Sparks EMEA’s Post

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity countdown is ON, and I am so excited to attend for the first time! I am attending: ✔ Self-funded (no sponsors or cohorts) ✔ I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T (no company or agency affiliations) in my Webby voice. (IYKYK) This industry experience started with a split decision and a lot of planning! Last year while sitting in on a virtual "Cannes Recap" at my former agency, I was desperately uninspired by the report back. Last year there was so much culture to be experienced and shared back to aspiring advertising talent young and old (which would have proven inspirational and educational for the entire agency), including the induction of Spike Lee as the first ever Creator Maker of the Year. Yet, not a sentence about culture, DEI, or diverse initiatives. As the national #ERG lead for Onyx, I was embarrassed and as a Black employee, I was disappointed. Fueled by my desire to know more and experience Cannes for myself, and with the help of some close colleagues hyping me up in the Teams chat, I decided before the 60-minute event concluded that I would get to Cannes in 2024 to curate the experience I desired....and I am 2 days out! For those not going and feeling FOMO, I will be sharing my hot takes from culture-shifters in the industry but use this post as motivation and as a CTA to start planning your Cannes 2025 RIGHT NOW! Support is always great so be ready to apply for initiatives like The Black Network and Cannes Can: Diversity Collective next year. However, my PSA for life (career opps included): don't wait for anyone to pick you, send you, or get you where you need and deserve to go! Who else is going? Let's meet IRL. (The first timers What's App is LIT!) #diversityinadvertising #powermoves #inclusiveadvertising #DEIisNotDead #BlackCreatives #representationmatters #seeitbelieveit #timingandpositioning

Last week we talked about our new series of The View, where we were joined by Zaid Al-Qassab, Chief Marketing Officer for Channel 4, one of the most prominent and recognisable brands in the UK. Zaid sees ED&I as central to Channel 4’s mission to make challenging content that is as inclusive and diverse as the British population is, changing how entertainment works. 𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 It’s not just about getting a representative quota of people into the business, but supporting them throughout their career, and truly including them. What is the experience of candidates? How do they progress through hiring? And do they get offered jobs in the same proportion as they applied? How do they progress through the company? And do they get promoted? Zaid spoke about the importance of moving from diversity to inclusion, or what he sees as facts to feelings. “𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚, ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦?”

The most diverse and inclusive Cannes? This year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has been dialogued as the most inclusive in its history. It’s absolutely I mportant to celebrate and applaud the number of internal and external initiatives that have led to that conversation being had👏🏾 However, whether that statement is true or false, the optic shifts shouldn’t blindside us from the huge amount of work needed to include the world’s diverse reality across all facets of the media and advertising world. In front of camera, it’s easy to make a case that, for some groups, underrepresentation is a thing of the past. But when there’s still relative homogeneity in who’s involved in the decision making, narrative telling and data collection, misrepresentation becomes the important word to focus on. In my eyes, Cannes is a week of opportunity, serendipity and fosters an environment that allows typically guarded seniors to be human - it’s great. But as a microcosm of the industry at large, scratch beneath the surface and things need to (and will) improve. 🤨Where were all the young people? So many conversations about Gen-z with not much presence from that age demographic. As Ebinehita Iyere perfectly put, “we’re talking about them and making bold statements but they’re not here. And tbh this environment isn’t somewhere I’d think to bring the young people I work with.” 💰A disconnect between the millions spent to shmooze, wine and dine, whilst cuts are still being made across the board. Something that still doesn’t sit right with me. 👍Not enough disagreement. If Cannes is all about creative excellence, panels shouldn’t be designed to just be a nodding match with a ‘love what was said, let me build’ type of engagement. I think Damian Bradfield put it a lot better than that 😂 💡Too much talk about trends that the industry rather than the consumer sets. A couple of years ago it was the metaverse, this year everything was about AI. Things might come to the light, but let’s not force it. And let’s make sure these are convos actually being had on the ground rather than in our ivory towers. 🏛️Optics of diversity but not enough equitable and structural change. Still no accessibility ramp on a load of beaches 🤷🏾♂️ A big highlight of my week was this talk at Goals House which was a refreshing space away from the madness, talking all things disruption w/ Gail Gallie, Damian Bradfield, Leah Davis & Taso Du Val. Sorry but I’m really terrible at keeping up to date so Cannes posts for the week 😂

