity, and be aware of and shift our unconscious bias:
'Inclusion is not about: "You can sit with us."
It's about: "You already have a seat at the table"'
– Piera Gelardi, Co Founder and ECD of Refinery29

What made you mad at Cannes this year?

The huge Snapchat wheel – What was it's purpose and could the money have been spent better to do something more meaningful, apart from just being a brand awareness piece?

And finally, If you could have awarded a Grand Prix for Creative Bravery who would it have gone to?

The Swedish Tourist Council – ' The Swedish Tourist Board'
Opening up a telephone number for an entire country could be pure genius or pure stupidity, but Sweden led with its best asset: connecting the world to its people. It shows risk and bravery (how many instances could this have gone so badly wrong if it was most other countries?) and as a result created enough buzz to make Sweden a must-visit destination.
If you want to hear more from Shahnaz come along to CS Mini Cannes 19th July at Twitter, Air St where she will be joined by Jaki Jo Hannan (AMVBBDO) to tell us about their See It Be It Experience.
Also on stage are a Stella line up of speakers including, Trevor Robinson (Founder of Quiet Storm) who will talk to us about Creative Bravery, Nadya Powell (Utopia) and Henry Cowling (Unit 9) will take us through their own judging experiences. Finally Claire Beale (Campaign) will host a panel made up of Johnny Vulkan (Anomaly), (Pernod Ricard) and Elizabeth Cherian (JWT) to look into the future.

We have a special 10% discount off tickets - Grab yours HERE

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