Cannes Lions: The Young Lions Diaries

Print: Julia Fuchs and Nathan Bastino, both Wunderman Thompson

Julia Fuchs and Nathan Bastino arrived in Cannes the weekend before the festival began. During their time on the Croisette, the two young creatives from Wunderman Thompson experienced various things. Among other things, they were locked up in the Palais.

Saturday

After a long road trip we arrived Saturday evening at the Côte d'Azur. We used the weekend to get an overview of everything, to organize and to enjoy the last quiet minutes before the storm.

Monday

We started Monday full of excitement and motivation at 8 am at the Palais. After a short introduction to the Young Lions Competition, we dedicated ourselves to the nominated works in the basement of the Palais until the briefing in the late afternoon. The works were in parts insanely exciting and inspiring and at the same time thematic focuses and "trend-based solutions" were revealed.

With all the input, we completely forgot the time in the evening hours and were locked up in the Palais. Not even staff and security was to be found anymore... Finally we escaped from the Palais through the "basement" - felt like in an under cover action movie.

Tuesday

After a successful night's work, it was time for the final spurt for the competition. The day also began early and, above all, very intensively in order to bring the project to a good conclusion. We checked our work, challenged it and at the end of the day we were 100 percent behind it. The biggest tension fell away after the submission and the evening ended with an inspiring drone show.

Wednesday

After the drop-off, we were finally able to devote ourselves to the actual Cannes Lions program with complete serenity and great interest. With various lectures and presentations we let our creative horizon be sprinkled. At noon, we met up with our Swiss colleagues for the legendary Swiss BBQ (thanks to Weischer.cinema for the lunch)!

Thursday

Thursday successfully followed on from Wednesday, and after another successful and creatively satisfying day, we dropped in on various apéros in the evening, such as from RTL, Pinterest or TikTok. The day ended at the German Beach with good conversations and a lot of sand in the shoes.

Friday

And then finally it was Friday! Announcement of the winners! The whole trip, the festival, the exchange and discourse as well as the Young Lions Competition - the advertising world championship of young creatives -, were challenging, nurturing and damn educational. Congratulations to our Swiss team in the Media category for bronze! The evening and the week came to a fitting end with a terrific beach party. See you next year 😉

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Media: Sophia-Maria Kramer, Jung von Matt Limmat and Ana Gabriela Oetliker, Jung von Matt Impact

What a success for the youngsters! Sophia-Maria Kramer and Ana Gabriela Oetliker brought home bronze in the Media category for their idea "Adivism." "It was an honor for us," the two said in an interview afterwards. They wrote down for us what else they experienced.

Sunday

From the plane we see the first palm trees. While Sophia, who has a cold, goes to a pharmacy to stock up on medicines that would make a horse fit again, Gabriela waits for two hours in Copenhagen for her delayed flight. When she arrives at the hotel, she sighs with relief and goes straight to bed.

Monday

The tension is rising. Passports are collected, Red Bull is bought, and the pulse goes up. The Inspiration Sessions are the first time we really realize the magnitude of this competition: a room packed with more than 400 of the world's best up-and-coming creatives, whom we get to meet during socializing. After a visit to Amazon Beach, we realize: the Iced Caramel Latte with soy milk is free, just like almost everything else here. Relieved, we withdraw the credit request at our bank and stock up on provisions at the Tech Beaches between the individual talks.

Tuesday

We work our way through our agenda and the Palais. We quickly throw our original plan out the window and follow the crowds into talks by Kevin Hart, live judging and lectures about old jeans. While we try to soak up as many insights as possible with one ear, the nervousness level increases exponentially. At half past three, the time has come: in the absolutely over-air-conditioned archive, we shiver and scroll through our briefing. The noise-canceling headphones only help to a limited extent against the chaos in our heads. After the subsequent live briefing, our asses are on fire. Climate movement. Post-It's are stuck on walls and fall off again, strands of thoughts are formulated and discarded. At 10 o'clock the time has come: We commit ourselves to our idea. Adivism it is.

Wednesday

It's shortly after midnight. While Gaby researches audience insights and biases, Sophia writes social ads and designs a logo. The prepared Red Bulls are put to use. An hour later: Did we choose the wrong idea after all? No? Or did we? Maybe open it again? After a brief moment of uncertainty and a hectic cigarette, we stick to our decision and continue with the implementation. Building mock-ups, determining media figures, structuring the presentation. At 6 o'clock in the morning we have a shell and a key visual.

The air of the hotel room cries out for a shower before we make our way to the Competition Area. There we discover that the Wi-Fi is not working. Great. So back to the hotel. The keys clatter and the coffee flows in unhealthy quantities. 13:00: Did we take the wrong idea after all? Is there something missing? Is the name right? There's one 't' too many! Great, then I have to adjust all the slides again! 20 minutes later, the T has disappeared from the presentation. Gabriela writes the input texts. Are we on Brief? We think so.

