Lucy Anderson and Gabby Smith’s Young Lions Diary #2: Pitch day and Jimmy Fallon wisdom

Lucy Anderson and Gabriella Smith, PR and Social Senior Account Manager and Senior Account Manager at Lassoo Media, are representing New Zealand in the Media category of the Cannes Young Lions competition. In this diary entry for CB, the duo reflect on their Young Lions pitch presentation and share standout moments from industry sessions with global stars.

It’s been another massive couple of days in our Cannes adventure! We spent Tuesday working on our Young Lions entry, pulling everything together and making sure we were happy with every part of it. After handing it in, we presented it on Wednesday morning to an international panel of judges. Surprisingly, the nerves weren’t too bad, we enjoyed walking them through our thinking and felt proud of the work we’d done.

After the presentation, we went to a talk with Reese Witherspoon and the CMO of e.l.f. Beauty. They spoke about the power of storytelling and the importance of building brands with women at the helm.

Later in the day, we saw Jimmy Fallon speak and he was hands-down our favourite of the week. Hilarious, but also had some thoughtful takes on creativity and staying true to your voice.

We also caught sessions with Alex Cooper and Alex Earle, where they talked about the evolving role of creators in advertising, and the much-loved Call Her Daddy podcast. Cool to hear from two people who really understand the space and are incredibly famous in the industry right now.

Wrapped it all up with a drink at the Gutter Bar, an iconic Cannes stop!