Inspiration everywhere you turn

There’s so much inspiring work to see and nowhere near enough time to see it all. The exhibition hall is jam-packed with so many ideas, ads and case studies that I know I’ll only be able to see a small portion of all that’s here to take in. 

To see the shortlisted and award-winning work, I encourage you to spend some time “wandering the halls” virtually on the Cannes site (Public access is limited to this week and a short time after the festival, so please visit soon).

Always #LikeAGirl – I’d seen this work when serving on the Grand Effie jury earlier this year and it’s still just as inspiring. It won a well-deserved Grand Prix in PR, collected honors in other categories and looks like it will be one of the big winners at this year’s festival. It tapped into a cultural movement and supported the cause, the hashtag was memorable, easily sharable, and it reiterates that the classic persuasion model is dead. You have to create content that consumers want to embrace.

Dove #SpeakBeautiful – Another entry in the long-running Dove Beauty campaign, this is a great example of using the power of social media to tap into pop culture and stamp out negative self-image tweets from women. Tactically, it was smart to center it around the Oscar broadcast, when so much attention is paid to the way women look. Oh, and it had a great hashtag. You know how I love a great hashtag.