Day three has been different for me than in many aspects. I have gotten a hang of the festival and felt really comfortable networking and learning valuable information about the advertising and public relations industry.
The IPG and Women’s Leadership Network seminar titled beyond mad men brought up issues about the advertising agency as well as top agency’s not having women in the top positions. Statics reported that only 3% of women hold top ranking jobs in their industry. Why is this? Especially when women are the have the largest buying power and ear more college level degrees than men. Martha Stewart did not impress me at all with her commentary. She spoke as if there is no such thing as a glass wall and she don’t understand at all why the statistic for women at the top is so low.
On the other hand Kimberly Kadlec the worldwide vice-president for the global marketing group Johnson and Johnson was very inspiring and represent women in the industry extremely well. She talked about how women need to work on their swagger. Meaning they need to own their beliefs and make a presence in their industry. She stressed having a clear direction about what you want out of your career. She also advised that having male mentors along the way really benefited her because they are wired differently and they play a different game than women. She also discussed work life balanced and that women can absolutely have it all with a family life and a work life. She is a powerful women and I look up her because of her confidence and conviction being a women.
The Yahoo seminar was also awesome. Robert Redford absolutely rocked it. He has diffidently has the male swag that women need to work on. His grace and humbleness captured the audience and had them hanging on to every work. For me just his story was inspiring. He told the story of how in 16 years he went from sleeping on the beach in Cannes to winning and award in Cannes. Through all of his success he never lost sight of himself and who he was a person. When you sacrifice what you believe in as a person, no amount of success will be satisfying.
I also loved loved speaking with Portner Novelli. I missed most of Julie Winskie, Jeff Melton, and Erin Osher’s presentation. Not because I was late but because Nick Charles with Porter Novelli wanted to interview me about my experiences so far at Cannes Lions. It was such a fun an great experience. He is an awesome guy! Oh and don’t worry I mentioned all of the key words including: University of Georgia and Grady College of Journalism. I have met other PR employees before and I am obsessed with their work. I also got to talk to Julie Winskie after her presentation and realized she likes camp counselers!! This is great news for me because I was one last year and I will be again when I get back to the states.
I watched the Digitas and Vevo presentation in from a screen outside of the auditorium. I loved the simenar and I think Rio Caraeff and Pharrell Williams are both brilliant people.
But on that note: This is where my venting begins.
I know for a fact now in my life I want to pursue a career in Public Relations. Which means anyone and all in the industry I can network with I will run them down do what it takes to talk to them. If you haven’t heard yet….IT IS ALL ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW. So networking and meeting people is absolutely crucial. I understand that Pharrell Williams is very famous and cool but unless you have a passion for the music industry…not much can be gained listening him talk about music and branding. So my point is a brilliant, and extremely tall advertising professional named Noelle Cottrell talked to the group today. When he was done speaking all of these advertising students ran off to go to the Pharrell seminar. This is not a bad thing at all because we are all here for different learning experiences and everyone should do exactly what they want to do in that moment. But personally, if I had advertising ambitions in the future I would have at least asked for his business card for future reference. I think this is a rant and I am not trying to ruffle and feathers but as a rising senor my future in a career is all that I can concentrate on and if that means missing a seminar with a famous rapper is my only sacrifice…I will take it anytime.
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