Droga5 Dublin’s Young Lions Are Ready to Take on Cannes
The sun is shining in Cannes, the rosé is getting chilled, and four Young Lions from Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, are packing their bags and their best creative ideas to partake in this year’s competition. Georgia Murphy, creative strategist, and Lorna Tutty, senior strategist, will be taking part in the Digital category while Jess Murphy, copywriter, and Jessica Newman, art director, will compete in the Print category respectively.
Excitement levels are high and all four are feeling the adrenaline start to build ahead of the competition. In preparation for the competition, they’re reminding themselves that clarity of ideas is worth its weight in gold or, as they put it: “We’ll craft and craft until it’s clear enough for our Mam’s to understand!” Readiness to ‘kill off ideas’ is something else everyone is packing alongside a decisive attitude as time will be of the essence - just 24 hours to answer the brief against the Irish competition’s 48.
LBB chatted with Georgia, Lorna, Jess, and Jessica below to find out more about how they’ve been preparing for the competition and the wider festival, and the sage advice received from other creatives. In addition to this, they’re sharing the 30 essential things they’re packing for Cannes. What they’re calling “an amalgamation of the practical, the niche, and the utterly indispensable.”
LBB> What’s your mood like ahead of attending the Young Lions competition?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> Is adrenaline a mood? It’s pure excitement at this stage, especially with all that’s happening in the run up: training calls to get us festival ready, discussions over which beach parties we’re signing up to and what talks we want to attend, and chats with the Droga5 network to make sure we all get to meet up. We just want to be off now - we’re officially counting down the sleeps!
LBB> What did you learn from the Irish Young Lions competition that you’ll be taking with you to Cannes?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> This wasn’t our first time taking part, or even being shortlisted (for some of us it was our fourth time lucky). One thing we learned is that you need to balance the idea and the craft, particularly in the write-ups. There’s a max of 600 words for Digital and 300 words for Print to explain our idea to the jury, so you’ve got to focus on being concise and clear - not just on hitting the word count. We’ll craft and craft until it’s clear enough for our Mam’s to understand!
LBB> And what will you be looking to do differently in Cannes compared to the previous competition?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> Approaching the work with a more decisive attitude. The most helpful thing we’ve picked up from practice briefs is being prepared to kill off ideas. In the Irish competition we have the luxury of 48 hours to answer the brief - more time to craft, but also more time to overthink. Cutting that down to 24 hours means you have to be a lot more decisive - while also getting a good night's sleep (we discovered that the hard way).
LBB> How do you think you’ll approach the brief(s) given to you?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> Unlike our approach to the sea, we won’t dive straight in. It’s about taking a few hours to let the brief sink in, rather than trying to answer it in the first hour. We’ll let our minds wander, spit out the often terrible first ideas, never look at them again, and then come at it fresh the following day.
LBB> What kind of advice have you received from other creatives ahead of the competition?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> Most of the advice we got from other creatives was about staying calm (no pressure). The best work will come when you least expect it - when you’re out for a walk, having a croissant, or taking an ‘epiphany shower’. Enjoying this whole process is so important too - we got solid advice from associate creative director, Carina Caye: “Have fun. Don’t overthink it, and trust your instincts. Do your best in the competition but don’t forget to enjoy yourself at the festival. It’s all about creativity and the connections you’ll make there.”
LBB> What are you most looking forward to about taking part in the competition and Cannes in general?
Georgia, Lorna, Jess, Jessica> We’re four very very curious (borderline nosey) people, so we’re really looking forward to seeing everyone else’s responses to the brief. We're competing against teams from across the world and each country is going to bring their own unique insight to the brief and we imagine the responses will be incredibly different. And of course, getting to experience every part of the festival. We’re going to make the most of every last minute of it.
30 Things Droga5’s under 30s Are Packing for Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
Here's an inside peek into our packing list for The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity – an amalgamation of the practical, the niche, and the utterly indispensable.
Unconventional first-aid kit (Bug spray, Lactaid, Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray).
Classic Hawaiian Dad Shirts, one of us has based an entire look on it, three of us have packed them ironically.
Uniqlo Bag because it's today's answer to Mary Poppins’ bag, you could fit this entire list in it.
Lidl bag for morning swims: Côte d’cure.
The remnants of Leaving Cert French, oui oui more baguette s’il vous plaît is what we got so far.
€2 coins for The Gutter Bar toilet entry fee.
Lego roses, to throw on stage when our amazing CCO Jen Spiers finishes her talk with head of The LEGO agency Nic Taylor.
Our little purse of insights, we never leave home without it.
Apple Air tags: To keep track of items, or each other, whichever comes first.
Birkenstocks because they have the world in a chokehold.
Washing tablets because the clamminess will be real.
Barry's Tea Bags, Jess is literally the patron saint of Eire - even in 32 degree heat she will be sticking the kettle on.
T-shirts with Queen Latifah on them, to wear when meeting Queen Latifah obviously.
GAA shorts, Paul Mescal made them iconic; we're making them continental.
Sunglasses, for our grand entrance.
Bigger sunglasses, as the week wears on, so does the size of our shades.
Electrolytes, because one cannot survive on Rosé alone (shocking, we know).
Running shoes: we’re being optimistic okayyyy (Jessie thinks we’re lying to ourselves).
Padlocks, 2 of us are known sleep walkers and waking up in another pavilion is not on the agenda.
Sun cream because we’re 4 Irish girls shielding from that Côte d'Azur glow.
Portable chargers so we can host a 24-hour TikTok Live but mainly so we never run out of battery to grab some content.
Georgia’s boat license.. You never know .
Deck shoes for yachting… this is the first time we’ve been able to say those words together in a sentence.
Farmer’s Tan. Kidding! We don’t tan (see number 20).
A Jennifer Coolidge White Lotus S2 size hat, it’s classy, it’s culture and it’s sun protection obviously.
Portable Speaker: To listen to Luda(cris) on the balcony while we eat Lays crisps.
4-leaf clover, to live up to Irish stereotypes.
A Cannes-do attitude (sorry we had to, it was right there).
Empty suitcases for all the merch, this list is actually a ruse.
A Winning Attitude (to fit into our purse full of insights) - you need it when you’re going to represent Ireland on the international stage.
