Cannes in a Camper: One Night, Big Lessons

Kieran> Jason and I actually happened to be in the area picking up a camper van to take back to the UK. We knew Cannes was coming up and joked that it would be hilarious to show up to this very prestigious and glamorous event in a crappy old camper van. I've aspired to attend Cannes since I started Full English (even before then) and it's always been a goal of mine. I was planning on going in 2020 when the business was in a place that allowed me to spare the time (and budget) to get over there but of course Covid hit. Then after the pandemic died down, 2024 was the year I wanted to try and make it work but unfortunately had a family tragedy which led to us being in possession of a camper in the south of France. I thought, why not make this a business trip as well as a logistics trip and (dare I say it), a bit of fun at the same time. So we booked the trip for the same week as the festival, arranged a bunch of meetings with prospective clients all over France (not just Cannes) and made a road trip of it! 

Kieran> Because of our tight schedule we could only spare one night in Cannes so we had to make it count. From a business point of view, four nights would be more beneficial but we made a solid plan for networking and optimising facetime with relevant people. This started with the LBB beach happy hour (of course!) where we first dipped our toes into the Cannes networking scene. This led to invites to various other parties and events for the evening as well as my head of business development (my brother Jason) being particularly good at getting into places with his gift of gab. We made sure to be diligent about who we spoke to and try to chat to as many people as possible and get our message across efficiently without being too pushy or salesy.

At the end of the day people are there to have fun as well as network and learn, we made sure to keep things light. But having one night made us a little more hungry and perhaps we had more meaningful conversations because we needed to make them count. There were also plenty of less meaningful rosé-infused conversations too but that's all part of it. 

Kieran> This one made me chuckle! So if I had to weigh up staying in a top five-star Cannes hotel on the French Riviera vs. a sweaty camper van with my brother on a campsite… I think we all know the answer. But we also only spent 45 euros for one night (and we had a pool!) vs. 2500+ euros per night, so I'll take the lower overhead any day as a business owner. Plus we had a top laugh about it and an interesting story to tell people at the same time.

We managed to make our way to a happy hour at the Martinez to experience its splendour regardless and I have to say, it is magical. So we still got to experience it and chat to some wonderful people there. From a business perspective, I think you can reap the benefits of networking and sales by showing up at the Martinez and not actually need to stay there. Same business benefits, lower price tag, less fluff. 

Kieran> I think the entire trip is a funny anecdote. I've never heard of anyone attending the Cannes Lions in a camper van. There's a lot of prestige and bougie-ness about the festival, which I personally love, but it's also a lot of fluff and superfluous spending so showing up in a camper for 45€ a night is the antithesis of that, which I also love and think is hilarious. 

Aside from getting three speeding tickets on the way to Cannes because we were late, an anecdote that stands out is trying to get a ride back to the campsite with three local Frenchman that did not speak any English and I could not pronounce the campsite or street well enough for them to understand me. It was a frustrating, yet funny, car ride (my phone had died, bring a battery charger, people!) that ultimately ended me back to where I started then getting a cab who took me straight back. Perhaps they were obducting me and realised they wouldn't get much ransom but either way, at least they tried!

Kieran> We had to make this work and we had to make an impact on every person we spoke to. Being authentic is key, and it's a core value for Full English. Ridiculous as it was, our unique 'scaled back' Cannes experience is in line with our company values. Would I have loved to have stayed in a villa with a pool and personal bar, of course. But I also made sure to tell people our actual story because it is authentic (and pretty funny). We could've easily told people we were staying in one of the usual Cannes hotels just to fit in but we're not about fitting in, we want to be remembered and be authentic to who we are. 

Kieran> We will definitely be attending again next year. From one relatively inexpensive night we made a ton of great connections that will hopefully come to fruition in the coming months. I think it was important just being there and having a presence. I don't know if we'll be showing up in the camper again but I definitely want to consider a different approach for 2025. Maybe Little Black Book has some quirky suggestions of what we should show up in next year?