Nancy Hartley’s Cannes Diary #1

Nancy Hartley, founder and creative partner at Rumble Strategic Creative / Rumbletown is representing Australia on the Cannes Outdoor Lions. Hartley, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors writes exclusively for CB.

After two zooms across the world it was great to finally meet my fellow jurors in person at a quick dinner at Le Jade the night before we started judging. This is my third time judging at Cannes, but I’m always blown away by what a privilege it is to be hanging out with 10 amazing creatives – this year from Brazil, Mexico, USA, London, South Africa, Germany, Asia and Amsterdam – discussing the world’s best work.

If the pandemic’s given us anything, it’s the gift of pre-judging, so we were able to get straight into discussions as we narrowed to a shortlist on Day One. Day One eliminates the negative, Day Two accentuates the positive and we’ve arrived at what’s in contention for metal.

Sustainability and inclusion remain prominent themes, with some lovely work there. With one of the world’s best writers, Eugene Cheong as our jury president, copy has been under scrutiny and often found wanting. Great to see spots of humour returning and some clever hacking continues.

I’m off to find breakfast, and then some Gold.

In other news, Cannes is as beautiful as ever. It’s great to be back.