Cannes Festival Day 4

This morning I was pretty tired, but got out of bed easily knowing what was ahead! A big group of us caught the 9am train to see Trailblazers, Risk Takers and Impact Makers at the Girls Lounge with Gywneth Paltrow, the head of media for VISA, the chairwoman of NBC and an accomplished entrepreneur. The women shared personal stories and hardships of working their way up in the business world and balancing a family and social life. Gwyneth spoke about her company Goop and how she wants to not be associated in the long run and for the company to succeed on its own based off of its products. The women all agreed on time blocking and being disciplined with prioritizes. After the enlightening talk, I had yummy breakfast there and got a massage again! I've made friends with the masseuse. On the way back to the Palais for a talk at 1pm, a few of us explored Pinterest Pier and stopped at YouTube Beach to have some refreshments and hear Duke Box perform. 

The next session I attended was called Inside the Jury Room - PR with Karen Van Bergen from Omnicom PR. To be honest, I was little lost during this discussion because I went to the wrong building, so showed up late. Pretty much they were discussing lion worthy campaigns. It was cool to hear from the side of the experts and judges. Afterwards I had an hour gap, so a group member and I visited two China tents in hopes of receiving information for our Country Assignment. We spoke briefly with some representatives, but it was kinda hard and more of a language barrier than I had expected. We got brochures and watched videos, which was helpful. Then we made our way to the China's Age of Ambition session. The conversations was between Huawei and Hill + Knowlton Strategies. I wasn't aware of Huawei and learned that it is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider that has established end-to-end advantages in telecommunications. The two representatives discussed the importance of speed, collective wisdom, co-creation and blending of cultures to fill the gap.

Huawei also emphasizes that "the pitch is just the beginning" meaning they want a partnership rather than an independent agency completing a task. Huawei hopes to expand into the western marketed and build a new digital world. Companies need to have mutual respect for the rituals, customs and beliefs of the different cultures they're working with.

The last session of the day that I attended was How Athletes and Brands Can Change the World with Pam El (CMO NBA), Dawn Hudson (CMO NFL) and Steve Stoute (CEO Translation).  They shared how the marketing teams work with athletes to help express their voice and combine brands. Athletes have a more personal impact and want to stay with brands who support their causes. Steve stated, "as a brand you have to have a soul." Athletes are starting to realize that the league is a vehicle to a new career. This talk opened up my perspective into the sports industry and how their marketing works. There's expected to continue to be a growth in women in the sports industry, so that's very exciting and I'm interested to see if it changes aspects in the future.

To kill some time before the KIIP yacht party, my friends and I hung out at Twitter Beach happy hour and charged up our phones. The yacht party obviously was very fun and a great experience. The professionals aboard were very approachable and kind. Not a bad work week for them! Overall long day today, but packed with fun and inspiring events.