Even after two weeks of traveling and living over here, I still have to stop, look around, and remind myself that this really is my life. I seriously could not imagine a more beautiful setting or more amazing people to have this experience with. And on top of all of that, the FESTIVAL started today!!!Ya’ll, even sitting here typing this out, I have to restrain myself from jumping up and down and giggling (best friends, I know you know what I’m talking about haha). I was telling Bridget the other day that I keep having the urge to hug everyone that I meet throughout the day. Yes, I know, they would probably cart me off to a mental institution if I actually did that, but I’m so grateful for the opportunity to talk to these people and to learn from them, that I just can’t keep it to myself! Anyway, I got to go to about 5 seminars today, as well as meet with a woman from USA Today.
Here’s a quick rundown: The first seminar I attended was for the company goviral. Jimmy Maymann and Matin Lindstrom spoke about long term branding and discussed topics such as brand relationship drivers, the influence of one person, and how to build momentum online. For all you non-ad majors, that probably makes no sense whatsoever, but this seminar was actually one of my favorites for the day. Martin Lindstrom was an especially great speaker, and I look forward to reading his new book Brandwashed once it comes out this fall.
Following this presentation, our group was lucky enough to schedule a private meeting with Susan Lilley of USA Today. She told us a lot about the festival and was very encouraging about women striving for executive positions. Sometimes I feel like there are very few role models for me to look up to in the business, so it was heartening to hear what she had to say.
The next seminar was a panel including representatives from BMW, L’Orèal, and Universal McCann. Though it sounded interesting based off of the companies speaking, the presentation itself was lacking. Mainly, I think I just don’t get as much out of the panel style seminars and prefer the single speaker technique.
The third seminar we attended was by far my favorite. It was the 2011 Independent Agency Showcase presented by thenetworkone. Three men spoke about their companies and shared the highlights of some of their recent campaigns. Their names were Rob Jack from Special Group in New Zealand, John Matejczyk from Muh-tay-zik Hof-fer in San Francisco, and Ali Ali from Elephant in Egypt. These agencies produced some of the most creative, award winning work of the year and should be an inspiration to anyone in the business. I can’t get over how refreshing some of their ideas were, and definitely learned a lot from listening to them speak.
The final two seminars that I sat in on were not nearly as exciting. One was by imc^2 and had a panel of speakers including Kevin Jonas. I’m not a Jonas Brothers fan in the least, but I have nothing bad to say about him after the seminar. He seemed smart and articulate, but the content of the seminar was uninteresting and poorly delivered. The Fleishman-Hillard seminar about social mobile marketing was actually interesting, but by that time I was so worn out, I could hardly absorb what was being said. The main thing I got out of it was that Living Social sounds really cool and I want to sign up for that asap.
Overall, I had an amazing, eye-opening, exhausting day. There were so many other things going on today besides just the seminars, including workshops, a free Youtube smoothie stand, free redbulls, coke zeros, vitamin waters, and ice cream cones. There’s so much more to tell, but it’ll have to come later. I’m so tired, but I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow! Bon Soir!
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