* This Here Round-up * - Finally kicked off the research phase of a talent project after a several month build-up to define the strategy and make the business case. Personal highlight is setting Shona Sterland the task of predicting who would be nominated for the Mercury Awards by studying past nominees and the indicators that lead to this. The nominees were just announced yesterday, and guess what, she cracked it! #charliexcxftw. - Briefed in a mega update to our showreel, dropping next week, which will be a much better reflection of the mix of clients and work in the studio of late. - Re-building the client interface to our talent project management interfaces on Airtable with Dave, and seeing some 'newness hesitance' fade into gentle positivity from team and clients... Give it a month. - Successfully arming up with lawyers to battle our freeholder who landed us with some extortionate service charges of questionable legality. Still in progress, but after 4 months of brick walls, the little people seem to be winning. - Putting some further finishing touches to our new space on Broadway Market, so definitely ready for a studio warming party - watch this space. - Re-organising our hybrid Talent & Client Services teams roles and job titles to better differentiate these two weirdly similar skillsets into clearer divisions of labour and career trajectories. - Shoots for Jansport and The North Face, Alongside organising and hosting performers for the amazing inaugural Climb Festival for The North Face, and getting a text well past my bedtime to approve a decent bar tab as the after party rolled on. - Campaign Launches - just go and check out Under Armours European Homepages to see our first campaign drop - #Unstoppable - more on that next week. :) Personal highlights - Goodbye Tories! 🧛♂️🕳️ - Hello Summer ☀️☀️

💡 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: How the Reed family values shape our culture and the services we deliver. Last week, we celebrated the annual Reed in Partnership Values Awards, showcasing the impact co-members across our company have made through demonstration of our company values: ⚪ We are fair, open and honest ⚪ We take ownership ⚪ We work together What does it mean to work at a values-driven company? In a new article, our Operations Director, Shirley Allen, gives her perspective. Read more ➡ https://lnkd.in/em3WpZ8Q

ENGAGING THE STAGE with PURPOSE!   Once again, the 2024 National Speakers Association Influence conference was epic and relationships built are what it's all about. A handful of us were selected to dance on stage with Hall of Fame Speaker (CPAE), Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP, CPAE (she, her), after a beautiful keynote she shared on the big stage at the conference. She's also part of our NSA North Carolina Chapter.   Each speaker who danced on stage are superstars whether they were seasoned global speakers or just starting out. We came together as one with a message of unity and global inclusion.   It's memories like these that last a lifetime. I firmly believe in living a life of experiences and lasting relationships. At the end of the day I'm likely not going to remember how hard I worked, but the beautiful people who have affected my life and hopefully I have affected theirs.   Wait for tomorrow's post… Another wild performance I was asked to be part of with costumes, singing, and dancing to welcome the new Hall of Fame Speakers on the last night of the conference -- A teaser: The Greatest Showman Theme 😊 Video description: visual of a thousand audience members with music playing in the background and 10 to 15 different speakers on stage dancing to engage the crowd on inclusion and representation. Mike Frank, CSP, CPAE Kevin Snyder, CSP®John F. Edwards, CSP, CVP Deanna Jones NSA Carolinas • John Register, CSP™, CPAE, PLY Rochelle Rice, CSP, AS • Jasmine Brett Stringer Justin Jones-Fosu Mike Mooney, CSP® • Sharon Delaney McCloud CDE® John Watkis Tricia Downing Kelly Swanson Mike Rabinowitz Dr. Sarah Glova Chuck Gallagher   #keynotespeaking #keynotespeaker #keynote #TEDx #tedxspeaker #family #buildingcommunity #relationshipsmatter #perspectiveshift #perspectiveiseverything #bethedifference #bethechangeyouwanttosee #youcandohardthings #bigstage #lovespeaks #CommunityFirst #disabilityadvocate #wheelchairuser #wheelchairgirl #inclusionmatters #inclusionforall

