Day 5

Today I started by attending the "How to Prevent Death by Yes" workshop. I personally gained a lot by participating in this session because saying "no" is often very difficult for me. I avoid confrontation in any situation, and sometimes this trait of mine translates into my saying "yes" just to avoid conflict. In this workshop I learned that this quality can lead to sub-par work in advertising. In order to produce the best advertising possible, learning to say "no" to a project is necessary if there are better possible solutions than what is put in front of me. In this class we were split into groups of 5, and the activities we were given really helped me to frame conflict as a positive and growing experience, sometimes unavoidable in getting the best advertising results in the end. 

I also listened in on Rob Lowe's seminar today. I was looking forward to hearing from Rob because I love some of his work in the movie industry. Although the interviewer tended to ask him more personal questions instead of ones actually pertaining to advertising, I still was able to take away some good points from Rob. He talked about how as an actor, he must master communication to the consumer, much like advertising. He also described how stars brand themselves-- it's not enough today to concentrate on art alone, they must brand themselves as actors. 

I learned that making choices that are different, but staying loyal to your own brand is key-- as advertisers we must follow trends but stay true to ourselves. Rob also advised the audience to write and communicate what people know to be real; what they actually think, say, and feel in order to produce effective advertising. 

I can definitely tell that the pace of the festival is starting to slow down as the week begins to come to a close. I'm really excited for the awards on Saturday and sad that our time in Cannes is wrapping up in a couple of days!