Where Expertise Fails, Your Gut Prevails

Former Cannes Young Lions finalist and 2025 PR Jury co-chair Shauna Roe shares why your lack of experience may actually be your greatest asset. The Cannes Young Lions competition is a global marketing challenge for professionals aged 30 and under, designed to test creative and strategic thinking in a weekend-long sprint.

Enter by Feb 9, 2025 here.

Recently, while on set, I got talking to an intern who voiced her doubts surrounding the job, unearthing some feelings that I’d love to say were long behind me, but truthfully felt all-too-familiar. For the sake of all the sage advice I’ll be imparting in just a few moments, I’ve mostly opted for a super seasoned and self-assured tone, so just go with it. 

Back to those feelings: Second-guessing every idea shared aloud, every headline, every word of every email, and being acutely aware of how unintelligent, un-profound, and inexperienced I seemingly was. At all times. 

Now, I can’t chalk up all that self-hatred to imposter syndrome alone. I’ve had some truly devastatingly terrible ideas along the way (see appendix). But looking back, I have a sneaking suspicion that those early-career feelings —the ones that have us questioning everything—also blind us to the amazing and overlooked advantages of being "new to it all." 

If you’ve heard about the Cannes Young Lions competition, and you haven’t entered due to intrusive thoughts such as, oh, I don’t know, “what’s the point in spending 100 bucks to spend my weekend competing in a contest I’m never going to win”, I urge you read below to look at your situation a little differently. Also talk to your manager about expensing that $100 registration fee.

Advantage #1: Naivety is a powerful tool

Right now, you have yet to be conditioned by legal tape, jaded skepticism, or a “we tried that before and it didn’t work” mentality. A “client hat” hasn’t been permanently cemented to your head just yet—and that’s an amazing advantage.

Early in my career, my partner and I had an idea to give people Tourette Syndrome on that one platform formerly known as Twitter. Our plan: invite people to voluntarily give up control of their Twitter handle for 24 hours. We knew nothing of the intricacies of Twitter partnerships, participation barriers, or the potential legal hurdles in our way. Did that stop us from stepping under the caution tape as interns and doing it anyway? Nope. And guess what? Seasoned clients, creative directors, legal professionals, and digital folks followed our lead. It’s still one of my favourite pieces of work to date. 

Early in your career, you’re operating with fresh eyes. You haven’t gotten into the habit of self-censoring your own imagination. Next brief (the Cannes Young Lions brief perhaps?), bring your naivety to the table and use it to push the boundaries. 

Advantage #2: You’re probably the target audience

Nearly every brief I’ve received in the last two years is aimed at Gen Z. That’s you! No one understands you better than you. While more seasoned colleagues have experience, you have lived experience. 

No need to mine cultural insights from a trend report because you are the culture, baby! You understand what’s authentic, and funny, and inspiring, versus what’s cringe (are we still using cringe?). You are fluent in the most desirable language the industry’s trying to speak right now. 

So while trend reports and audience data are both important and useful, trust that your instincts on what feels right are just as valid—if not more.

Advantage #3: Where expertise fails, your gut prevails

Without years of industry experience or sharpened skills, sometimes all you have left to rely on is your gut. You have to rely on what makes sense to you and moves you as a human being. And being that we’re in the business of influencing other humans, that’s great news. 

You don’t need years of writing experience to write a funny headline. You don’t need to be a Photoshop expert to recognize beauty. You don’t need to be proficient in AI to know when an idea gives you goosebumps. 

There’s a quote I love that goes, “We’re all just walking each other home”. In the midst of tight deadlines and budgets, red tape and raised flags – we tend to forget that at the end of the day, we’re briefly stopping by in peoples’ lives and trying to leave an impression. Starting from a place that’s human is, well, a great place to start.  

If you’re a young person in the industry who’s doubting your every move today, or you’re thinking you won’t enter the Cannes Young Lions competition because there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell you’ll win - do it anyway. That was my advice to the intern, and it’s my advice to you. 

Enjoy surprising yourself.

Appendix of truly devastatingly terrible ideas:

• Dog sled but the dogs are pulling a car 
• Get people sick to prove how well medicine works; germ chamber?
• Take credit for a cold case murder
• Cream cheese room
• Cream cheese song
• Cream cheese VR experience
• Doorbell for a doghouse
• VR game where you wait in line at the bank
• Baby with long, shiny hair
• Baby rock band
• Accountant rock band 
• Money that melts in water
• Chicken retirement home
• “KenDrake” mash-up album to help settle feud 
• Invisible ice cream cone 
• Insurance boot camp
• Edible soap