Seafood Platters, Pigeons, and Kiwi Accents: Conal Wilson Takes On Cannes
Conal Wilson, a Kiwi art director from Daylight, snagged a spot in the Film Category this year following a win in the New Zealand Young Lions competition with partner Kara Gouws.
Best thing you’ve seen or done?
It all began Wednesday morning. Kara and I had been up from 5:15am to shoot our footage of the sunrise. We decided that none of it was working. The idea wasn’t firing, and all we were left with was two hot heads disagreeing with each other. We walked down to Gutter Bar at 8am, and downed a coffee and croissant. After the first sip the green light clicked on and we were back on track. Everything made sense and we knew exactly what we needed to do. We are still laughing at the whole situation now. When shit hits the fan, argue over some food and drink and everything will work out.
Most envy-inducing piece of work?
It wasn’t necessarily a single piece of work, but rather the video showing David Lubars' illustrious career, prior to him accepting the Lion of St Mark at the final awards night. It had me extremely envious and hungry to leave my own mark on the industry. He’s a cool dude.
Best meal?
There was an array of amazing spots to park up in Cannes, shared with even more amazing people. But the top spot has to be the seafood platter at The Carlton Hotel, shared with four of the biggest legends in advertising; Priya, Matty, Gary and Rory from DDB Aotearoa. Following the unsuccessful Young Lions awards ceremony, this was the fastest turn around, from feeling gutted to feeling on top of the world.
Something you've learned about Cannes?
Being a nice, genuine, fairly normal person is all it takes. I met some incredible people throughout the week and although a lot of them had hundreds and thousands of followers, or were CEO/CCO/owners of huge global companies, all it takes is a friendly smile and a thick Kiwi accent shouting “HOWAHYAH?!?” and you'll be sharing some laughs and a cheeky follow on LinkedIn.
Top three things those back home should know about so far?
Restaurants will bring you free bread to chow down, even if you’ve just ordered bread.
You’ll always miss some cool event your mates debrief you on, but carving your own path and keeping things spontaneous will present you with some unexpected, and usually more memorable gems.
We saw a grown man get robbed by a pigeon at lunch. He was too scared to shoo the bird away and all he could do was watch as his food was slowly pecked out of existence.
I came over here with the idea of winning the film competition. But I realised very quickly that all of the other interactions and lessons I’ve learnt have completely changed my perspective on my job as a creative. My cup is full and I’m ready to turn the page onto an exciting new chapter of my career, post Cannes fest.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me get here!
