Cannes, A Rocketeer’s Guide

On a wintery Tuesday afternoon my day was brightened when I saw an email from our Head of Planning at PHD who congratulated me on being selected as one of the agency’s four delegates chosen to attend the Young Lions festival at Cannes this year. I can’t deny that when I submitted my application to be chosen to attend that the thought of the South of France in June wasn’t a factor but, truthfully, attending The Cannes festival has definitely been on my advertising bucket list for a few years. Graduating from Manchester in the post credit crunch recruitment freeze of 2009, I worked for a TV production company looking at YouTube clips of the festival during my lunch break (I’m a big advertising geek!). Now, to be heading out to Cannes in a few months is a really exciting prospect and the thought of a week surrounded by sun, sea and the most exciting group of creative talent in the world is definitely something I’m very much looking forward to.

One of my objectives for going to Cannes is to represent my agency, Rocket. For those who haven’t really come across us yet, Rocket is a planning and communications agency comprising of a very creative group of planners, buyers, strategists and thinkers who are funny, clever, loud, eccentric, proud, and very passionate about the work they do. We are part of Omnicom media group and a sister agency of PHD.

Our agency position is to “Know More” and it is very much in the spirit of knowing more that I head towards glamorous Cannes. I started my career in planning as a grad who didn’t really know that much about media and its role in the communications mix. After 18 months and some very steep learning curves, I now know the crucial role that planning plays in a brand’s relationship with its consumers. 

What I’m keen to use Cannes for is to discover how we can develop this role and to pass on knowledge gained to help Rocket to apply this knowledge gained to further our clients businesses.

Stay tuned as I plan my way to Cannes and hopefully share some interesting insights and thoughts picked up along the way.

A x