Day 5-Thursday, June 23rd
Thursday was packed with amazing creative geniuses and more superstars!
10:30 am: Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators' Showcase
Saatchi & Saatchi
The Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators' Showcase was one of my favorite exhibitions of the week. I have a huge appreciation for film and I thought all of them were so amazing. We all laughed, teared up, were a little disturbed, got chills, and left feeling so inspired. A particular favorite of mine was a music video called "Heart Failure" that was about the dynamic of dating nowadays. There was another claymation music video I liked, as well as the one pictured to the right. I haven't been able to find a link to all of the pieces from the showcase but if I do I will add it in here because I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
11:45 am: Decoding the Logic Behind Creative Effectiveness Magic
Mindscapes
This talk was given by Yonatan Dominitz, founder of Mindscapes, and Ravid Kuperberg, Trainer for Mindscapes. They focused on how creativity should generate a large impact on each brand and the business it is in. It is one thing to just be memorable in media and events like Cannes Lions, but to actually have a long term business effect is different. To do this, they suggest starting with learning from ideas that have already achieved this. They discuss how the Mindscapes method provides a structured process for understanding how the logic behind such effective creative ideas is generated. A main component is the relationship between the client and agency. This reminded me of the Pepsi and alma talk from earlier in the week, because they demonstrated the perfect client-agency relationship. Overall this was an interesting talk and definitely focused more on the business aspect of advertising than many of the talks I had attended thus far.
1:30 pm: Long Term Creative Effectiveness-Building Fandoms with the Star Trek Franchise
Paramount
This talk was given by David Stapf, President of CBS Studios, Vladimir Duthiers, CBS News Correspondent, and Patrick Stewart, renowned actor. I have actually never seen any of the Star Trek movies, but I'm familiar with how big of a franchise it is and how loyal the fanbase has remained over the years. I'm only familiar with Patrick Stewart from X-Men, so I was excited nonetheless to see him in person. The three discussed how Star Trek's legacy has stood the test of time because of its commitment to telling stories that celebrate diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and pioneer for a better future. Star Trek has a unique platform as it is a franchise that resonates with multiple generations. Patrick Stewart discussed how having such a large fanbase has made him even more inspired to fight for humanitarian causes and stand up for what is right because he recognizes his fans are counting on him to use his platform for the greater good. This talk was very inspiring coming from such a massive franchise.
3:00 pm: Malala Yousafzai- The Activist Generation: Partnering for Change with Gen Z
LionHeart Seminar
The next talk was given by Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Laureate and Co-founder of the Malala Fund, and Nadja Bellan-White, Global Chief Marketing Officer for VICE Media Group. Malala was by far one of the most inspiring speakers of the week. She was so well spoken and respectable, and had amazing insights on how it takes one person to stand up for a change, but a community of people to actually make the change happen. Malala had been fighting for girls' educational rights her whole life, which ended up in an attempt on her life by the Taliban. Since then, she has dedicated her life even more so to fighting for equal rights for girls all over the globe. The whole time she was speaking I had chills and left feeling truly inspired to do what I can to make a change for causes I believe in. Malala was incredible and I'm so grateful I had the chance to see her speak.
4:30 pm: If You're Not First, You're Last
Goodby Silverstein & Partners
The last talk of the day was given by Margaret Johnson, Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Jessica Spaulding, Chief Marketing Officer for PepsiCo Foods Canada, and Megan Thee Stallion, Grammy-Award Winning recording artist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. I'm a huge fan of Megan so I was SO excited to see her, especially in a setting like this which is much different than her usual scene. The spot they focused on was the Super Bowl ad for hot cheetos where the animals in the jungle steal a bag of hot cheetos and start singing Salt n' Peppa (Megan voiced one of the birds). Megan was a huge fan of hot cheetos before they ever reached out to her for a brand deal, which makes the relationship and advertising so much more authentic. Everyone always associated Megan with hot cheetos since she was so vocal about loving them, so when the first campaign came out everyone was excited. She also talked about her philanthropy work, degree, and how she got the name "Megan Thee Stallion": when she was 14 she was tall and very curvy and some boys at the school football game were calling her a stallion. She thought it was a mean phrase and told her family when she got home, and they explained to her that it's actually a compliment, and ever since then she called herself Megan Thee Stallion. She was so great and had the best energy, it was so cool to learn about this campaign and see her talk in person!
