I was a little hesitant of what to expect when I arrived in Cannes - the hub of the international advertising social scene for the next week. The wind was blowing, the sun was scorching and I'd already made a few friends on my flight and coach into the madness. 

Tuesday morning I was raring to go, with only a 12-minute walk to the Palais from my apartment I skipped gleefully down to the promenade with high hopes. I did not have a festival badge, so made a personal bet with myself to gate crash as many beaches as I could. 

First up on the list: Google

What a cute set up! I was like a kid in a playground, so many activities to run through and refreshing smoothies on tap to cure the hangover from the night before. The interactive sections were great; a personal favourite was the Gif Booth using x-13 Pixel phones, giving you a 180° moving gif of fabulousness. 

Next on the list: Spotify

Now this one was a bit trickier to get into, but where there’s a will there’s a way! Great to see some incredible panel discussions whilst spraying myself with the Evian mist spray kindly provided by the Spotify crew. A personal highlight was the ‘Cannes in Color: Tackling Tough Conversations about Race and Equality in Advertising.’ 

It was so special to see the progression that P&G is making externally and internally for the representation of people of colour in the company and through its comms. Currently there are 4% Black and 5% Asian minorities across the whole industry and P&G are actively trying to do something about it. 

OK enough gate crashing, I did actually manage to RSVP to a number of events including the fantastic LBB & Friends Beach. What a crew and what a great place to meet semi-sober people for a bite to eat and a catch up. 

As I mentioned I was lucky enough to meet some friends for life on my flight, Fran at Believe Media and Jay from Grey who invited me along to one of the coolest villa parties at Cannes. Enter the world of Captify, featuring bridge over pool, mini waterfall and unlimited Aperol Spritz. 

I’ve also forgotten to mention all the incredibly important meetings I had which came about at the poolside. One must always be prepared to talk business. In fact, I met so many key people from the industry I feel like all meetings should be set alongside a pool with a glass of rosé in hand from now on. 

The sun set and we danced on into the night to some old school garage, covered in glitter. Our crew, which now consisted of the loveliest people from McCann, Grey and Believe Media embarked on a journey of food, well deserved after a full day of talking and partying. 

I’m not sure if anyone’s ever been to Vesuvio in Cannes? Well neither had we! As we hopped in our Ubers we mentioned the journey feeling a little longer going down to the Croisette than it had on the way up. When we arrived at the restaurant opposite a Euro-pop bar we quickly realised that we were no longer in Cannes (classic). We were in Juan Les Pins. It was a nice meal nonetheless!

After a full day of fun it was time to call it a night. *Queue carpool sing-alongs all the way back to Cannes.*

I am officially no longer a Cannes Virgin!

I don’t think I’ve ever had an event hyped up to me as much as Cannes. Stories of getting blackout drunk, skinny dipping with colleagues and general debauchery - I was expecting something of a mad one.

And did it live up to the hype? Yes! I may not have been living out a scene from XXX but had an amazing time regardless. You don’t often see three bottles of champagne being ordered on an Easyjet flight, a tell-tale sign of the kind of place I was heading to. 

It wasn’t long after checking into our Airbnb, that I found myself at my first pool party. This may seem obvious to everyone else when heading to a pool party, but a word of advice to future Cannes newbies, REMEMBER. TO. TAKE. A. SWIM. SUIT. A fact I repeated to myself as I slid into the pool in my shorts. 

Whilst I paddled in the water with my denim shorts on, what did I think to myself? To be frank I was completely taken aback. Since when did floating around in a pool on a giant inflatable flamingo and sipping a whisky cocktail in the south of France become my job?!

Whilst the Cannes environment sounds ridiculous to all our friends unlucky enough to not work in the industry and enjoy such great perks, I genuinely felt there was a lot to be gained (beyond the hangovers) from being there. The same people you bump into in London are plonked into a beautiful setting, meaning everyone is on a complete high and (mostly) having a good time, where the only thing you really have to do is chat to new people and old friends. 

This theme carried on into the evening with my first beach party. There were a lot more people than I was expecting and, of course, a lot more alcohol. At this point, it was hard to find someone that I didn’t get along with. The other great thing about Cannes is not everyone is just from London. I met people from all over the globe at only my first party. From California to Hungary to Ireland. Some of these people regard Cannes as THE place to meet people so they make it the centre of their calendar year, so you’ll meet people you would never have the chance to meet at any other event. 

All in all, yes Cannes can come across as this hugely superficial, yacht obsessed playground for the industry. But you also have the chance to meet some amazing people and, depending on what you want to get out of it, I promise you, you can have an amazing time!

One key final takeaway? I won’t be drinking rosé again…

“Cannes - is it worth it?” It’s a question we’ve all asked our mates in the industry at some point. In my experience people typically answer in the affirmative, referencing that massive job they got off the back of a random meeting in a pool. Or they might argue that it’s good to be seen and “have a presence”. It’s a big expense for a young director: flights, hotels, ridiculously overpriced Ubers, drinks (not all parties offer a free bar…). So you spend time weighing it up and deciding if it’s worth splashing out. 

 

This year was my first Cannes as a director. I expected to come home with a bag full of memories from glamorous and debauched pool parties and the gutter bar. And yes, my Easyjet carry-on suitcase did contain a bit of that on my return, but on the whole, Cannes was far more chilled than I’d been expecting. I spent almost all of my time at my production company Great Guns’ lunch and dinner meetings, sat with creatives, agency producers and other directors from all over the world. It’s rare to spend time with clients outside of the inevitably stressful and all consuming environment of a shoot, and Cannes offered a great opportunity to have a more casual chat and get to know them outside of work.

My Cannes experience kicked off Wednesday morning with an interview about the challenges faced by new directors. But in typical Cannes-style, my interviewer took my mention that my film for ‘Breast Cancer Now’ had been shortlisted for a Lion as a cue to invite me to do a talk. Not exactly the plan, but hey – when in Cannes, right? The thing is, I can happily stand in front of a reasonable group of around forty people and chat away, but I’m not going to lie: public speaking is something I usually try to avoid at all costs. Somehow I stumbled through it, with generous feedback from kind spectators. But I conquered my fear of public speaking and stepped out my comfort zone, and that has to be a good thing. 

Cannes is peerless in the advertising world and for that reason it offers a unique opportunity to meet other creative people from all corners of the globe. I definitely came back from the festival feeling inspired if a little frazzled. It’s important to go with a plan and to know what you want out of the festival. If your plan is to just show up and hit a few parties then you’ll probably come home disappointed, with a couple of wrinkled business cards (that you never actually follow up) and a depleted bank account. Although depending on your expectations, that might be just fine.

So was it worth it? Will I be back again? For one reason or another, Definitely!.

To see Duncan's shortlisted spot for ‘Breast Cancer Now’ click here.