At 15:30 we draw a line and press the enter button of the input website. Without sleep we go straight to the first party of the week. Sophia's bag is gone. No matter, one can also go to dinner with the sponsors in a bathing suit. Gaby organizes a T-shirt and we end the evening with the Weischer team.

Thursday

Presentation Day. Should we present spontaneously or rather practice? What works more authentically? Do we need a presi gag? We think so. Our hotel room has turned into a mixture of Messi apartment and coworking space. 7 minutes. We're only allowed 5. So again. And again. We can leave that sentence out. And again. Then it's off to the jury rooms. Together with our international colleagues we dance a nervous waiting tango. Then it's our turn - now it counts. After five minutes of presentation and five minutes of questions we fall into each other's arms. Our ECDs are waiting outside with champagne - it tasted so good. Completely overexcited, a rosé-soaked evening with JvM Germany, German Beach and the Sizzer Party follows.

Friday

Ah yes right, who drinks a lot gets a hangover. Anyway, now comes the award ceremony. While we look for a shady spot, the terrace stage fills up. Then it starts: The first winners are announced. We cheer and are happy for our fellow competitors. When the word "Switzerland" suddenly appears on the shortlist for our category, it's a load off our minds.

The effort was worth it! When a second later the phrase "Bronze goes to Switzerland with Adivism" booms through the crowd, we don't know what's happening here at first. Tears flow and hands shake as we dig our way through the sea of people. From the audience we hear Nati and Josephine cheering like crazy. On stage we get certificates pressed into our hands, photos flash everywhere. The hangover is gone, what's happening? Then our colleagues come shooting up and jump around us like bumblebees. We pick up our medals and take a quick breath. Did that really just happen? We don't have time for realization. After drinks, hugs and high fives, it's off to dinner and then straight to the closing ceremony. WOW! How inspiring can an event be, please? We pinch ourselves every now and then for a reality check. After the absolutely bombastic closing party, we fall tired into bed.

Saturday

We are sitting in a small coffee shop in Cannes and writing this text. We still can't believe it, but the grin remains. Thanks to everyone who believed in us and made this experience possible. And cheers to everybody for believing in the power of creativity.

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Cyber: Selina Engeli and Naomi Gulla from TBWA\Zurich

Selina Engeli and Naomi Gulla (TBWA) competed in the Cyber category. The excitement was great when they had to present their idea in front of the international jury. All the more reason for them to enjoy the experience at Snapchat/Disneyhaus afterwards!

Monday

As soon as we arrived in Cannes, we started the briefing for the Young Lions Competition. The task? Phew! Lots of coffee and not quite as much sleep it was.

Tuesday

Despite ultra much sun we came to ultra no vitamin D. Instead, we got a lot of air-conditioned air in the "Students Area" of the Palais. By the way, it was a lot cooler than our heads. But in the end we still managed to submit an idea.

Wednesday

The relief lasted only for a short time. After all, we still had to present our stuff to an international jury. When we had survived that halfway, we went to the Swiss BBQ. There a fine buffet and a few interviews were waiting for us. We in turn waited for ribbons for a party in the evening. In vain, as it turned out later.

Thursday

Finally a good night's sleep. And finally brunch. Yeah. After stuffing our stomachs, we went to the Palais, where we did the same with our brains. Of course we didn't feed our brains with avocado toasts, but with award boards and shows. There were also a few talks from Lego, Epic Games and Apple.

Friday

Finally, instead of diving into the sea, we quickly dived into another world. Namely, into Snapchat/Disney House. There we filtered through Pandora and Co. and even met Baby Yoda himself. Back in reality (which felt almost as surreal), we went to the closing party. It was great, but we could have really cried like Baby(Yodas) over the end of Cannes Lions.

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Direct: Cedric Fuchs (Jung von Matt Limmat) and Terence Fuchs (Serviceplan)

FOMO alert! Cedric Fuchs from Jung von Matt Limmat secured a ticket to Cannes together with his brother Terence Fuchs from Serviceplan in the Direct category. Since this category does not compete in Cannes at the Young Lions Competition, the two were able to enjoy the week to the fullest, getting inspiration at award shows and in the archive - and collecting free merchandising for Wieden+Kennedy.

Sunday

I (Terence) am currently jet-lagged and with a "Welcome Swiss" sign waiting next to the chauffeurs at the airport in Nice for Cedi and the other Young Lions from Switzerland. Since I flew directly from Toronto, I landed earlier than planned. We start our Cannes stay at Morrisons Irish Pub and grab the last burgers from McDonald's before the lights go out in the bars.

