How to tackle the beach at Cannes Lions, according to Colin & Samir

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Creators may have been the talk of Cannes Lions this year, but what makes an international flight and a week’s worth of sweating it out on the French Riviera actually worth it for the creators in attendance?

Across the Croisette, it seemed creators were the new A-listers of the marketing industry (a takeaway we also broke down on our special live episode of Marketing Brew Weekly). With creator representation across official Lions programming, on panels hosted by brands like Spotify and Google, and online in their own Cannes content, their presence was undeniable. And while there’s certainly value in being seen at Cannes, there are also tangible steps creators can take to make the most of the business potential while networking in the South of France.

Longtime YouTube creators and podcasters Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry, better known as the duo Colin & Samir, have been attending Cannes Lions for the past several years. This year, the pair attended with LinkedIn and Adobe, and Chaudry saw firsthand how creator presence has exponentially grown.

“The first time we came was three years ago, and at the time it felt like…there were [what felt like] 12 creators,” he told us. “Every year since then, it’s like 10x the amount of creators that are here.”

We chatted with Rosenblum and Chaudry at Creator Beach in Cannes, where they shared their best advice for creators looking to make the most out of their experience.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How are you engaging with [fellow creators]? Where do you find creators at [Cannes Lions]?

Rosenblum: A lot of creators have come either with platforms or with brands, and those platforms or brands are holding events. So if you come with YouTube, you’re gonna see other creators at the YouTube event, or if you come with Adobe to potentially execute brand deals with Adobe, you’re gonna see everyone else who works with Adobe.

Chaudry: My best advice to creators coming to Cannes is to have an idea in the inbox of the brand before you come. We did that last year. We had a brand idea out, it had gone back and forth a couple of times, we came here, we met the CMO, and we closed the deal. I noticed that things that originate at Cannes are actually sometimes harder to close after, because people go on vacation, the momentum gets lost. But if you have something in the works pre-Cannes and then you close it at Cannes, that [can be fruitful].

That’s a great concrete example. I feel like you hear the phrase “deepening relationships” here a lot, but not everyone is sure of what that exactly means.

Rosenblum: I think the reality is creators are learning by coming year after year. Three years ago, the few of us who were here, you would talk to some of the creators, and they would say, “I don’t know what to do today.” That was a reality, because maybe they’ve been brought for one panel out of a five-day experience. And year after year, you start to learn, “Okay, this is my opportunity to speak with a brand.” You get that opportunity maybe in year two, but it’s not until year three that you realize, “Okay, I actually need to initiate it before I need to come with an idea ready to actually close it.”

Do you feel like more of that laddering is happening this year?

Chaudry: Because it’s a lot of creators’ first year here, it’s kind of confusing what you’re supposed to do. We’re three years in, and now we know if you come here with an objective and a purpose, you can really nail it, because everyone is here. And that objective may be to have a laugh with the CMO of a brand. Because at the end of the day, what this whole thing is about is that this industry runs on working with people that you like to work with. If you want to be around someone, if you want to share a drink with someone, if you want to laugh with someone, you want to keep working with them.

Would Cannes Lions be worth it for you if you weren’t attending with a brand?

Chaudry: Yeah, but I think we’d have to be here with a purpose. I don’’t know if I would come without a clear-cut purpose, even if that purpose is to learn and listen.

Rosenblum: Or to have different creative inputs. To be here to have a week that is different than the prior weeks, and to experience new things, meet new people with the hope that we come back refreshed.

Chaudry: If you want in on this industry, I think being here informs you how to get in, even if it doesn’t feel as tactical. The implicit nature of what this is tells you a lot about what this industry is. Getting into the advertising industry, doing bigger and bigger deals, this actually teaches you everything you need to know about how that works.

Do you think Cannes will ever feel like Coachella?

Rosenblum: People have already started calling it that.

Chaudry: I think Coachella also feels like Cannes. The last time I went to Coachella, it was full of brand activations.

Rosenblum: And creators knocking off deliverables.

Chaudry: I think Coachella feels like Cannes, and Cannes feels like Coachella. I mean, just go to Spotify Beach. I think Diplo played steps away from where we’ve been recording our morning show.