Jordan Ellis and Maddy McGuinness Cannes Diary #1

Maddy McGuinness and Jordan Ellis, creative and copywriter at VML Sydney are competing in the Film category of the Cannes Young Lions competition. The pair write exclusively for CB.

Day 1.5

Day one finally arrives, the black T-shirts, tattoos, and a sea of branded tote bags tells us that we’re definitely in the right place.

We started with a few Inspo sessions from the Young Lions team. Then cruised around the festival waiting for our briefing. Unsurprisingly AI is the talk of the town (and probably even the author of this diary entry). And we had a good reminder to keep everything simple from Mark Pollard.

But before we knew it, we’re getting briefed, then it’s the next day and we realise we need to write this entry.

So as we’re hunkered down in the Cannes dungeon with all the other competitors we decided to break the first day and a half into peaks and pits.

Peaks

We saw the Liquid Death talk (with every single other person attending the festival)
Free icy pole and coffee at the TikTok Garden. Which was colour coordinated with Mads’ shoes.
Receiving our 5th free tote bag (seems to be the go-to merch around these parts)
A morning swim after spending 5 days looking at the Seine.
The work!…the volume…the quality…
Jared Leto was lucky enough to brush past me
The Campaign Brief drinks after our briefing. The Rose helps the creative process…

Pits

Being the only two people at the Liquid Death talk to not get a free water
The lack of signage and directions around the place (if u see us and we look confused, that’s because we are)
One of us forgetting his pass and running back to the accommodation then rocking up to the Young Lions briefing covered in sweat

Wish us luck! (Also is it possible to OD on these pills?)