Monday

While the other Young Lions are on their way to the briefing for the competition, we are gathering our first impressions. The festival grounds are massive. Outside on the beach, there are numerous beach sections of brands where we are showered with merch and free drinks. Wieden+Kennedy has even opened a pop-up store outside the festival grounds. We're supposed to collect merch and drop off anything that gets shoved in our hands. Their goal for the week is to print as many logos with their trash designs as possible.

Tuesday

The first award show on Monday evening was impressive. Today we use the day to study all shortlists and submitted cases in the archive. We don't have time for lunch. Unfortunately, the best events and talks all overlap. Although we still have the whole week ahead of us, we can't get rid of FOMO.

Wednesday

Weischer invites us to the traditional Swiss BBQ Lunch. Two Young Lions teams could already hand in their work and enjoy the beach with us. Afterwards we go directly to a pool party far away from the city center. After the police also shows up there and pulls the plug, we go to the 3rd award show of the week. After that we leave the city center again today and are on the way to a live concert in a huge hangar, on an abandoned airfield.

Thursday

The week is almost over! After another binge morning in the archives, we take the opportunity to reinforce our sunburn. In the evening Cedi goes to a Jung von Matt Meetup and I try to get a front row seat for the award show. Later we all meet again at the German Beach, also organized by Weischer, where I toast with acquaintances from the Serviceplan network.

Friday

Our last day. The last night went a little longer than planned. Our day starts epically, with a huge success for Switzerland. Young Lions Team Media takes bronze and we celebrate them with a lunch at our favorite restaurant. We would have loved to participate in the competition as well. But admittedly, we appreciate the time that was available to us enormously. After watching how time-consuming the Competition was for everyone. Now we have to make the most of the remaining hours. We go through the archive one last time and memorize the remaining cases. Now to place some bets on who will win the Dan Wieden Titanium tonight before the final award show and then the closing party. What a week!

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Film: Natalie Friedrich and Joséphine Ducret (Jung von Matt Limmat)

Natalie Friedrich and Joséphine Ducret from Jung von Matt Limmat competed in the Film category. In just 48 hours, they had to develop a film for an NGO that promotes education for children in India. A challenge that the two were happy to accept - with an exciting search for young extras and sound recordings in an unusually quiet place.

Monday

On Monday morning, for the very first time, we made the ten-minute walk from the AirBnB to the festival building. Full of anticipation, we picked up our passes and explored the grounds. Officially, our festival started with a first inspiration talk and a guided networking session with the other participants of the Young Lions Competition. In the evening we received our briefing and thus our challenge for the following 48 hours: A film for an NGO working for the school education of children in India.

Tuesday

Until deep into Monday night, we collected various insights and ideas and worked out a joint battle plan. The entire Tuesday was marked by many emotional ups and downs, doubts and flashes of inspiration. Except for a short trip to the supermarket, we had not left our AirBnB. After working out the most promising idea, we recorded the first scenes directly in our room - which was in complete chaos in the meantime.

Wednesday

The next challenge came early in the morning, when we had to look for an extra (aged 3 to 6) for the last scene of our film. So we went out on the street to approach several parents. Fortunately, thanks to Joséphine's modest but charming knowledge of French, we were successful sooner than we thought. After that we went to the competition area, where we worked the new material into the rough cut. In the end, all we needed was the voice over. The problem was that the festival area was relatively loud. So we ended up with our laptops in the toilets for recording and received countless questioning looks from various toilet-goers. At 16:30 we pressed the upload button with a queasy relief. So we briskly made our way to the first rosé glass at the Cannes Liquid Lunch Pool Party. The day ended with a nice dinner in the old town with our Jung von Matt colleagues from Switzerland and a legendary Madhive party in a hangar.

Thursday

On Thursday we could fully enjoy the festival for the first time. We ran from talk to talk, collected as much inspiration as possible and spent a lot of time in the archive. In the evening we went out for dinner with the whole Jung von Matt crew, including our dear colleagues from Hamburg and Berlin. Then we celebrated at the German Beach Party by Weischer and the party of the Dutch music agency Sizzer.

Friday

In the morning we were able to cheer our colleagues from Jung von Matt Limmat at the award ceremony of the Young Lions Competition: They won the bronze medal in the category Media! After a toast and a short lunch at the Asian restaurant (Cedi's insider tip) we went back to the archives. Of course we also had a quick cool down in the sea and literally went under for a short while. The week ended with another inspiring highlight: The last award show, where the Gold Lions for Glass, Titanium and Film were awarded. Late in the evening we said goodbye to the overwhelming and fantastic week with the Cannes Lions Closing Party.