You Cannes Do it. To all those who know what it feels like being there but are not there! Cannes. A name that makes your adrenaline rush. A place that does justice your dopamine. Once you taste the experience, you want to be there every time. Year after year. Because that place is like no other place on earth. The levels of positivity, the depth of creativity and the height of festivity, all are of a different tangent there. It’s a small beautiful world where talents people come to celebrate creativity. To see how their hard-work fared amongst others. To see how high the bar has been raised. To see how many times the toast will be raised in the bars. To take back home beautiful memories gathered along with Rose’ and Smoked Salmon. To walk the red carpet and feel proud of all the deadlines you met and options you gave. To all the clients who stood by your ideas and all the briefs you had to fight. To all the sleepless nights and endless changes. All those moments of seemingly fruitless efforts look like they were all stepping stones to the stairs leading to the Palais. From display to shortlist to Lion, every day you spend there just makes you feel you are in a paradise of art. You feel you have left the earth somewhere behind and now you are with like minded people who have joined you to create another beautiful place in this space somewhere. A place that has beautiful solutions to almost all the problems in the world. A place that never sleeps. But keeps the dreams alive. And while once is just not enough, once you visit there you can live in its memory for ever. A place every creative person must visit. A festival every advertising person must attend. And sooner you make it, the better. #advertising #cannes #canneslions #cannes2023 #awards #creative #motivation #keepgoing #dontgiveup #nevergiveup #hunger #festival #linkedinstories

This is ace. ✅ Simple ✅ Cuts through ✅ Evokes a reaction ✅ Based on an insight ✅ Uses the power of humour ✅ Single-minded, memorably told ✅ Leaves a gap for the viewer to fill Take a bow Wieden + Kennedy London and Biscuit Filmworks 👏👌🧡 #Creativity #Inspiration #advertising

Pop Up Global ARE UNDOUBTEDLY THE NEXT GENERATION OF ENTERTAINMENT There are a number of ways in which we demonstrate this time and time again. But the one that I will forever drive home is the importance of culture. The fantastic company culture we have at Pop Up actually stems from a terrible experience as a performer during my singing career. The anxiety and lack of respect myself and others I worked with continuously experienced was the catalyst for my mission at Pop Up. However, being a kind and supportive business (although this just should be a given) has a number of commercial benefits that I find are often overlooked. I’ll give you the example that has contributed massively to our success. Word quickly spread within the performer world that Pop Up was the company to work for if you wanted to be treated with respect, celebrated for individuality and whole heartedly supported. As the word spread, we saw a drastic increase in the standard of talent and calibre of performer attending our auditions and ultimately being cast in our shows. This then meant that over time the quality of our product became unmatched. From our creatives to our on-stage talent we were all of a sudden working with the best of the best when it came to our industry. This then resulted in further success when it came to securing amazing jobs and the cycle continued. If companies can’t be kind and supportive for being kind and supportive’s sake - then maybe the commercial results of fantastic company culture may be incentive enough to put energy into improving working standards. Ultimately - something needs to change and I will forever be finding ways to encourage this change and have as many leaders behind me on this mission. HAPPY TUESDAY - LET’S MAKE IT A GOOD ONE

Being a judge for PRWeek Best Places to Work was great fun, BUT, it also reminded me that particularly when it comes to DE&I, there are some simple but crucial elements: 1️⃣ MEAN IT - Don't expect policy alone to create the environment you say you are looking for - passion and commitment are fundamental 2️⃣ BACK IT UP - Words are nothing without concerted, long-term and positive action behind it. Signing up to schemes and producing policies won't cut it when it comes to meaningfully engaging everyone at your company 3️⃣ CRUSH IT - Rip up the idea that real inclusion and diversity will be achieved with a top down approach. Senior and exec sponsorship are important, but nothing without the genuine inclusion and buy in from people across the organisation. Their experience, passion and commitment is what will truly create the culture you strive for Loved being a part of a stellar panel ⚖ 💙 So endeth the lesson